Nov. 23—URBANA — A grassroots effort to build a new grocery store in Urbana’s Ward 3 is getting the support of city leadership, which not only plans to provide money for the project but also a possible location nearby the corner of Lincoln and Bradley roads.
“I’m honestly amazed by it and grateful for it,” said Angela Bradley, who is applying for a $2.4 million grant from the Illinois Grocery Initiative. “It’s a beautiful site. It’s an incredible blessing to have this offered to us.”
Bradley is seeking a local contribution of $800,000 from the city to meet the grant program requirements. While the City Council voted to remove an item on this topic from the Nov. 18 agenda, councilors expressed their support and will vote on a resolution to end the contest at their next meeting, scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday. to organize.
Bradley “is enthusiastic and extremely committed to making this happen, and I appreciate that,” said Ward 3 Councilor Shirese Hursey.
Although the project does not yet have an official location, city officials suggested the supermarket could locate at the current location of Fire Station No. 3 and an adjacent parcel in the north of the city. Together the two plots are just over 1 hectare in size.
City Administrator Carol Mitten said the city had considered making an in-kind donation of the land, but was told it would not count toward the required local match. However, this led them to consider another option.
“The city could fund the demolition of the fire station to clear the site in the next Capital Improvement Plan,” she said. “I’m not suggesting that we did any kind of actual drawings or anything. We did a literal test of ‘Can you put a 10,000 square foot store and the parking lot, could you put that on the property?’ … It could fit.”
She said the city would like to offer to lease the property, possibly for $1 a year for 25 years, after the fire department leaves.
The city is building a new fire station near the corner of Bradley and Goodwin avenues to replace the current one, and Mayor Diane Marlin told The News-Gazette that construction is expected to be completed in May.
“It’s a perfect timeline,” she said.
Council members also supported the idea.
“I think it also shows the commitment of the city,” said councilor Jaya Kolisetty. “So in terms of my grant writing experience, if you can show that there are other established parties who want the project to succeed, that matters.”
Will Kolschowsky, senior management analyst and assistant to Mitten, wrote in a report to the council that the cost of the station’s demolition and “related environmental testing/mitigation” will be included in the next omnibus budget amendment request, which will likely will be implemented next month before the city council.
Mitten noted that construction on the old site could not begin immediately, as if the city were to decide to demolish the fire station, the work would “take months,” and any necessary environmental work would add to that timeline.
The fire station and adjacent lot are south of a Circle K gas station and convenience store.
“Please, no one says I said there was environmental contamination,” Mitten said. “Sometimes, though, it happens when you’re near a gas station. So there are things that are unknown.”
Councilman James Quisenberry recommended that the City Council should state in its resolution that it is offering the lease if it “makes sense” for that location.
“We’ll make the offer, but it may not work out that way,” he said.
Whether she ultimately leases land from the city or takes a different route, Bradley’s plan is to build the new grocery store in Ward 3 because she says the area is a “food desert” with little access to fresh food. The fire station grounds are within the department.
The state expects to award $11 million to about five projects in the latest round of the Illinois New Stores in Food Deserts Grant Program, which is part of the Illinois Grocery Initiative. The grants are expected to range from $150,000 to $2.4 million.
In October, Governor JB Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity announced that the first round of funding awarded $6.9 million to four projects in Chicago, Peoria, Rockford and Carlinville.
The program criteria states that companies applying must not be major retailers, have fewer than 500 employees and no more than four existing locations.
Bradley plans to call her new business HeartStrong Grocery.
“The city strongly supports the development of a new grocery store in north Urbana,” Marlin told The News-Gazette. “City staff have been actively pursuing leads for the past six years. Angela Bradley’s proposal to seek $2.4 million in state grants to build a grocery store through the Illinois Grocery Initiative has come the closest to this goal.”
However, she also acknowledged at the council meeting that there are issues with Bradley’s request, mainly due to the “extremely short time period” the council has to make a decision on funding, as the grant application is due on December 2.
Normally, the city would have more time to review such a proposal, Marlin said.
She noted that the city had received some of the required financial documents the night before the meeting and requested that its decision be postponed by a week to “do at least some of the due diligence that we normally do for a proposal of this size.” “
Bradley told The News-Gazette that the reason she did not submit her request sooner was due to the limited application period; the Department of Trade and Economic Opportunity began accepting applications on October 3.
“It’s an incredibly short period of time for all of us,” she said.
Assuming the council approves the resolution to allocate up to $800,000, it will ultimately have to decide how to raise the money. However, Bradley said that according to a consultant she has worked with, the funding source does not have to be disclosed in a letter of support, so the decision does not have to be made right away.
Although Kolisetty and Councilman Chris Evans’ ordinance originally proposed using general operating fund dollars to fund the match, Mitten said that would require the council to abandon one of its budget policies regarding the minimum balance for that fund.
Other possible funding sources include reallocated money from the American Rescue Plan Act, Community Development Block Grants or interest earned by the city by investing its federal funding, she told the council.
While council members were generally most supportive of using the block grant funds or interest from federal funds, they ultimately decided not to name a specific source in the resolution and take more time to identify the best option.
The resolution states that this funding match is contingent on the grant being awarded to Bradley by June 30. In addition, the city will provide up to $800,000 depending on the grant amount, as the program requires a one-to-three match.
In addition, the city will lease its land at 1407 N. Lincoln Ave. offering for a long-term lease “at a nominal rate” and also plans to ask the municipality to waive “building permits and other construction-related fees” for the project. .
However, Bradley will have to hire a contractor the city finds “acceptable.”
The resolution also states that both parties will enter into a formal agreement prior to the issuance of funds.
Assuming the resolution is approved, the city will next prepare a letter of support for Bradley to be included with her application, Marlin said.
“Hopefully this can be a catalyst for other resources to come to the area,” Bradley said. “That’s the big vision.”
