DANVILLE — Two years after the Quaker Oats plant that employed more than 500 was closed and then demolished, the city of Danville hopes to partner with railroad companies to market the property, along with other land on East Voorhees Street, as an almost 100-acre “mega site”.
The Danville City Council’s Public Works Committee on Tuesday recommended acquiring 1703 E. Voorhees St. for $500 from Quaker Manufacturing LLC, to use for economic development.
The city council finds that accepting the property “will provide the city with an opportunity to facilitate future economic development, redevelopment, commercial or industrial development, flood remediation on site and along Voorhees Street,” according to the resolution. The full council plans to act on the acquisition next week.
Danville Community Development Administrator Logan Cronk said the $500 purchase price is for closing costs and “it is truly a land donation.”
He added that they’d not been certain PepsiCo would fulfill the promise of donating the former Quaker Oats property.
Part of the reason for the wait was for the site to be demolished, graded and seeded, Cronk said.
About 35 to 40 acres of the property was formerly the parking lot and building; about 50 percent of the property is in a flood plain, including the former Heatcraft facility property to the west, Cronk said.
The city is hoping for state assistance to remediate the flood plain for the mega site.
The back section of the former Quaker Oats property, installed about six years ago by Quaker, has an 8-acre solar panel site and a large substation. Annually, it could produce about $94,000 a year in energy sales back to Ameren for the city. However, that doesn’t account for solar-related maintenance costs.
Cronk added that there’s “no real concern of contamination” at the property after a phase 1 environmental study was completed. A limited phase 2 soil boring also will occur.
Cronk said the most valuable item is the property’s railroad connectivity and a switch just off site.
In other business, the committee recommended: purchasing 12 additional Verkada surveillance cameras to be placed on various streets through an organized retail crime grant program; approving Bowman and Seminary streets engineering for improvements; seeking funding for Bowman and Voorhees streets pedestrian improvements; and purchasing 33 N. Hazel St., parking lot parcels at North Hazel and East North streets for $81,000 from the Vermilion Housing Authority.
The parking lot property was at one time considered for a housing development that never came to fruition.
Cronk said the city was approached by the housing authority to buy it. Due to liability, the housing authority quit allowing public access to the property.
He added that the price is non-negotiable, adding that it’s a Housing and Urban Development-owned property and this is the appraised value they must sell it at.
City officials said it’s to be determined if the property can help with expanding Danville Mass Transit facilities.
However, Cronk said the food truck lot is expected nearby downtown in the next year and parking in the North Street area is expected to pick up more. The city would like to shift some of the public parking again to this lot.
“I think there’s a good use for this,” Cronk said, adding that it’s great to also have the lot under city control.
The committee also heard about the Labor Day parade the city took over this year.
Ward 1 Alderman Ed Butler said the children entering into the street and going in front of parade floats was “very, very dangerous. It was scary.”
He suggested more volunteers, auxiliary and/or police officers to handle the crowd better.
