Champaign City Council, by Allison Sues

The Champaign City Council unanimously agreed to approve a commercial development plan and hire a contractor to relieve downtown parking problems with two 8-0 votes at last night’s city council meeting.

The first of the two issues discussed at the meeting focused on the planning of a commercial project to create new city revenues or increase existing ones through property, hotel-motel, food and beverage and sales tax. The plan’s criteria required a substantial aesthetic improvement to Champaign. Council members debated the potential locations of such a project.

Council member Gina Jackson argued against placing the project at a highly visible spot in Champiagn, like entry points to the University, downtown or campustown, saying space was too narrow. Council member Vic McIntosh questioned the plan’s emphasis on the “biggness” of the project. He argued the focus should be on revenue brought in by the plan, not the size of the development.

The second issue discussed and later approved at the meeting was hiring a contractor to relieve parking inconveniance and congestion in downtown Champaign. Occupancy rates of parking spots throughout areas in the center of the downtown area were recorded at 94 percent. Urban planners recommend occupancy rates of 85 percent for functional cities. The city council voted to hire Rich and Associates contracting firm to address the parking problems in downtown Champiagn.

Possible solutions include higher parking rates, mass transportation options and additional parking lots. Council member Thomas Bruno said he is worried that automobile congestion in the downtwon area will only be temporarily fixed by additional parking spots, which is how it has been handled for the past 40 to 50 years.

“The downtown area has reached its functional limit,” Bruno said. “A solution is not swiss cheesing the town with more parking spots.”

Bruno suggested finding alternatives to automobile transportation and aggressively enforcing towing.

“We also need to do this in the campustown, by the way,” Bruno said.

Urbana City Council, by Sharon Steed

The Urbana City Council met Monday night and discussed building plans for the near future. The Ecological Construction Laboratory Affordable Homeownship Prgram 2004-2005 is planning on building a passive solar home built in Urbana. The construction has been delayed because some of the criteria were not met, but the city is now ready to move forward. The site for the house is 1005 Fairview and June 21 is the groundbreaking date.

Though no family or lendor has been difinitively identified for the project, the council was enthusiastic about the home. Some brought concerns about disability requirements, but were reassured the home would exceed the requirements.

To meet the disability standard, there must be at least one half bath that has disability access. The original plans for the home had one full bath and one half bath meet the requirements. As of now, though, the disability accessibility had yet to be dediced.

Another project now underway also deals with building more affordable housing. The two sites of the new homes are 1110 West Hill and 708 North Goodwin. The site projects for both properties has been appraised and the appraisal review has been completed.

The property at 1110 West Hill already has a two-story home on the lot that is structurally sound, but the city rehabilitation coordinator felt the only way to make the house liveable was to either gut the interior or demolish the building completely. To fix up the house without demolition will cost $29,000. If the building is demolished, the cost will be the same plus the demolition fee.

The other property, 708 North Goodwin, is a vacant lot which will only cost $11,000 to turn into affordable housing. The only work needed is clearance of overgrowth and debris.

Some council members had concerns about affordable utilities in the brand new properties. The utilities, though, will be affordable after the remodeling is completed.