Urbana City Council and Traffic Stop Updates

In the last Urbana City Council Committee of the Whole meeting the Urbana Police Department had a presentation of their latest traffic stop data, including racial breakdowns on various types of stops and outcomes. The data is explained with different methods such as comparing racial breakdowns of census data of people who live here versus racial breakdowns of those involved in traffic accidents here. When compared to racial disparities in traffic stop data it's pointed out that roughly half of the drivers pulled over in Urbana are not residents of Urbana. While still not perfect, the police representative preferred the comparison to a few years of traffic accident data for racial disparities.

The presentation slides are here. Full written report here. The full report also has information related to the Fix-It tickets as it pertains to equipment violation stops and dog sniffs (indications versus contraband found). Video of the Urbana Police presentation is available here starting with public comments before the presentation begins at the 10:50 mark and lasted just over a half hour. Council questions began at the 45:50 mark.

There was also the annual report of the Urbana Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission with a lot of information on bicycle improvements and planning here.

The News-Gazette had an overview of the meeting in their coverage last week:

Urbana alderman pushes for trees as University Avenue project advancesAs the city council discussed the final plans for a housing development on University Avenue, Alderman Dennis Roberts advocated for beautifying the road with trees.

Last week, aldermen talked about a proposal from Green Street Realty to build a five-story, mixed-use building on two adjacent lots spanning from Harvey Street on the west to the edge of the property where Niro's Gyros now stands at 1007 W. University Ave. on the east.

Aldermen voted unanimously to move the development forward Monday...

In other business, Mayor Diane Marlin said Monday that she has directed staff to seek a third-party study of the intersection of Vine and Main streets downtown, where a woman was killed after being hit by a pickup truck earlier this month.

Following multiple questions and concerns directed at her office, Marlin had the public works department and Urbana police conduct tests on the traffic devices at the intersection, which they found to be functioning properly.

But Marlin said Monday she will still seek a third-party to look at the intersection and evaluate the functionality of the system.

Full article here. There was additional information about the planning from the Special Meeting page here, including an additional informational memo that spells out some of the specifics here. The News-Gazette also had coverage of a previous Urbana City Council meeting mentioned above:

Urbana council OKs plan for apartment building at Niro's Gyros site
...
But of all the proposals aldermen have reviewed over the past year, they had the fewest questions for — and were most happy with — one that could replace the Niro's Gyros restaurant on University Avenue.

On Monday, aldermen voted to move along a proposal from Green Street Realty to build a five-story mixed-use building on two adjacent lots spanning from Harvey Street on the west to the edge of the property where the restaurant now stands at 1007 W. University Ave. on the east. A special council session is set for April 22 for a final move.

Plans call for retail space on the first floor and 76 apartments with 124 beds on the other four. And it will be one of three projects in the area with the potential to increase the population along two blocks of University by about 1,700 people.

That full article here with additional information about the planned project.