Raymond Poe, a member of the Sunnyland Development Partners, said the group closed on Sunnyland Plaza Aug. 3.
Work is currently under way to improve the Plaza in the hopes of attracting tenants.
Renovations of Sunnyland Plaza could start as soon as mid to late summer.
After a year of extensive planning, the buildings in Sunnyland Plaza, which have stood vacant for as long as four years, are in the works of being updated and reoccupied.
At Tuesday night’s meeting, the East Peoria City Council unanimously passed a resolution to appropriate an additional $250,000 for street maintenance.
The additional funding for street maintenance, which was not part of the city’s 2011 fiscal year budget, will go toward the repair and repaving of part of Liberty Drive, Freedom Trail, North Circuit Court, Cougar Lane and part of Barrington Lane.
Commissioner Daniel Decker said that although these streets were not included in the city’s street maintenance in 2011, the recent freezing and thawing from the winter and spring made the repairs a necessity.
“We got to the point where we needed to fix it,” Decker said.
District 309 School Board members approved an amendment to the district’s 10-year Health Life Safety Survey Monday.
The survey will now include repairs to Clatt Stadium, the school auditorium, ADA improvements and wall repairs, with a total price tag of $256,000.
“My guess is that’s a little bit inflated, but we shot high,” said Superintendent Chuck Nagel. “The money is there. It’s not a problem with the Health Life Safety fund; we haven’t spent anything in the last two years.”
Since the U.S. economic recession began several years ago, organizations across the country have felt a financial pinch as funding has been lower than their customary levels.
This national trend is also present in East Peoria, as the East Peoria Community High School’s band booster program has struggled with their recent fundraising efforts.
While the school’s portion of the band funding has not been affected by the state’s financial struggles, the booster’s fundraising issues could have an affect on the band program as a whole.
Work is expected to begin by the beginning of May to renovate East Peoria’s River Trail of Illinois.
The renovation work, which is expected to take approximately four weeks and be completed by the beginning of June, will give the trail a new asphalt surface. However, the trail will be out of commission for joggers, walkers and bikers for the duration of the project.
“When that (construction) process starts, basically the trail is not going to be usable,” Brad Smith, Fon du Lac Park District director, said. “Once they start, they’re going to start on one end and work their way across almost all 5 miles of it.”
A committee made up of East Peoria Community High School teachers and staff presented their plan to help the school evaluate teachers in the future at Monday’s District 309 School Board meeting.
“In the State of Illinois there’s a lot of education reform going on ... and one of the things taking place this year is to reform the way we do teacher evaluations,” said Superintendent Chuck Nagel. “The biggest piece of that is how teacher evaluation ties into student achievement.”
The eight candidates vying for the four open seats on the East Peoria City Council got the opportunity to field questions from the city’s residents at a candidate forum on Thursday night at the Fon du Lac Park District’s Administration Building.
When the U.S. Census Bureau released Illinois’ population totals last week, their findings showed a significant increase in the populations of both East Peoria and Tazewell County.
Between the national census years of 2000 and 2010, East Peoria’s population increased 3.4 percent, from 22,638 to 23,402.
New management will soon be taking over at EastPort Marina.
Longtime harbor master John Eakle, owner of Sunset Marine Inc. in East Peoria, did not submit a proposal by Friday's deadline to continue operation of the marina.
Two of the city’s older retail centers will be getting a face-lift as development of the new downtown moves ahead.
Town Centre I and its counterpart Town Centre II, located catty-corner from each other at the busy intersection of Main and Washington streets, were built in 1983 and 1986 respectively. Their storefronts and overall appearance will have to be modernized in order to fit the design scheme of the downtown development.
On Thursday morning, the East Peoria Water Department cancelled the boil advisory that had been put into effect on Wednesday afternoon. The boil advisory had been issued for the 3400 to 3600 block of Bloomington Road, Kay Court, Pine Street, Euclid, Faulkner, Lakewood and Steiner Streets.
On Tuesday evening, the East Peoria City Council approved a measure to strengthen the fire department’s arson investigation team.
The council unanimously approved the appointment of Brian Woolard as a peace officer for arson investigations. Arson investigators are given the same powers as police officers and are authorized to carry firearms during their investigations.
Nine candidates filed petitions to run for East Peoria City Council from 8 a.m. Dec. 13 to 5 p.m. Monday.
Three incumbents, Dan Decker, Gary Densberger and Tim Jeffers — all running for a second term — filed at 8 p.m. Dec. 13 for the four open commissioner seats as well as three newcomers, John Kahl, Chad Joos and Zachary Oyler.
Nov. 30 marked the last time Commissioner Mike Unes took a seat to the left of East Peoria Mayor Dave Mingus in City Hall.
Unes, who is representative-elect of the 91st District, thanked the city of East Peoria, council members and city staff during his last council meeting.
Surrounded by friends and family inside a familiar coffee shop in town — a place where he can be seen weekly visiting with members of the community — East Peoria Mayor Dave Mingus announced he will run for a second term as mayor.
“I have coffee here every single Wednesday,” Mingus said Nov. 24 inside of Eysal’s Coffee Roaster. “I feel very humbled that people came to join me.”
Moments after Republican and East Peoria Councilman Mike Unes was declared the winner of the 91st District House race, he promised to “face the challenge head on.”
“We prevailed. We prevailed by being truthful and staying on message,” Unes said to an Embassy Suites conference room packed full of friends and family during an election night party Nov. 2. “We prevailed by not letting the mud distract us from our game plan. … Isn’t it gratifying to know that the truth still counts?”
