Input sought for Route 8 corridor study now underway

Input is being sought on an Illinois Route 8 corridor study this month.
East Peoria’s city planning and development director, Ty Livingston, is working with Washington’s planner, Jon Oliphant, on the issue.

A survey posted on the city of East Peoria’s Web site asks what residents and business owners would like to see along Route 8 through Sunnyland. Specifically, the study includes the area from Sunrise near the East Peoria Event Center to where Route 8 forks off in Washington near Wal-Mart.

Information on the Web site at www.cityofeastpeoria.com states, “The Corridor Plan will serve as the official guide for land use, physical improvement and development. It will also provide a foundation for decision making that is based on a shared vision for the future and an understanding of how things are today and how things could be in the future.”

One of the two Web surveys is for residents; another is for business owners.

Some of the questions for business owners are:
• What are the most important issues facing Route 8 as a commercial corridor?
• As a business owner or manager, what types of uses/development would you like to see along Route 8?
• As a business owner or manager, what types of uses/development would you NOT like to see along Route 8?
• What is the No. 1 issue facing the Route 8 corridor business environment?
• What is the No. 1 thing the city should do to improve the business environment within the Route 8 corridor?

Most of the questions for residents are the same as those for business owners.
Livingston said East Peoria and Washington leaders partnered with the Tri-County Regional Planning Commission to complete the $34,000 study, which consists of the survey, upcoming town hall meetings and a culmination of plans and drawings.

The three entities sponsoring the study are paying Houseal Lavigne, a consultant based in Naperville, to gather the input and come up with conceptual plans.

One aspect of the study involves a streetscape concept along the Route 8 corridor.
“Streetscape can be anything from a unifying theme, benches, trash receptacles, landscaping, off-roadway design,” Livingston said. “I guess I would associate it with the Main Street program. Communities go in and develop with lighting, awnings and consistent themes, trying to improve the overall attractiveness of the area.”

Peoria officials recently did a similar study along Sheridan Road and a
number of towns in Chicago have focused on streetscape.

The Route 8 corridor survey was posted on the city’s Web site at the beginning of the year. Input is welcome through Jan. 31.

Late last year, letters were also sent to about 40 business owners along the corridor seeking their input. Livingston said there has also been outreach with local elected officials.

“The goal is to get local input before this streetscape design comes back. You can’t plan in a vacuum,” Livingston said.

Many of the current buildings fronting the Route 8 corridor in Sunnyland are being scrutinized as well. The study also includes the Sunnyland Plaza and some side streets with businesses.

“The rest of that corridor really sinks or swims with the health of that plaza,” Livingston said.
The cities of East Peoria and Washington, along with the Heartland Partnership, completed a retail study about the plaza last year.

After the corridor surveys are complete, Livingston said public meetings should take place in March, with a final document presented in April.

“Certainly there’s going to be some council involvement,” Livingston said.

It is not yet known how much funding would be required to revamp the corridor, but Livingston said it will be a private and public endeavor.

“The first step is to see what’s suggested,” he said, adding the study is not one that he thinks will be done and put on a back shelf.

“This is the first time to my knowledge that both communities have gotten together to take a look at this ... I would like to think of it as reasonably aggressive, looking at something that would work. It’s not, ‘Hey, it’s a great plan,’ pat each other on the back. I think it’s, ‘Where do we go from here with it and make some of these things real?’” Livingston said.

Livingston said city planners are still waiting to hear back from the state to expand the enterprise zone through Sunnyland to try to spur new business.

“We have to get businesses in there to occupy (the buildings). This is kind of one piece of that puzzle,” he said.