The City of East Peoria is growing in size by an additional 272 acres, at a cost of $5.25 million.
The city council on Tuesday unanimously voted for final approval to purchase the Keil & Blye Farm property between Centennial Drive, Grange Road and U.S. 24.
Commissioner Mark Hill said the acquisition gives East Peoria oversight of what will happen with the three tracts adjacent to current city limits on the northeast side.
“We thought it was in the best interest of the city of East Peoria to secure that property, so that we also can control how that property is developed to the benefit of our residents,” said Hill.
East Peoria learned the property near Quail Meadows Golf Course was being put up for auction, and submitted a winning bid of $19,100 per acre. A 10% down payment of about $520,400 was due at the close of the auction.
At the previous meeting, city leaders were adamant about the need to buy the property as a way to guarantee against the development of any data center facility while potentially seeking residential growth.
“We are landlocked, we have neighbors all around us,” commissioner Dan Decker said at the time. “We don’t have a lot of opportunity to grow our residential base.”
In addition to approving the ordinance for the purchase itself, the council needed to adopt a related measure authorizing supplemental appropriations from the general fund.
Regulating solicitation
In another action, the city council approved tighter restrictions on door-to-door solicitors as requested by the East Peoria Police Department.
An amendment to the city code requires all solicitors to hold a registration certificate issued by the city. The certificates can only be granted for six months, and no single business can hold more than six certificates at a given time.
“Basically, if a solicitor comes East Peoria, they need to register. In simplest of terms, that’s someone who’s trying to sell you something,” said city attorney Scott Brunton. “There’s a process to do that. The police department was reviewing this and saw that it was a little bit outdated, so we’re updating that and amending it to bring it up to speed.”
Mayor John Kahl said thinks residents will appreciate the change.
“It’s become so ridiculous. It seems like night after night you’re dealing with anywhere between two and six people showing up in your neighborhood, beating on your doors,” said Kahl.
“We recently had a company that sent 40 people into the police station to solicit on their behalf, and that’s what kind of drove this. A lot of communities have similar restrictions.”
