Ottawa council hears details of Madison Street redevelopment

It won’t be long before the 100 block of West Madison Street in Ottawa receives a major sprucing up.

At a special town hall meeting called for Tuesday night, the Ottawa City Council heard a report from City Engineer Tom Duttlinger regarding changes to be made to that block to improve on-street and off-street parking with some aesthetic touches thrown in.

The redevelopment project, which already has been bid and is slated to begin on July 31 and run through about Aug. 15, will eliminate the turn lanes onto southbound La Salle Street on the west and northbound Columbus Street on the east and replace the parallel parking spaces with 45-degree angled parking on the then wider street.

The curb and gutter on the north side of the street will be torn up and replaced, at which time that side will be closed and one-way traffic reduced to the one south lane for those two weeks.

It will see the parking lot at the southeast corner of Madison and Columbus torn up and replaced, expanding the number of spaces there from 15 to 23, with some landscaping around the edges.

In all, the street will have 19 new spaces for business patrons and visitors to utilize.

Increased parking downtown is good for everyone – businesses, visitors, patrons of the businesses – and it’s all restricted three-hour parking, not intended for employees downtown, just patrons and visitors.

—  Tom Duttlinger, city engineer

The price tag for this portion of the redevelopment is roughly $200,000, Duttlinger said.

“This has been talked about for a couple of years, before the conception of the Court Street improvement project,” Duttlinger said. “This was always the second phase of that project. Some work was laid in on Court Street, but there was going to be more than that added.

“Increased parking downtown is good for everyone – businesses, visitors, patrons of the businesses – and it’s all restricted three-hour parking, not intended for employees downtown, just patrons and visitors.”

At its regular meeting after the unveiling, the council authorized utilizing a Rural Innovation Stronger Economy (RISE) grant to enter an agreement with the consulting firm Place Dynamics LLC to evaluate short-term rentals possibilities in the city and make recommendations for ordinances regarding standards for those places.

“We like letting people know that unlike the bed and breakfast debate, being afraid that we were adding something to the community and the neighborhoods they wouldn’t want, this is a matter that we already have short-term rentals and what we want to do is make sure that’s being regulated properly,” Hasty said. “It’s not so much adding anything to the community. It’s doing our due diligence to make sure it’d done safely for people who are going to rent it and the community around those places.”

In other action, the council:

Authorized signature authority to the North Central Illinois Council of Governments to seek an Economic Development Administration grant for the improvement of East Stevenson Road.

Authorized employment agreements with North Central Area Transit for Stacy O’Dell as full-time route coordinator, Cathy Thompson, Susan Conroy and Jody Davidson as full-time reservations specialists.

Approved the expense of $78,991 to Terry’s Ford for the purchase of two 2023 Ford Explorers for the police department.

Heard from Commissioner Wayne Eichelkraut on the first Music in the Park event, reporting 675 people attended. He encouraged others to take advantage of the free concerts 6 to 8 p.m. Saturdays in Washington Square.

Heard a report from Commissioner Marla Pearson the first days of the new Riordan Pool were successful and that vending machines are expected and will be added soon.