EAST PEORIA, Ill. — Mayor of East Peoria, John Kahl, said that the state of the city is confidence and promise for the city.
“I think East Peoria has done a phenomenal job of staying ahead of the curve at a time when I think the state of Illinois, as we all know, has its own set of challenges, and we continue to lose businesses and residents alike,” Kahl said.
The future goals with the city is to bring more residents and businesses back to the area, while also retaining those that are already there.
Upgrades are coming to the city, including the Waste Water Treatment Plant. That project is being done in four phases Mayor Kahl said during his State of the City Address.
“Overall, when this project is completed, all four phases, all then it’s going to be about a 66 million dollar project,” Kahl said.
Right now, the city is in the first three phases of the project. Five hundred and sixty three days were given for the project, and 331 days remain.
Mayor Kahl also discussed the proposed fiscal budget for 2020-2021, which will be presented on March 17.
“On the revenue side of it, you’re looking at over 57 million dollars,” Kahl said.
The expense side of the budget includes the phases for the Waste Water Treatment Plant, which add up to around 85 million dollars.
Mayor Kahl said that a roundabout was discussed for Camp and River St., however many citizens were not fond of the idea for another roundabout.
“It’s not going to be a roundabout, because what we’d like to do is a signalized intersection, and we do improvements to it,” Kahl said. “So, we’re going to have two full service right turn lanes.”
Mayor Kahl went to the Illinois Department of Transportation and asked to re-introduce the left turn lane on Conference Center Dr.
“Initially they said no, but persistence paid off and IDOT has recently agreed to that,” Kahl said.
During his speech, Mayor Kahl also announced some development opportunities that are coming. Including a new hotel called Residence Inn that will open this winter.
“This is going to be a four story hotel, with 111 rooms at Frontier Hospitality,” Kahl said. The hotel will be located behind Kohls.
Plans for a new Panera Bread also in development with a new location at the current roundabout, with a drive-thru.
Schools in the area are also getting improvements this year. East Peoria Community High School will see a finished HVAC system.
“That will provide air conditioning to the classrooms. That’s a big undertaking. As you know, we have some of the new, but we have a lot of the old. And, they’ve been working very hard on that,” Kahl said.
Renovations will also be done to Shute School with District 86.
Mayor Kahl also said that they will be reinvesting in Eastside.
“Eastside facilities it’s aging, they do a phenomenal job of maintaining what they have,” Kahl said.
They want to begin with the fields and other things around the fields.
“The council is unanimously in support of reinvesting in that facility,” Kahl said.
With the removal of Splashdown, that allows more opportunities for Eastside.
