By Andrea Arens
The first Downtown Streetscape Ad Hoc Committee meeting since February had a new board member assigned to the committee. Trustee Jackie Richards joined Trustees Shelley Marevka and Julie Sluis. The committee met for about 30 minutes with Mayor Peter March on July 10.
In that meeting, March said the first phase of the Railroad Street and parking lot construction was complete, and the entryway would be corrected to make it easier for larger vehicles to enter the parking area. March did not say the cost of that correction. The steel fence along the railroad tracks has been damaged in multiple areas due to vehicles backing into it.
There also was discussion of hanging flowering baskets on the light poles. In the future, the light poles could accommodate a hanging basket and a banner in the summer and two banners in the winter.
March also presented a Phase 2 update and shared Upland Design, which recently was approved for $31K for design work and plans, is fine tuning where elements such as trees, planters, benches, and light poles will go.
The design plan includes crosswalks, driveways, bump-outs at corners, also light poles, planters with plants inside the planters, and trees.
The plant list had an emphasis on low maintenance plants, mostly perennials and shrubs.
Discussion around types of trees, sizes, and grates around trees ensued, and it was agreed the list will be given to Public Works Manager Bob Henkel to review and get quotes from professionals for annual maintenance before deciding who will maintain them – public works employees or contractors.
Trustee Richards asked if the project will be disruptive to businesses in the downtown area, and March confirmed it would. March continued that the cost to split the project into phases would cost an additional $500K and could possibly affect the guidelines of the $2.5M grant awarded to the village. March suggested a meeting in the fall with downtown business owners for discussion and to mitigate impact as much as possible.
The project is expected to take three months.
Trustee Sluis added that she did not prefer one of the pavers selected by Upland that was orange in color, despite it only being 5-10 percent of the project. Sluis also added she did not like the samples of street signs provided by Upland and agreed to look into other options. Sluis also would be looking into speakers for the downtown.
March said he would prefer a sign welcoming people to Peotone but not an arch, and one that matches the street signs.
March added additional meetings with Upland and Robinson will be held to iron out details as the goal is to have the bid out by December/January and award the contract immediately thereafter. Depending on the cost, March suggested some decisions to cut portions or spend savings may need to be made to complete the project.
March also asked to add a couple EV charging stations on each block, but only if the village was awarded a grant to cover the cost.