Danville aldermen recommend approving car wash alley vacation

Jennifer Bailey, Commercial-News, Danville, Ill.
·4 min read

Oct. 13—DANVILLE — When the former Montana Mike's property was purchased for a Smitty's Car Wash, officials discovered that there are two unvacated alleys to the east and north of the property from the early 1900s.

According to Danville Community Development Administrator Logan Cronk, utility, city and other officials didn't know the alleyways existed until a property acquisition and property survey was completed. The alleys never were platted.

"This is going to clean up the property," Cronk said.

Ameren will have easements on the alleyways, for general public utility easements just in case, he added.

The Danville City Council's Public Works Committee recommended approving the alley vacation Tuesday night. The full city council will act on the alley vacation sought by Squirrel's Real Estate next week.

The committee also was introduced to new senior planner Jun Ik Sohn.

The committee heard from Voorhees resident Kevin Gombert of 9 E. Voorhees St., about a sidewalk issue and truck traffic on Voorhees. He requested the city replace a sidewalk area near his home, having already received confirmation of this from a former city employee, and asked about truck traffic being limited on Voorhees from Vermilion to Bowman.

The committee heard from Danville Mass Transit's Lisa Beith that DMT has hired two bus drivers and is only short one driver right now. They should be back up to full route schedules in the next month or so, but may not put all routes back on the schedule because some were underperforming. DMT also has seen upgraded LED lights.

Danville Mayor Rickey Williams Jr. also told aldermen he had six to seven submitted resumes interested in taking Ward 1 Brenda Brown's seat on the city council. Williams said he's interviewed the last two and should have a recommendation next week.

A pre-Civil War water wheel also was discovered in the river at Ellsworth Park and is being preserved, he said.

In other business, the committee recommended:

* Providing for the payment of certain outstanding bonds of the Danville Public Building Commission to save about $400,000 with the city's bond portion for the Public Safety Building.

* Approving the purchase of real estate at 1128 E. Fairchild St. and 1130 E. Fairchild St. for Garfield Park improvements and also 1510 Valleyview Ave. from Jonathan Mourer for $200,000; and 1218 E. Fairchild St. (including the seller's relocation costs) for $33,600 from Theordore Brownlee for the Garfield Park planned improvements. The Valleyview property is 13 acres, mostly wooded and ravine area, and not easily developable land that abuts Valleyview and Eastview where there are guardrails and it is a heavily dumped area, said City Engineer Sam Cole. Cole said the cost for the Valleyview property is a small percentage of the amount. The property was added in by the seller, to reach a certain fee, and it will be city-controlled and hopefully less maintenance in the future by the city, Cole said. Cole said they hope to fence it or better maintain and limit city costs in the long-term. Williams said the primary cost is to buy the commercial buildings on East Fairchild Street. The two properties to the west of the Garfield Park entrance have eight and five units, respectively. Williams said if the city pays a little more for the Valleyview property, Holiday Hills residents won't have to deal with as much trash.

* Amending the 2022 sealcoat contract for an additional $31,950 for a total contract of $664,067 with Daniel L. Ribbe Trucking.

* Amending the Countryway drainage improvements contract by an additional $14,124 with Stark Excavating for a total contract of $125,924.

* Approving an $83,400 contract with Citizenserve for building safety, code enforcement, business licensing software, and authorizing a budget amendment. The city will be adding business licenses. There will be a credit card fee for users. It should be up and running in 8-12 months.

* Approving a one-year extension of the environmental code enforcement software license agreement for $20,385 with the Sidwell Co. for Accela software.

* Amending the contract for construction engineering services for the Denmark and Old Ottawa roadway and pedestrian improvements and amending the fiscal year 2022-2023 infrastructure development budget. The $269,110 contract with Knight and Associates Surveying LLC increases to $334,110. The Denmark project is still waiting on utility relocations and paving.

* Authorizing electricity agreements for city-owned buildings and streetlights. Energy costs are more than doubling the current contract for city buildings.