An application for a seasonal amusement-style park on the city of Peoria's far northwestern edge will be taken up by the city council later this month.
Mark Larson wants to bring paved go-kart tracks, batting cages, ice cream shop, and mini-golf courses to 13.5 acres near the intersection of Route 91, Orange Prairie Road, and Grange Hall Road.
Nine acres were annexed into the city back in 2017 in anticipation of a similar project, but it never got off the ground. Now Larson wants give it another go. He also wants to annex an additional 4.5 acres into the city and rezone all of the property for commercial usage. He also seeks approval of a new outdoor recreation special use for the land.
Plans submitted to the city Planning and Zoning Commission say areas designated for one of the mini-putt courses and a batting cage expansion area could also house a toddler kart track, superslide, playground, climbing gym, obstacle course, or an inflatable attraction. One of the go-kart tracks could also be used for dune buggies.
People living nearby the property say they're concerned about noise levels, but Larson told the commission that shouldn't be a problem.
"We did a noise study and like I said, it wasn't any more than a lawn mower, riding lawn mower," he said.
But neighbor Rick Hepner was skeptical.
"Defining, you know, the noise as equal to a riding lawn mower or a lawn mower. That would be one thing. But if you put 20 lawn mowers on a track at one time, obviously the noise is going to be of significant concern for our area," he said.
Nathan Miller spoke on behalf of his daughter, who lives near the property. He shared the noise concerns, but said traffic is also a worry.
"Obviously, this is going to increase traffic on Orange Prairie Road, which sadly, as we all know, that fatal accident occurred on Orange Prairie just months ago," Miller said. "So I question whether Orange Prairie is a road that's equipped to handle the additional traffic."
Larson said access to the park would only be through Orange Prairie Road, not Route 91. He said lights won't stand any higher than 28 feet. He also said only one house actually lies within a half mile of the proposed development, and that homeowner supports the project.
Projections provided to the Planning and Zoning Commission estimate about 35 cars an hour would enter and leave the complex.
Larson said the park would be open from April through mid-November, with hours of 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. during the summer.
A temporary sanitary leach field would be allowed until the property is connected to public sanitary sewer.
The commission approved the rezoning and special use requests for the project on 3-1 and 2-1 split votes respectively, with commissioner Edward Barry recusing himself from both. It now goes to the Peoria City Council on September 24.
