EAST PEORIA, Ill. — A plan to upgrade livability in three East Peoria neighborhoods is on the brink of coming to fruition.
City council voted unanimously Tuesday night to place a resolution on the city’s 200-page Housing Needs Assessment and Community Revitalization Plan on the table for a week.
Should it formally pass at council’s next meeting, three neighborhoods would be pinpointed: Richland, the area around Kroger, and the neighborhood surrounding East Peoria High School.
Opportunities for construction of more affordable housing in all three neighborhoods would be examined.
A study showed the median household income in Richland is just over $17,000, while it’s slightly above $37,000 in the Kroger area, and just north of $42,000 in the neighborhood by the high school.
A zoning update would be in the works for the Richland area.
“There’s a lot of times today the current zoning conflicts with other uses in the area,” said Commissioner Mark Hill.
“Some time ago, the whole area was labeled ‘transitional manufacturing,’ and there were some constraints on what could happen or could not happen to properties. Now that Caterpillar has drawn back from the area and have not been expanding for years, there’s some interest in looking at that zoning and maybe correcting things.”
Before the plan was drawn up, the city teamed with the Illinois Housing Development Authority to create a community survey, which was distributed to residents of the targeted neighborhoods.
Out of the 420 responses received, over half said their community is not pedestrian-friendly.
Thus, a plan to increasing walking and biking opportunities in the Kroger and high school areas was included in the proposal, while also improving safety on the respective thruways those areas encompass.
Still, 68% said they felt optimistic about their neighborhood’s future.
“No neighborhood’s perfect. Every neighborhood has its issue,” said Commissioner Daniel Decker. “That’s not the point.
“The point is to identify those areas that might need the most help, and do what we can, and I certainly think a good effort [is being] made.”
