City of Champaign Updates

Danny Iniguez of District 3 (map) announced his resignation last month, which will create a vacancy on the board. The City Council has 60 days from May 14^th to fill the seat temporarily until the results of the 2025 municipal elections in the Spring. The process was laid out in a staff report here. Interviews for applicants (the application deadline has already passed) will be conducted on this Tuesday, June 11^th. The News-Gazette had an overview of the appointment process and the three applicants yesterday:

One of the two Unit 4 school board members who resigned in frustration in March — and one of the 28 who applied to replace him — are among three applicants for the District 3 vacancy on the Champaign City Council.

The three will be interviewed at Tuesday's study session for the seat vacated by Danny Iniguez, according to the council agenda made public on Friday.

It's a short-term assignment that expires on May 6, 2025.

That full article here. A final vote on the appointment to the City Council would be as soon as the following week, with the selected appointee sworn in immediately afterward. There is a separate Unit 4 Updates Cheat Sheet post here.

Recent Meetings Coverage:

The Daily Illini had coverage of the most recent City Council meeting on June 4th this week. Excerpt:

On Tuesday, the Champaign City Council held its weekly discussion, primarily focused on passing a number of resolutions related to infrastructure improvement. 

The meeting began with the introduction of three new members of the city staff. 

Following this, a proclamation was made by the council on the topic of raising awareness of state-wide and national gun violence. 

More at the full article here. The Daily Illini also had coverage of the May 28th meeting here, which included updates on the Garden Hills drainage project.

Grocery Sales Tax:

The City of Champaign, like many local governments, is looking at a way to deal with the loss of grocery tax revenue with the latest changes in the State budget. The News-Gazette laid out the problem and the City Council's dilemma earlier last month:

As the budgeting process continues, Champaign city leaders are divided on how to make up $2.7 million in revenue that will be lost if Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s proposal to eliminate the state’s 1 percent grocery tax moves forward.

While some city council members feel the best approach is to raise the home-rule sales tax, others are interested in alternative options, such as establishing a packaged liquor tax...

Proceeds from the grocery tax go entirely to local municipalities, and the question of how to fill in the gap was the focal point of Tuesday’s budget discussion.

That full article here. The News-Gazette had a more recent update showing that the council was "leaning towards" increasing its own grocery sales tax rate at their May 21st Study Session on the budget (the staff report from that Study Session is available here).

Downtown Plaza and Downtown Entertainment District Updates:

Most of the other policy news coverage this month involved development of the downtown Plaza and the downtown entertainment district centered on Market Street. The News-Gazette had coverage of some of the State grant funding being used for the Plaza project. The News-Gazette also highlighted local concerns about the Plaza project's impact on businesses in that area.

The Daily Illini had coverage of the ribbon cutting ceremony for the Downtown Entertainment District here. There was also News-Gazette coverage on the recent City Council vote to increase security for the downtown entertainment district and the context of the recent highly publicized shooting on Market Street. Similarly there were also local business concerns about the downtown entertainment district's impact. WCIA had a brief overview of "The Beat" initiative to highlight and attract entertainment and customers to the downtown entertainment district. More at The Beat website here.

Other City of Champaign News:

• A portion of Park Street was ddesignated in honor of Reverend Claude Shelby, community organizer and retired long-time pastor of the historically Black Salem Church.
  
  
• The City allotted additional funding to 40 North to expand its Friday Night Live entertainment project according to the News-Gazette. 
  
  
• The City's Plan Commission is looking at updating the land use rules for large solar arrays. Currently such installations require a special use permit be approved each time.
  
  
• The Plan Commission was also looking at approving a possible large scale data center at the University's Research Park, according to the News-Gazette.
  
  
• The City launched an interactive tool to compare historic maps of Champaign from the 1880s to 2024, according to WCIA.