From the City Manager's Desk: |
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City Manager Pamela Reece
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| A primary tenet of the Town of Normal is that we "plan our work and work our plan." This value permeates our work and has been the foundation of my 30+ years at the Town.
This issue provides updates on the Town's Strategic Plan, as well as the progress we've made on the Bicycle Pedestrian Master Plan. I'm proud of the work we've done to keep the Town of Normal moving forward.
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Recent Council actions support other of the Town's plans, including the Comprehensive Plan and the Vision 2050 Sustainability Plan. Read on to learn more.
We recently welcomed Illinois State University and Heartland Community College students as the fall semester begins to unfold. We're excited about the energy they bring to our community.
Summer's not over just yet ... this weekend is the annual Sweet Corn Circus. I'll see you in Uptown Normal for this all-ages festival celebrating our circus and agricultural roots. Don't miss the Gamma Phi Circus, the wrestlers, the vendors and more! Did I mention the corn? Sweet corn: it's the golden ticket to community smiles!
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On Aug. 18, Town staff presented an update on The Town of Normal Strategic Plan.
The plan, implemented in 2023, provides a long-term road map for the Town and includes 28 goals under four strategic priority areas. Many plan goals are long-range efforts. Of the 28 goals in the plan, four are complete, 13 are in progress, seven are ongoing and four are not yet started.
Completed goals include:
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Identifying a strategy for fully funded pension without sacrificing budgets for services and amenities
- Exploring workplace scheduling approaches and processes
- Evaluating and updating the municipal code, with reviews for housing density, parking and historic districts, among many other topics
- Advancing sustainability efforts and awareness and creating community sustainability activities and guidelines
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| Strategic Priority Areas: |
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On Aug. 18, Council took the following actions:
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- Executed an intergovernmental agreement with Illinois State University for Fire Protection Service
- Amended the Town Liquor Code to include the Illinois Art Station, broadening the scope of events that may be held at the facility
- Approved the purchase of updated park and park amenities signs
- Awarded a contract to regrade, rehabilitate and replant the shoreline of the Eagle’s Landing Detention Basin to address erosion and improve the water quality
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Approved the installation of ground-mounted solar panels at Heartland Community College supporting the Town’s Comprehensive Plan and Vision 2025 Sustainability Plan by encouraging infill development and expanding the use of renewable energy
- Rezoned property in the Interchange City West Subdivision and at 210 W. Mulberry
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Approved modified boundaries for the Bloomington Normal Enterprise Zone, an area designed to stimulate economic growth and community revitalization through state and local tax incentives to support and promote business growth and create jobs
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| The Town of Normal will replace old, decaying signs in public facilities and improve aesthetics and wayfinding for park users with updated park and park amenity signs.
The effort is Phase 2 of a four-year, five-phase plan which kicked off earlier this year with the renaming of the Karraker Aquatic Center.
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Bicycle Pedestrian Master Plan Hits Five- Year Mark |
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The Town of Normal is proud to offer high-quality bicycle and pedestrian facilities for residents and visitors.
In 2020, the Town approved a Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan to ensure the community continues to improve bicycle and pedestrian amenities. In the Vision 2050 Sustainability survey, nearly 40% of residents said they want the Town to design streets to be bike and pedestrian friendly.
Here are some highlights of progress made since the plan's adoption five years ago:
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Added 1.1 miles of Constitution Trail and on-street bike path at the Kelley Detention Basin and signed the route from Towanda Avenue to Beech Street
- Added 1.5 miles to the Constitution Trail at two locations: on Gregory Street from Parkside Road to Adelaide Street and behind Grove Elementary from Raab Road to Shepard Road
- Installed .5 miles of sidewalk on Landmark Drive from College Avenue to Arborwalk and along Airport Road
- Added flashing signs at both Constitution Trail crossings on Vernon Avenue to improve bicycle and pedestrian visibility
- Widened sidewalks and installed new curb ramps along Adelaide Street
- Added more than 600 accessibility-compliant curb ramps along sidewalks throughout Normal
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Fiber installation underway in community |
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Companies, including Frontier Internet, have been installing fiber-optic cable in Normal. You may see workers in your neighborhood installing fiber via public easements. These workers are not Town of Normal employees; they are contractual staff hired by the private companies.
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Running fiber in a community helps make the internet faster and more reliable. Companies do this because it allows everyone, including families, schools and businesses, to use the internet more easily.
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A public easement allows utility companies to use a small part of land for important services ... like electricity, water or internet. Easements are typically created before homes are first built.
So even if a piece of land looks private ... like your front yard or the strip between the sidewalk and street ... legal rights let utility workers come onto it to install or fix lines and pipes. They’re not there to snoop; they’re just doing their job to keep things running for the whole community.
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See you in Uptown Normal! |
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