The Danville City Council Public Works Committee has forwarded to full Council an intergovernmental agreement with Vermilion Advantage, made possible by the work of State Senator Paul Faraci. As Community Development Administrator Logan Cronk explains, the idea is for an open downtown food truck lot in the areas of the old Chart Records and DC Fitness sites at 125 through 131 North Vermilion.
AUDIO: It was a vision that was brought up several years ago; didn’t have the funding source set aside for it. And then, sure enough, some allocated dollars came towards the city from Senator Faraci’s office; and he liked the idea. The project has a lot of momentum behind it, as soon as the buildings go down.
Danville Community Development Administrator Logan Cronk (second from right).
Cronk says with or without the food trucks there; the plan is for an open area that can be enjoyed all the time, and not an eyesore of any kind.
AUDIO: The intent is to make this very aesthetically pleasing, for people to also go to other downtown businesses, and come together at this one location. The food truck is secondary to what we are imagining as a really nice outdoor place to enjoy spending a little bit more time downtown.
Meanwhile, the Public Transportation portion of the committee meeting mentioned that the Illinois Department of Transportation is coming to Danville next week to take a look at the Danville Mass Transit Building situation at 101 North Jackson. As Mayor Rickey Williams, Jr points out; ever since DMT took over the CRIS Rural Mass Transit District, it’s become quite crowded over there.
AUDIO: My hope is that they will see how tight our quarters are; and they might be able to not only release existing funding, but provide additional funding to provide a larger mass transit center. Right now, we have buses that are being parked in every which way in every bay. And we would like to have a state of the art facility, and we’re hoping that they might be able to partner with us on that.
Also talked about during the Public Services meeting, but not up for any action, was the Seven Point of Illinois Cannabis Dispensary off Lynch Road at 380 Eastgate Drive. The Smoke Lab Consumption Lounge is up, running, and bringing in the bands. But they are still not allowed to have patrons use the 1,500 square foot, fenced in patio area just outside the lounge for outdoor smoking. Seven Point CEO Brad Zerman says maybe Danville has not allowed this yet, but the patio area they have is perfectly legal according to state law.
AUDIO: Smoking outside is something that people have been doing for centuries. It’s the smoking inside that is usually the problem. The bottom line is that it’s allowed by the state of Illinois. Because we have it all set up in compliance with Illinois. But it sounded like tonight that even some people that were against the lounge are for the patio.
The item is expected to be on a future Public Works agenda.
