The Danville City Council has unanimously approved a change in the alignment of the city’s seven alderman wards based upon the latest census. Mayor Rickey Williams, Jr says this was handled the same way back when he was an alderman: The administration comes up with a proposal, asks the aldermen if they want any changes, and it’s put forward for a vote. Mayor Williams says he does wish that the new map, put together in August, could have been approved sooner.
AUDIO: I wish we could have gotten it done a little bit sooner, but we’ve had so many great things happening in the city that sometimes you just have to work on the fire before you, so.”
As for as what’s changing, the mayor says 3,079 Danville residents are changing wards. He offered a more detailed description.
AUDIO: We have 511 going from Ward One to Two, 357 going from One to Three, 87 going from Three to Four; 1,084 from Five to One, that’s the biggest change; ten from Five to Six, 369 from Six to Five, and 661 from Seven to Five.
The mayor told us after Tuesday night’s Council meeting that when it comes to anyone running in next spring’s municipal election who might now be in a different ward, or may have petition signatures now from someone outside their ward, the best thing to do is check the city website.
AUDIO: The best thing to do is to go to the City of Danville website to see the ward maps, and we should have those listed tomorrow or the next day.
The mayor says, if Danville stays the course, the next census, 2030, will hopefully provoke a case of redistricting because of increased population.
Also during Tuesday night’s City Council meeting, a presentation was heard from Ross Grimes of Fehr Graham Environmental Engineering concerning the city’s application for a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Brownfields Clean-Up Grant for the southeast corner of Vermilion and Fairchild. The parcels there, now owned by the city and hoped to be used for future development, include those that used to house the First Farmers Bank site, as well as Fonner’s Dry Cleaners.
(Left) Danville Community Development Administrator Logan Cronk introduces Fehr Graham’s Ross Grimes. (Right) Ross Grimes addresses the City Council.
Ross Grimes from Fehr Graham stated that some dry cleaning chemicals have been found in the soil, along with some hot spots where the bank used to be that are likely from a filling station that was there prior to the bank. The city will be applying for a grant that pays up to $2,000,000; and the estimated cost by Fehr Graham for excavating the contaminated soil at the site is $983,000. The grant application is due November 22nd, would be awarded next May or June; and if Danville get the grant, work could start next October. Mayor Williams says, there’s lots of hope for this corner, as there should be.
(Left) The City of Danville is seeking a USEPA Brownfields Clean-Up grant for the SE Corner of Vermilion and Fairchild, parcels which are owned by the city. (Right) Mayor Williams says the amount of clean-up needed at the old filling station on the NE corner of Vermilion and Fairchild is too much for the city to acquire the property, and that a new owner for the parcel would have to handle the project.
AUDIO: That’s one of the busiest intersections in all of Vermilion County. So if we can make it usable for business again, I have no doubt that we’ll fill that location.
As for the old gas station across from there on the northeast side of Vermilion and Fairchild, Mayor Williams says the city will never be able to take ownership of it because too much clean-up would need to be done. He says what that site will need is a new owner, willing to put in the work.
