Critics of a pending sale of property along the Illinois River in Peoria fear a potential loss of green space and access, but the parties involved in the sale said the transaction is necessary to preserve the entity tasked with oversight of the land.
O’Brien Steel has an agreement in place with the Detweiller Trust to acquire approximately eight acres of parkland near the closed marina.
“There's a parking area and a couple buildings on the property, and that's basically what they're taking,” said Andy Schneider, president of the Detweiller Playground nonprofit organization that handles the trust.
“There's a railroad that runs between O'Brien Steel and our property, and so they're buying the portion of land up along the railroad tracks, which is essentially our parking lot.”
Schneider said the Detweiller Trust is holding onto more than 11 acres along the river.
“We're keeping the whole North Park, the big grassy area on the north end of our property. We're keeping the breakwater. The bike trail will be on our property, and there'll be entrances off of Grant Street and off of Spring Street at a minimum.”
But residents who oppose the sale argue the transaction goes against the directive established in 1947 when Tommy Detweiller entrusted the land for public use.
“Information is spreading, because this was a kick in the gut, a surprise blow,” said Joyce Blumenshine, a member of the Friends of Riverfront Park advocacy group. “They own the property but the public uses it, and it's a huge area. So we are just alarmed.”
Karrie Alms, who has lived in the nearby community for more than 30 years, believes there’s been a lack of transparency around the sale, and park patrons and North Valley neighbors didn’t find out about the plans until the late stages.
“Maybe the public could purchase the land and help it to remain in perpetuity to be open space, rather than having industrial expansion and more of the river claimed by industry rather than the people, which from 1947 is what Mr. Detweiller had intended,” said Alms. “So it was not an inclusive process.”
The heightened concerns generated more discussion at multiple community meetings, including one Tuesday morning at the downtown branch of the Peoria Public Library and a previous event March 23 at First United Methodist Church.
Some residents also brought their concerns before the Peoria City Council at its most recent meeting.
“Today, the citizens of Peoria are facing an existential threat to the loss of park space, once again by industry, orchestrated by the very people who are charged with safeguarding the trust and the Detweillers’ wishes,” said Julie Dodge, a local photographer and environmentalist.
Barrier to river access?
Schneider said that the trust’s current amount of land is more than what Detweiller originally donated.
“He gave us three separate pieces of property in the area where we are, and since then, we've acquired the interim two pieces of property so we had one continuous piece of property. We also added about eight acres and built a harbor since he gave us the property,” said Schneider.
“Yes, it was willed to the trust for the use of the citizens. What we're ending up with though, the 11-plus acres, is more than Tommy Detweiler gave us.”
But Blumenshine said O’Brien’s acquisition of the property will just create another barrier to accessing the riverfront.
“If you have a stroller, if you have a dog on a leash and a kid holding your hand, you can't walk two or three extra blocks to take them to a playground or have a chance to even see our river. So this is a major hurdle,” she said.
Rerouting the hiking trail
One of the final hurdles still to clear before the sale can be closed is finalizing an agreement with the Peoria Park District to adjust an easement and reroute a section of the Rock Island Greenway Trail.
“The park district was not a part of any of the process that took place over the fall and winter related to the Detweiller Trust’s request to be able to sell land,” said park district Executive Director Emily Cahill.
“When we were contacted in early 2026, it was with a request to help to facilitate the relocation of the trail section that was currently placed on land that was anticipated to be sold to O'Brien Steel.”
Cahill said the park district has been working with both parties in the sale to facilitate the relocation of the trail, which would include repaving and improving other existing parts of the trail for continuity.
“Our goal is to have that easement completed and recorded with the recorder's office, so that regardless of who owns the land moving forward and little sections, that that easement shows up in the title search anytime the land transfers, so that the protection of the trail exists well beyond all of us. That is the extent of our role,” she said.
Steel company's interest
J.P O’Brien, the president of O’Brien Steel, said their intent for the land the company will acquire is primarily for outdoor steel storage.
“I've heard some people say that they're losing their trail, and that's just not true. I mean, I’m a big advocate of the trail. I've supported the trail; I'm a trail guy,” he said. “I'm not about to just let the trail fade away. I think there's just misinformation out there, or people get wound up and maybe don't understand the whole thing.”
O’Brien said the company has no plans for any major construction or alterations to the land.
“We have no intention of putting any significant building on the property,” he said.
Schneider said Detweiller Playground has been operating at a loss for close to a decade, and the sale is necessary to preserve the organization.
“In 2018, we paid the park district $87,000 out of our cash reserves to operate the marina for us. The marina just started losing more and more money every year, and we couldn't afford to keep that going. We would have gone bankrupt,” he said.
Schneider added that two subsequent partnership attempts to operate the marina also failed.
“We didn't have enough boaters to really generate an income sufficient to run the property with all the expenses that are associated with that. We realized that we had to change something eventually,” he said.
Blumenshine said that isn’t a valid reason to proceed on the sale without community input.
“The trust has claimed financial troubles. OK, well, they have let the whole area deteriorate and that is on them,” she said. “That discourages the public. It's reduced the quality of the playground, which used to be nice and have a variety of equipment. So I'm just, there's a lot of questions here, and the public needs and deserves answers.”
Alms said she’d like to see the sale put on hold so there can be more transparency and more opportunity to explore alternatives.
“There needs to be a pause so the public can weigh in on this whole idea of them selling the land, because there really was no inclusion,” she said. “Let the public weigh in: Is there any other type of ownership that can be done, that can be held to be in public hands?”
Schneider said the pending sale “would give us enough income to keep going for another 80 years or more and maintain the park even improve it.
“The alternative is for us to just fizzle out and leave nothing, because we keep losing money. We have to change something to keep our mission alive.”
