The Peoria Park District took a firm stand AGAINST commercial re-development at the Peoria Stadium site. Peoria Public Radio's Alex Rusciano reports the Park District Board instead is looking to buy some of the historic property:
The Park District has a long term lease with School District 150 to use some of the land next to the Stadium for athletic fields. Park District Board president Tim Cassidy says they’re interested in talking with District 150 to see if they can own some of the property in an effort to keep the site green. Cassidy says that move would raise new questions, like what the price would be and where funding would come from:
“The Park District doesn’t have, on its own, funding available. There were citizen's tonight who said the community might want to get involved to help raise money. We always have good working-relations with our state legislators to see what kind of state money might be involved,” Cassidy says.
Nearly 200 residents showed up to the Park District meeting last night, and 14 spoke out publicly against building a proposed Walmart on the site. To that end, the Park Board unanimously rejected offers by the school district and Walmart that are related to re-development. District 150 says any final decision on future uses for the property is a long way off.