Statement on Olympian Drive Project
March 21, 2010

Folks,

I've heard from some of you (constituents from within Ward 1), residents of the city, and from many outside the city on the Olympian Drive issue (Many people don't identify who they are or where they are from -- my apologies if I don't know everyone in Ward 1).

Before the City Council Committee of the Whole tomorrow night (Monday March 22) is a draft agreement with the City of Champaign and Champaign County whereby Urbana becomes the lead agency (LA) for building Olympian Drive starting with the design process that will be paid for by the State ($5 million budgeted). You can look at this agreement yourself by going to the City's website under the City Council webpage in agendas:
http://www.city.urbana.il.us/Scripts/Council/Agendas.asp?a=03-22-2010&s=

Between now and Monday April 5, I'll have to make up my mind on how to vote on this issue so it is important to hear from Ward 1 constituents just as I'm sure that Brandon Bowersox and David Gehrig would welcome input from their constituents in WUNA.

Several of you have asked for more information on Olympian Drive. I will send additional information as it becomes available but I'm posting the mayor's statement to my website at this link: http://charliesmyth.org/docs/The%20Case%20FOR%20OLYMPIAN%20DRIVE.pdf and there are other city links below.

Mayor Prussing has also had a letter in the News-Gazette and Leslie Cooperband, the owner of Prairie Fruits Farm has another column in today's/Sunday News-Gazette.  Brandon Bowersox is preparing his own statement on his position and why he supports building Olympian Drive. I remain uncommitted (see below).

FAQ: The city has prepared a Frequently Asked Questions site here:
http://www.city.urbana.il.us/urbana/mayor/FAQ_OlympianDrive.pdf

and another statement on history and economic development  with other links mentioned below here:
http://www.city.urbana.il.us?URL=/urbana/community_development/economic_development/olympian_dr_project/main.html

Comprehensive Plan: The city approved a comprehensive plan in 2005 that includes expected development at the edges of the city and in the area outside the city limits but inside a "sphere of influence", a 1.5 mile extra jurisdictional area beyond the city limits. This plan includes the development of the area north of I74 and south of Olympian Drive that, under the assumptions made by the city's economic development staff using this Comp plan, and over 20 years to build out, is expected to result in over 10 million in annual property tax payments to the various taxing bodies and combined with sales and utility tax, over 2 million annually just to the city.

The Comp Plan is a planning document required by the state and is described on the city's web page along with links to maps and other documents:
http://www.city.urbana.il.us?URL=/urbana/community_development/planning/comprehensive_plan/main.html

Cost: assuming that the Federal and State Governments pick up the usual share of such projects, Urbana's share will cost between $1 and 2 million. This does not include building Lincoln Avenue northward to connect nor does it include extending Airport Road to connect with Lincoln (both shown in the Comprehensive Plan). These sorts of roads are usually built in partnership with developers and businesses locating along the roadways (such as proposed with the Florida Avenue extension when Menards is to be built). Where will this money come from and how does it impact our other potential commitments or economic development opportunities?

School District issues: Another issue is the boundary line between Urbana School District (116) and Champaign School District Unit 4. This boundary runs northward along Lincoln Avenue generally from the City limits but also follows the eastern branch of the Saline making for some real confusion. Libby Tyler has a map that may be posted to the city web site though I think it's also included in the Comprehensive Plan maps. Some of the properties, as they annex to the City of Urbana, are asked to switch to the Urbana School district. I don't know how successful this has been but I'll be raising this question as well. We have received oral statements from the school board president (who also doubles as the current Executive Director of the Economic Development Corporation for Champaign County and was formerly the long serving head of the Champaign County Regional Planning (CCRPC) - the agency responsible for the Long Range Transportation Plan) but not a formal letter of support from the full board (at least 2 of those board members are WUNA residents).

Here are my issues, questions, thoughts:

1. Is this sprawl or is this orderly growth of the City at this time? This growth will require expanded police, fire and public works which means that we need to understand the economics of both incoming revenues and outgoing expenditures under various scenarios. We've only seen one very optimistic scenario developed under a much better economic climate. Champaign has found itself overextended in the current economic climate, unable to keep up with road maintenance. With another winter season of lots of moisture/freeze-thaw, today's potholes are worse than ever. If you think it's hard to drive around town, try bicycling with a still tender hand! The current method of paying for a lot of our roadwork, motor vehicle fuel tax, has not kept up with inflation (it's set to pennies, not a percentage, by the state legislature). And the State is planning to cut its payment of taxes to cities to help balance the state budget.Sustainability from both an economic and environmental perspective is needed.

2. Is this a needed growth area - note that this area has been slowly expanding along the rail line and that several homes have been built along Lincoln Ave north of the industrial area (in an area designated as green corridor in the Comprehensive Plan). There are several platted housing developments in this area as well that haven't started. Will this total development occur over 20 years as assumed in the Comprehensive Plan or will it really take 50 years. We have 330 acres related to Menards to the east of town that are going nowhere at the moment. In fact, this is going so slowly that plans to expand the sewer system in this area are now on hold because there is no projected growth to pay for the building.

3. Is the potential high speed rail to be located on the east or west side of existing tracks? How would high speed rail impact development along this corridor? Would it preclude rail access to the east (Urbana) side? For those who don't remember, there's a 2nd rail line that has been cleared of track but is still part of the rail line all the way from downtown Chicago to downtown New Orleans. Just imagine a high speed version of the City of New Orleans.

4. Where exactly are bridges to be located if high speed rail does occur here? The current plans call for a bridge every 2 miles so would you put the bridges at Olympian and Leverett Roads or at Ford Harris (2000N) and 2200N? I do think we need a bridge somewhere along the rail line sooner rather than later - this is just needed for public safety. This may be the single most important reason to build Olympian Drive - just to get a bridge over the tracks somewhere within 2 miles north of I74. Maybe it's important to acquire the right of way now and then see what the next 5-10-20 years bring us.

5. Are we doing all we can to encourage infill development and higher densities in our core city areas? What about Orchard Downs and the Pell Farm (whose redevelopment would help recoup the $8 million in lost tax revenues from University of Illinois expansion).

6. To me the real development potential is along Lincoln Avenue close to the existing interstate and to the rail line. There is no money to build Lincoln Avenue to connect to Olympian at this time in any way useful for higher density/heavier vehicular traffic. Without money for Lincoln Ave, I don't see how Olympian really has a positive impact with the current economic climate and higher gasoline prices. However, for Urbana, an area like this is needed for potential heavier industrial development - there really is no other area like this - it's different from development along 130/150 and from development around Airport Road/Hwy 45.

7. How many remember that Farm and Fleet is a great place to buy lots of useful hardware, clothing, supplies, and so on? What would develop along Hwy 45 north of this that would benefit from Olympian Drive? Who is going to drive that far? For those of us who live in the center of the Urbana-Champaign area up against the UofI, and are used to bike commuting and walking much of the time, does this really benefit us?

8. How does the extension of Olympian Drive work with existing agreements on sharing in metrozones with the City of Champaign? Is continued participation in those agreements dependent on this road? Does the Champaign School District continue to have a position in opposition to this agreement? It is my understanding that the previous Urbana City Administration and Council (before 2005) rejected the building of Olympian primarily because no agreement could be reached with all the taxing districts. Currently, too much of this area is in the Champaign School District - particularly the area west of Lincoln Ave where we have seen the most development to date and where I see the most potential for development along the railroad tracks.

9. I question the overall design of the road itself as a 4 lane divided highway. Granted, the current design is 2 lanes and I would expect it to be a "complete street design" rather than one with a multiuse lane on one side - who is going to go up there to walk or ride or rollerblade? Maybe in 50 years but not if it were built today. Today, the only bicyclists that are going to be riding that far north are experienced enough to ride on bike lanes that are part of the roadway, not a multiuse path, just as they do now in out of town rides. Maybe all that will ever be needed here is an eventual 4 lane road like Windsor between Race and 1st Street - this has a smaller footprint that the 200 foot wide cross section currently planned.

10. I continue to be very critical of the Long Range Transportation planning process as being geared to building roads (this is a 1960's Federal Government mandated program) that excludes the public from the early planning process, putting it primarily in the hands of regional planning groups that bring completed documents to the public. This has been slowly changing with increasing amounts of public input but still do not reflect the realities of today's economics nor do they reflect the negative impact that such road building has had on sprawl. The results show that we cannot build ourselves out of congestion. I'm worried that this road will simply lead to more businesses  locating away from easily accessible central areas of the city.(eg. Carle Hospital/Clinic- Carle has an option on something like 60 acres in the unused industrial park just south of St. Thomas Moore HS). Does the general public or just a few individuals benefit from this development?

11. I will say that I think the claims of the opponents of Olympian Drive are a bit exaggerated and I also doubt the claims of dramatic economic success by building this road. I have known the Zeigler Family for nearly 30 years from my position at the University and likewise, Wes Jarrel and Leslie Cooperband since they arrived as faculty in a department co-located with mine (and yes, they make absolutely wonderful cheese rivaling cheeses from anywhere in the US and internationally).  I don't like pitting existing businesses and farmers against development with green space at a premium. However, the technical merits of the road's path do seem to make a great deal of sense as they allow for a smaller (and hence less expensive) bridge to be built over the railroad tracks, avoid difficult crossings of the two branches of the river lessening the impact on these wetlands, don't require any homes to be moved or purchased (these last two are a major reason for not following the existing path of 1900N which only runs from Hwy 45 to Willow Road), and terminates at Hwy 45 at a perpendicular angle.

This is an important decision and your input and advice is most welcome.

-c

-- 
-Charlie Smyth
csmyth@sbcglobal.net
Urbana City Council Member, Ward 1