Lincoln City Council to host public hearing April 12th for the vacation of a portion of South State Street
Infrastructure changes to have long term impact to local residents

 

[March 23, 2022] 

Monday evening the Lincoln City Council approved a motion that set the date and time for a public hearing to vacate a portion of State Street in Lincoln, surrendering the property over to the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice to be incorporated into the campus of a new Juvenile Detention Center.

The public hearing will be held on Monday, April 12th at 7 p.m. in the city council chambers on the second floor of City Hall. Members of the community are invited to attend the meeting, and speak to the topic if desired.

It should be noted that the only subject at hand is the vacation of the road. The property being turned into the juvenile detention center is the former Lincoln Developmental Center, owned by the state of Illinois. The city of Lincoln has no say on the development of the campus or the use of the property. They will not be able to comment on or consider requests regarding the specific use of the property or the specific design of the actual detention center.

Aldermen have had lengthy discussions on the vacating of the street, and the impact a new road built by the IDJJ and turned over to the city after construction, will have on residents in the community.



At the Tuesday, March 15th meeting of the council, representatives from the IDJJ presented their site plan and discussed the construction of the new road that will run along the west side of the railroad tracks joining West Kickapoo Street to South State Street on the far south end of the former LDC property.

Among the project representatives on hand was Bill Peyton with the IDJJ, Dustin Erickson of Terra Engineering, IDJJ Director Heidi Miller, and calling in to the meeting was Tim Weber with Cordogan Clark & Associates.
 

At a November 2021 meeting of the council these same representatives discussed the request to vacate a portion of State Street. At that time there was an expressed concern over the impact closing that section of State would have to traffic flow on West Kickapoo.



At the March 15th meeting, it was reported that a traffic study had been conducted using cameras to record the number of vehicles passing through the community around the clock. It was reported that on the average there are 330 vehicles in the area each day.



There were also 30 trucks daily, most of which were concrete trucks. It was later noted that the concrete trucks are not supposed to be using that route, and also that the number of trucks is a reflection of the construction work going on at the new Illinois American Water Treatment plant. Therefore, while that may be the correct number now, it won’t be in the future.

Alderman Tony Zurkammer asked if the change in the infrastructure was going to impact emergency response vehicles. Fire Chief Bob Dunovsky said that it would not. Alderman Rick Hoelfe also wondered about the route. He noted that coming out of the downtown area where the Lincoln Fire Department is located, it looked like trucks would be crossing under a viaduct, taking a steep hill then turning immediately to the left to go to the south part of town. He felt that was a hazardous situation. Dunovsky said that the area south of the LDC campus was not within the city fire service area, that it would be the Lincoln Rural Fire going to that area and utilizing a completely different route.

Tim Weber asked that the group take a look again at the first slide the IDJJ was presenting regarding the closure of State Street. He pointed out the area that would be closed as the pink line with area dashed lines. He pointed out the maroon line that would be the new road.
 

He noted that south of the campus there was one private residence that would be impacted by the changes. He said the far end of South State would be marked as a “no outlet” street and a turn-around would be provided to deter traffic from going to the private residence.



He said that to improve drainage around the West Kickapoo street area there would be retention basins. Also a berm would be removed in that area. The road would be regraded, drainage improved and a swale installed to improve drainage.

The swale would be located in the vicinity of the long green rectangle on the photo.

Alderman Sam Downs asked if there would be parking issues for the residents along that green area. He was told there would not, but Alderman Kevin Bateman said that indeed there would be issues.

Bateman said the road is already too narrow and that there are four residents within that area that are currently parking in their yards because they don’t feel secure putting their cars along the street. He said that adding the left turn onto West Kickapoo from the new road would be a big problem for those folks. He surmised that there would be an increased risk of sideswipe incidents involving those parked cars.

He wanted the IDJJ to widen the road at the turn. He had asked that they modify their street plan when they were there in November, and had expected to see that modification when the group returned, but it was not there.
 

There was a great deal of bantering back and forth about how the new road and new left turn would endanger parked vehicles on West Kickapoo Street. At one time it was mentioned that a city fire truck coming into town from the south would turn left, and would be a high risk of hitting the cars that were parked in front of the homes on that street. Finally, Chief Dunovsky said that there would be no reason whatsoever for a Lincoln city fire truck to come up from the south and turn left.

Mayor Tracy Welch asked Police Chief Matt Vlahovich if there were currently any records of sideswipes on West Kickapoo due to the road being too narrow. Vlahovich said he knew there was not.

After much discussion, IDJJ Director Heidi Miller, who had been sitting at the back of the room came forward. She told the council that the IDJJ has to go by state laws, and state laws say that no state agency or department may alter the construction of a municipal road. Therefore, yes the road could be widened, but it would have to be at the city’s expense, not the IDJJ.

Welch said that the aldermen could take that into consideration. If the city wants to widen the road, then the funding would have to come from the city’s budget meaning that probably some other needed road repair would have to be let go.

After more mulling over of the situation, the question came, could the IDJJ do away with the berm in the green rectangle and then could the city permit parking on the south side of West Kickapoo in that first block. Also, it was noted that some of the residents are hauling their own gravel into their yards and creating parking, could the city do something about that? Perhaps haul the gravel and establish the parking areas? The consensus was that it was an option the city could consider.

Downs and Bateman had both said previously that they would not support the design without the widening of West Kickapoo. After the discussion about adding south side parking and gravel for the residents, both agreed that the plan was more palatable.

Tim Weber said that the IDJJ could designate land back to the city if it wants to provide the extra parking. There is currently no curb and gutter in the area and the question came could the IDJJ provide that. Miller said she didn’t know but would find out.
 

Throughout the course of the discussion, Aldermen Bateman and Downs expressed concerns over the increased traffic on West Kickapoo. Dunovsky told the council that he and city Zoning and Safety Officer Wes Woodhall had done their own observation of traffic in the area and they felt confident that West Kickapoo was not going to see the increase in traffic that the aldermen feared and might even see less traffic. Vlahovich and Walt Landers with the city street department both agreed with Dunovsky’s statement.

Alderman Steve Parrott suggested that the city should permit the changes that are being requested by the IDJJ, then keep an eye on the situation. He felt that if there was a problem it would show itself and the city could address it if and when.

Zurkammer said that if there indeed was no more traffic, and possibly even less traffic, then all this concern was really a non-issue. He added that he didn’t want to hold up the IDJJ project for something that might not be necessary.

Welch said that the IDJJ needs the approval of the city to vacate the requested portion of State Street before it can move forward with anything. He felt that the city should do what it can to work with the IDJJ in this matter.

The discussion then moved to the next steps for the city. City Attorney John Hoblit explained the need to create an ordinance for the “publication” of the request and the notice of a public hearing. The publication has to go in a print paper no less than 15 days prior to the public hearing. The council would have to approve the ordinance and the publication of the notices put in the paper. Looking at the timeline, it was determined that if the council approved the ordinance on March 21st, the public hearing could be held on April 12th.

Aldermen then agreed to place the item on the Monday agenda.

This week the motion for the publication and notice of public hearing passed unanimously with no further discussion.

[Nila Smith]