By Patrick Yeagle Ponics Project owner Jeremy Mann, shown here at his building in 2016, had hoped to establish a hydroponic garden and community center at 1901 Elizabeth St. Photo by Patrick Yeagle. The City of Springfield this week began demolishing a north-end building constructed in 1885. A demolition permit was issued this [...]
The Carpenter Street underpass, built as part of the rail relocation, opened to traffic last year. Photo by Patrick Yeagle. By Patrick Yeagle Springfield's ongoing rail relocation project took a step forward last week with the release of $16 million in federal funding. The money, which comes from two grants, will help pay [...]
Karen Davis announces her resignation at the July 18 city council meeting. By Patrick Yeagle Karen Davis is resigning as director of Planning and Economic Development for the City of Springfield. Davis made the announcement Tuesday at the Springfield City Council meeting. She has served in the position since June 2015, when she [...]
By Patrick Yeagle The Springfield City Council on Tuesday approved the use of $757,800 from the city's downtown TIF to pay for repair of the roof at Springfield's Municipal Center East. The TIF request was one of three forwarded to the city council by the Springfield Economic Development Commission (EDC) on Tuesday. At a special [...]
The Illinois State Capitol. Photo courtesy of Illinois CMS Division of Media Services. Illinois may soon have a full budget for the first time in two years, thanks to a handful of Republicans who voted for two budget bills and an accompanying tax increase bill. The Illinois General Assembly passed the trio of [...]
By Patrick Yeagle It's been four years since Illinois adopted regulations on high-volume hydraulic fracturing, but it was only last month that the first application was filed with state regulators to actually use the controversial oil and gas extraction process. The company seeking the permit says its first well would be for research, part of [...]
The Springfield City Council approved zoning variances for three proposed restaurants on Tuesday. City ordinance limits the locations of establishments selling alcohol. It's common for restaurants, bars and similar establishments to seek zoning variances allowing them to open in areas otherwise prohibited. At the city council meeting on Tuesday, aldermen approved variances for restaurants at: [...]
The Springfield City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved William O'Hearn as director of Lincoln Library. O'Hearn comes to Springfield from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where he was most recently supervisor of the Cedar Rapids Public Library Downtown Branch. He will be paid $85,000 and will have 12 months to establish residency in Springfield.
The Springfield City Council on Tuesday voted down a proposal to give them oversight of certain new apartment and storage unit developments. The proposal comes about a month after the council approved raising the threshold to trigger oversight of large scale developments. Springfield mayor Jim Langfelder had proposed a change to the city's large scale [...]
The following building, electrical or other permits were recently approved for projects in Springfield by the City of Springfield Building and Zoning Office: -Silverleaf Children's Academy, 2715 S. Fourth St., obtained a permit for a 3,800-square-foot remodel. The contractor is Joyner Construction, and the project valuation is $80,000. -Glen Garrison obtained a permit obtained a permit [...]