The Champaign City Council voted Tuesday to support a University streetscape plan that would enforce regulations on campus streets and address their improvements.

In their first study session since most students returned to campus last weekend, the council discussed pedestrian safety, handbill posting and illegal parking throughout Campustown.

Bruce Knight, Champaign’s planning director, said the University campus was a different environment from the rest of Champaign.

“The reality is that Campustown is much like the densest part of Chicago in many respects,” Knight said. “You can’t go in an urban area and act like it’s North Prospect (Street).”

Councilman Michael La Due called the streetscape plan a replacement for Campustown 2000. That plan was intended to revitalize the campus area at the start of the decade but, La Due said, fizzled out during the transition between University chancellors.

Knight said the University had been a partner from the beginning of the project and will contribute to the funding for it.

The plan would create a three-level system for classifying different areas of improvements, ranging from commercial to residential areas. It would also create standards for streetscape improvements and place more responsibility on property owners to improve areas adjacent to their land.

Council members also discussed the need to address more isolated incidents on the campus streets. La Due and Councilman Tom Bruno asked Knight to crack down on bands and venues posting handbills on lightposts and fixtures around campus.

The city of Champaign has a system to fine the venues and bands that hire a third party to hang posters instead of fining the third parties, but La Due said the fines needed to be higher.

“I stopped a young man that was literally taping a poster to every pole on Green Street last fall,” La Due said. “Venues just see (fines) as a cost of doing business.”

La Due also urged the city to adopt measures to make the campus safer for bikers.

“All of the changes we’re making have not done much to make bicycling safer,” La Due said. “Apparently pedestrians are safer on campus … but not bicyclists.”

Councilman Ken Pirok agreed with La Due, saying additional bike paths should be a high campus priority.

“While Green Street isn’t the right place for a designated bike path, others like Daniel … definitely need to have them,” Pirok said. “No improvements should be made (to those streets) until a place for these paths is decided.”

The Champaign City Council also voted to draft an ordinance creating a University District Advisory Committee to advise the city on campus matters.

The city has not yet decided how often the committee would meet, but it could potentially include a University official, property and business owners from the campus area, a University Alumni Association representative, student representation, a city at-large resident and a representative from the city of Urbana.

Councilwoman Kathy Ennen voiced concern about allowing an Urbana representative to have voting power in Champaign.

“I don’t have a concern about having a representative from Urbana on the committee, but I do have a very real concern with them having any kind of voting power … coming in and telling us what to do,” Ennen said.