Garden Hills Fights Neglect

In  City of Champaign news, one neighborhood received some additional attention in the last couple weeks, although residents and their representative on the City Council point out that they're typically ignored in spite of numerous pressing needs. WILL highlighted the frustration this week:

Champaign’s Garden Hills Neighborhood Waits ... For Streetlights, Sidewalks & Flood Control
Residents of Champaign’s Garden Hills neighborhood have to deal with a list of problems, including inordinate levels of poverty, gun violence and vacant houses. The neighborhood on the city’s northwest side has another problem: a lack of infrastructure, like storm sewers and streetlights. The Champaign City Council is taking a first step towards a remedy for Garden Hills. But it could be a long wait to the second step...

[Clarissa Nickerson Fourman] lives in Garden Hills, and represents it on the Champaign City Council. Originally built as a suburban subdivision outside the city limits in the 1950s, Garden Hills is now well inside the city, with a sizable African-American population. It still has only a few streets with sidewalks or streetlights. Storm sewers remain inadequate, and in some places, nonexistent. Fourman says that’s a symptom of the city’s neglect of the neighborhood.

“We all call, at least the people who live here, we call Garden Hills the redheaded stepchild of the city,” said Fourman. “Because we’re the largest neighborhood in the city of Champaign. We have a thousand homes. But for some reason, we just kind of get forgot over here.”

In a photo posted to a neighborhood group Facebook page, a Garden Hills resident measures the depth of floodwater on Paula Drive, following heavy rain on March 9.
United Garden Hills Neighborhood Association

Not entirely forgotten. On March 5, the Champaign City Council voted to spend four million dollars to buy up homes along Hedge Road to build a nearly three-block-long floodwater detention pond --- part of a more than $50 million drainage improvement project that will also include sidewalks and streetlights for Garden Hills. But actual construction on the drainage project won’t begin until 2030. Civil engineer Alex Nagy, who’s overseeing the Garden Hills project for the Champaign Public Works Department, says the city just doesn’t have the money to fix all of its infrastructure problems at once.

Nagy says the city is looking at other funding options that might enable the city to start construction on Garden Hills drainage improvements sooner. He suggests that might be done through a combination of a possible state grant and the issuing of construction bonds. But in the meantime, Nagy says the city has had to decide which projects to pay for first.

Full article here. WCIA had a recent video segment which contrasted the darkness of the neighborhood compared to other local neighborhoods and the need for initiatives like SLEEP (Safety, Lighting, Energy Efficiency Program information here). Here's a couple screenshots (click to enlarge):

The News-Gazette also had coverage of the recent City Council meeting where the issue was discussed:

Champaign council OKs initial phase of Garden Hills drainage improvements
City council members unanimously approved the initial phase of the Garden Hills Drainage Improvement project Tuesday, in which 46 houses along Hedge Road will be demolished to make way for a detention basin.

The goal of the project is to reshape the blighted, majority-black neighborhood — where the average home value is $47,000 — by improving water retention, stormwater management and landscaping, as well as by adding much-needed streetlights and sidewalks.

The beginning phase of the project will focus on acquiring the 46 properties slated for demolition and relocating the inhabitants. After demolition, the space will be left as an open field — ready for development once the council finds funding for the rest of the project.

But the first stage alone could take years, Mayor Deb Feinen said...

Feinen took time to go over the city's historical investments in Garden Hills, such as the SLEEP program and installation of lighting and sidewalks, and pointed out that the council voted to increase the storm-water utility fee so that this project could advance.

"I recognize that it's not going as fast as neighbors would like," Feinen said. "But we still have a council goal to move drainage projects up in priority. I just don't expect it all to happen overnight."

More at the full article including more council members speaking in support of addressing the needs faster here. In an article prior to the meeting the paper detailed the timeline concerns a bit more specifically:

But it's the long schedule for the project that worries council member Clarissa Fourman, who represents Garden Hills.

"My main concern is the general time frame," Fourman said. "I'm glad the acquisitions are happening, but we've heard that it won't be until 2040 that this is completed. We need to look at moving this faster."

As of now, phase one would start in April, with city staff beginning to interview tenants and residents to determine their relocation needs. The rest of the year, they'd work to evaluate alternatives to accelerate the later phases of the drainage improvements.

City staff set a date of December 2022 for final purchases of properties from willing sellers. If some residents aren't willing to sell, that could mean more staff time dedicated to continuing negotiations until they are successful, or possible council intervention in the form of eminent domain.

That's a lot of rain and flooding, darkness and waiting, in the meantime.