[SEPT. 15, 2000]  The folks in downtown Lincoln got their first view of Heartland Community College’s "new look" yesterday when the wooden barricades protecting the front of the building at 620 Broadway came down. Although the new facade still needs a little work, including an awning and light fixtures, Heartland staff members think it’s a big improvement.

[These wooden barricades were in place in front of the Heartland Community College center at 620 Broadway for several months while renovators removed all the old windows.]

The work on the Heartland headquarters is part of the Downtown Renovation Project funded by a grant from the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT). IDOT pays 80 percent of the cost, while the owners of the buildings pay the rest. Twelve other downtown buildings are in the program.

Because the bottom half of the Heartland building was formerly all windows, the protective wooden barricades were necessary when the old glass was taken out, said a member of the Vancil Contracting Company, which is doing the restoration work. An entire new front, with new masonry work, doors and windows, was installed.

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[The new facade at Heartland Community College’s Lincoln campus has a center beam and new brick masonry. Heartland employees Becky Shelley (left) and Velma Morris like the new look.]

"This will be much better for heating and cooling," said Becky Shelley, receptionist/secretary at Heartland. "It’s a nice improvement," said academic advisor Velma Morris.

The building is owned by the Lincoln Public Library, which houses its fiction and children’s section in the back part of the structure. "This is a good deal for the taxpayer," Richard Sumrall, library director, told the Lincoln Daily News. "The cost of this project was $96,000, and we only had to pay approximately $18,000. This gives the downtown a new and more attractive building and gets away from the old retail look the building had previously."

[Joan Crabb]

[SEPT. 14, 2000]  If Lincoln and New Holland approve its requests, Spectrum Energy Inc. hopes to break ground for its electricity generating plant near New Holland sometime in October, Matthew Hortenstine, attorney for the group, told the Lincoln City Council at its work session Tuesday evening. Called a "peaker plant," the three small generators would run only at peak times when demands for electricity exceed the amount of power that is available from the current grid.

The generator would be located on 5½ acres of land east of New Holland. The plant itself would take up 2½ to 3 acres, and the tallest part of the structure, the stack, would be somewhere between 35 to 50 feet tall—probably about 40 feet, Hortenstine said. The location was chosen because of its proximity to a major natural gas line and a power line.

The company would like to complete the $60 million plant by June 1, 2001, so it would be in operation during the summer months when air conditioners create additional demands for electric power. The plant would run a maximum of 1,500 hours per year, with 750 to 1,000 hours being a more likely running time, according to Hortenstine.

Spectrum would like the city of Lincoln to extend its enterprise zone from Lincoln’s west side to New Holland to take advantage of the 6.25 percent state sales tax waiver on the purchase of equipment and materials. Hortenstine said the project would have a "positive impact" on both communities, as Spectrum would not seek a local real estate tax abatement; the plant would create some jobs, both permanent and long-term; and it might benefit New Holland in providing additional water sources.

Grant Eaton, sewage treatment plant superintendent, said the new plant would provide a revenue source for Lincoln by having the water used to cool the turbines processed at the city sewage plant at three cents a gallon.

In reply to concerns about noise levels, Hortenstine offered to rent a van to take city officials to visit similar plants in Illinois, in particular the one in St. Elmo. He said Illinois has the strictest noise statutes in the country, and the generators would make less noise than the grain dryers in the New Holland elevators. He also said Spectrum was hiring a hydrologist to determine the impact the plant would have on the aquifer. In a "worst case scenario," the plant would use 400,000 gallons of water per day.

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After the plant is built, Spectrum would sell it to a utility company, which Hortenstine said would be bound by all the agreements made by the original builder. A public hearing on the plant will be held in New Holland this week, he told the council.

In other business, the sewage and drainage committee declined a request for the city to take over the maintenance of a drainage ditch on the west side of town. The ditch crosses Route 10 near the location of Kentucky Fried Chicken and Taco Bell, runs back of Maverick Steak House to a retention pond, then goes into Allison Lake

"I see no reason whatsoever the city would want to take it over," Eaton told the council. "You would be buying a headache."

Eaton was authorized to write a grant proposal for approximately $500,000 to purchase additional streetlights for the area surrounding the downtown historic district, similar to those installed downtown two years ago.

The ordinance and zoning committee agreed to put a request for salary increases for the city clerk, the city treasurer and the mayor on the agenda at the next regular meeting Sept. 18. Aldermen also began work on a priority list for road rehabilitation work for next year.

[Joan Crabb]

[SEPT. 13, 2000]  Problems caused by flocks of birds and piles of autumn leaves came up for discussion at Tuesday night’s work session of the Lincoln City Council. A solution seems to be in hand for the Mayfair residents who have been plagued by huge flocks of grackles, but the problem of the piles of fallen leaves that will face some residents in October remains on the agenda.

"Bird-bangers," pyrotechnic devices which are shot into the air and explode with a loud noise, have succeeded in dispersing thousands of grackles that have been gathering to roost in trees in Mayfair, becoming nuisances and health hazards, according to Police Chief Richard Ludolph.

For six evenings, police officers have been shooting the bird-bangers approximately every five minutes while the birds are gathering to roost, just before dark. The bird-bangers do not injure or kill the birds, just frighten them away.

Ludolph said when he first went to Mayfair, he saw thousands of birds coming into the subdivision. "Tonight I hardly saw any," he told the council. He said police will not be shooting any more devices in Mayfair unless the birds come back.

Although police aimed the noisemakers to drive the birds east, away from town and into the countryside, Ludolph said a few are roosting in other areas of the city, around Rutledge Drive, Wichita Avenue and Lincolnwood Drive by Heritage Avenue, but not in the huge numbers seen in Mayfair. These areas will be monitored to see if a problem develops.

Alderman Stephen Mesner of the second ward brought up the perennial problem of disposal of leaves in the city of Lincoln.

"Are we going to have a program to collect leaves this year, or are we saying totally, 100 percent residents take care of it all?" he asked.

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Alderman William Melton, who was chairing the session in the absence of Mayor Joan Ritter, said that unless the streets committee wanted to consider the issue, there was no change in the city’s policy. Street Superintendent Donnie Osborne noted that according to the city ordinance, it is still illegal for homeowners to rake leaves into the street for the city to pick up.

"We still prefer they bring their leaves to us at the landfill," Osborne said. He said the city would extend the hours the landfill would be open, and residents could bring in leaves and yard waste at no charge.

"There are many residents who are not going to be able to take leaves to the dump," Mesner replied.

The present city ordinance allows burning landscape waste only in locations 50 feet or more from any structure, such as a house, garage or business. For many areas of Lincoln, this rules out leaf burning entirely because of the density of buildings, a spokesman for the Lincoln Fire Department said.

At a previous meeting, Lincoln resident Charlotte Griffin asked the council to consider permitting leaf burning three days a week. She said this would allow people with respiratory ailments to enjoy the outdoors the other four days.

Alderman Steve Fuhrer, chairman of sidewalks, forestry and lighting, scheduled a meeting at 6:30 p.m. on Sept. 26 for the committee to discuss extending landfill hours for leaf disposal.

[Joan Crabb]

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