City purchases vape shop building
Jun. 6—DANVILLE — A vape shop will not be opening in the building near Danville High School at 8 E. Fairchild St.
The Danville City Council Tuesday night unanimously approved the property purchase for $310,000 from Sanany Properties LCC of Peoria. The property sold earlier this year for about $127,000. Funding comes from the city's Midtown Tax Increment Financing District.
Danville Mayor Rickey Williams Jr. and City Engineer Sam Cole said the city was eyeing purchasing the property, but didn't want to pay around $280,000 for it in the open market and not be able to do a site contamination assessment on it. The seller at the time wasn't interested in doing that, as the seller is now, Cole said.
Cole said the property then sold for lower than listed.
As plans for the Royal Vape shop started, the city approached the owners about selling it. This was to gain access to the property to go with the other surrounding city-owned property at Fairchild and Vermilion streets that will be cleaned up from any contamination for future redevelopment, and to prevent the vape shop from opening.
Ward 6 Alderman Jon Cooper said he doesn't want to see a vape shop open there and would support the city purchasing the property.
Cole said the city didn't have the property appraised, but negotiated the cost.
"It's a choice to buy it or not," he said.
Williams said this allows the city to make an area visible and usable again.
In audience comments, the council heard from Danville resident Carol Hogg about her still strong feeling of being betrayed by Williams and the council with the May 2 vote on the abortion-limiting ordinance.
She said the city officials "did the unthinkable" and violated their oath of office in abiding by state law. She said they are not effective leaders and the symbolic ordinance has already cost money and caused problems for the city.
The council also heard from Vermilion County Pride Coalition's Caylynne Dobbles about the more than 1,000 people who attended the previous weekend's Pridefest in downtown Danville. She said the new group looks to be an asset in the community, such as applying for group therapy curriculum grants for youth.
The council heard from Celester Brown and Dee Ann Ryan with the Elmwood Community Playground and Civic Group, who had several people present at the meeting, about working on affordable housing development in the neighborhood.
"The organization isn't new but we're really working hard to improve that area of the city," Brown said.
She said housing needs to be up to par for living standards for all ages in the neighborhood, in addition to improved streets, sidewalks and maintaining the park. They are working with the University of Illinois and others on plans.
"We want the housing to be much better," Brown said. "Much has to be done."
Resident Karl Kruger also questioned the city about receiving a letter about semi parking in his driveway. He's been parking it there for more than 18 years on Avenue C, which can hardly be seen from the road.
Williams also told the aldermen the city received grant application approval Tuesday, and a year extension to spend the money, on $1 million for the police department's five new police cars, updating Friendly Town's buildings and pavement and also to have a police training center and substation at the city's Voorhees Street facility.
"This is going to be a great boon for this community," Williams said.
The council approved:
* Appointing Elizabeth Sookarry to the Vermilion Regional Airport Authority Board and Ryan Brumfield to the David S. Palmer Arena Board.
* A budget amendment regarding additional hotel/motel tax money found through the city's Azavar agreement.
* Authorizing purchase of Office 365 software subscription for $39,204 from Microsoft through NobleTec.
* Authorizing application to the Illinois Housing Development Authority for up to $750,000 with no city match for securing, maintaining and demolishing abandoned properties.
* A $23,000 contract with Lipa of Indiana (Country Carpentry) for a Community Development Block Grant housing rehabilitation project at 1127 N. Logan Ave. for roof and sheathing replacement and installation of roof vents.
* Fence replacement at Fetch Dog Park for $56,500 by Alvin Fence Co. with funds from the Julius W. Hegeler II Foundation.