A decision by the Peoria City Council on establishing a funding plan for repairs to the Twin Towers Place condominiums is targeted for late September.
City attorney Patrick Hayes told the council Tuesday that state law requires a 60-day wait to approve a special service area [SSA] designation following this week’s required public hearing on the matter.
“Twin Towers Place is a vibrant neighborhood, but it operates vertically instead of across a large swath of land, and they find themselves in some significant financial circumstances,” said Hayes, noting a fire led to a depletion of the condominium association’s reserves.
In late April, the council approved an ordinance formally proposing the Twin Towers Place Special Service Area. Tower residents petitioned the city to create the SSA to generate the estimated $2.5 million needed for the repairs and renovations.
Hayes said the city could potentially issue a bond for the funding amount, but city staff is not yet certain if that’s the approach it will ultimately take as it considers options over the next two months.
“We’ll also, in the interim, finish our discussions with local banks to see whether or not a financing mechanism other than a bond issue might be more attractive with regard to the payments and the costs over time,” said Hayes.
“Regardless of the financing mechanism, whether it’s a bond issue or bank financing, it’s going to be secured by property taxes, so it’s a very secure measure by which the yearly bond payments or loan payments will be collected.”
Change to building permit fees
The city also is considering an ordinance amendment that would eliminate building permit fees as a way to boost interest in constructing new homes on the city’s land bank properties.
The proposal applies to developments that are less than five properties, or in cases where they’re turning over a property for rehabilitation.
“It gives us that opportunity to give another incentive to a developer that would like to use land bank property,” said Matt Smith, the city’s land manager in the Community Development Department.
The council received and filed a first reading of the proposal that had been unanimously forwarded by the Land Bank Board last month. A council vote on approval likely would come at the next regular meeting.
“Personally, I’m not really in favor of building permit fees in general. After all, why should we find people for building something in our city?” said council member John Kelly. “Any reduction or elimination of building permit fees is something I can support.”
The city’s code already applies no permit fees for properties that are built for residents that fall below 80% of the Area Median Income that helped lead to the development of Churchview Gardens and other Habitat for Humanity projects on land bank properties.
In other business
Consideration of a lease renewal between the city and Heartland Parking for the public parking lot at the intersection of Madison Avenue and Hamilton Boulevard, next to the Madison Theater, was delayed until the Aug. 11 council meeting. City Manager Patrick Urich said the staff has some changes it wants to make to the agreement.
“This is a very important agreement for the viability of the development that’s happening on Main Street, and not only that but also the potential of the Madison Theater also being viable at some point again,” council member Alex Carmona said ahead of a unanimous vote approving the deferral.
Among items approved as part of the consent agenda were code amendments pertaining to regulation of home-based food, clothing and household item distribution, commonly referred to as “porch pantries;” a reduction in the maximum number of tobacco licenses from 14 to 13; and a professional services agreement in the amount of nearly $115,000 with Roadway Asset Services for a pavement condition update.
