The Town of Normal wants a homeless encampment along the Main Street corridor removed by the end of the month.
The cluster of tents and people near Sugar Creek and the AutoZone store has been growing in size for months. The town has now posted signs saying the area must be vacated by June 1.
Mayor Chris Koos said the Bloomington-Normal Water Reclamation District [BNWRD] will begin a large construction project in the area next month. Koos said it's a good question where the unhoused people at the encampment will go.
"We are looking very hard in cooperation with Home Sweet Home Ministries to see if there is any property in Normal and we frankly can't find anything," Koos said on WGLT's Sound Ideas.
He said the municipality might consider buying something for a shelter village like one proposed in downtown Bloomington.
"If Home Sweet Home came to us with a proposal and we had a piece of ground, we'd certainly look at it," said Koos.
The mayor said the town will know shortly whether the shelter village project in Bloomington will go forward. He said that project could potentially absorb some of the people now camped in Normal. The challenge may be whether that can happen before next winter, said Koos.
BNWRD executive director Tim Ervin said the agency owns multiple parcels of land along Sugar Creek that encase infrastructure taking sewage from residences to the treatment plant on Oakland Avenue on the west side of Bloomington.
“Installed in the early 1900s, segments of these sewers are in dire need of rehabilitation. The district plans two significant projects near the AutoZone encampment,” said Ervin.
One of those is the Kelsey Street Interceptor Sewer project. BNWRD will clean and then repair the 33-inch brick sewer by installing a heat-treated resin liner inside the sewer pipe.
“Part of this project may involve the replacement of sewer infrastructure near the AutoZone encampment. The overall project is estimated to cost $800,000,” said Ervin.
Another project near AutoZone involves Sanitary Relief Combined Sewer Overflow. Near U.S. 51 next to the encampment, this lets storm water run into the creek during peak rain events and helps to reduce the number and severity of potential sewer backups.
The project will end that overflow. The city, town and BNWRD have been working to separate storm and sanitary sewers for several decades. This is part of that effort.
“A 2023 study recommended a step-wise approach to increase the flow capacity in sewer infrastructure within the surrounding AutoZone area," said Ervin. "The first phase will increase sewer conveyance capacity through the installation of piping under adjacent railroad tracks. Essentially, the current undersized sewer infrastructure will be replaced with larger sewer infrastructure. This includes the replacement of significantly deteriorated box sewers from the 1920s.”
Phase one of that project is estimated to cost $3.25 million.
“Efforts continue to modernize sewer infrastructure to comply with new phosphorus removal water quality standards, replace aging infrastructure, and enhance treatment capacity within sewer interceptors and wastewater treatment facilities,” said Ervin, adding BNWRD has put in more than $60 million in renovations during the last two years.
Rivian supplier park
On another topic, Koos said he’s pleased with the recent announcement that electric automaker Rivian is getting $16 million in state incentives to build a new supplier park across Rivian Motorway west of its manufacturing plant in Normal. It's a $120 million dollar investment for the company.
Koos said the town was involved in the background in helping to seal the deal through early re-zoning, and working with the Illinois Department of Transportation on road changes and road right of way
‘We also extended sewer and water in the hopes that something like this would happen, with the belief that something like this would happen,” said Koos, adding the town's investment is worth the long-term payoff from economic development, water use, and property taxes.
State economic development officials say the project will create 93 full-time jobs upfront, and possibly "hundreds" of new jobs as suppliers move in. Koos said that is a meaningful addition.
“Anytime you can create a hundred jobs, that’s a good thing. I think what’s missing in the story is it shows that Rivian continues to grow and is a stable business, that these investments are being made,” he said.
Rivian's activity reinforces the company's credibility and ability to go for the long term — even in the face of uncertainty over electric vehicle policy at the federal level, said Koos.
“If you are running a business, trying to build a manufacturing facility, your decisions are long term. They are not in four- year blocks like elections are,” he said.
Construction on the supplier park is underway and is expected to be completed in 2026.
Illinois Art Station
There was some public comment at the town council's meeting Monday evening pushing back against the town's decision to hire staff for the new Illinois Art Station program. None of those hired worked at the not-for-profit organization whose assets were donated to the town.
WGLT asked Koos what he would say to those who expected the original staff to be hired.
“We evaluate a position. Taking that into the town changes the management and direction of how we would operate that facility,” said Koos. “It doesn’t change the mission necessarily, but it does change how it operates.”
He said the town posts every position for which it hires, encouraging existing staff to apply, as was the case when the town took over the Children’s Discovery Museum. Even stellar long time employees are not guaranteed jobs.
“Pam Reece worked for the town for 24 years before she had the opportunity to become city manager and she had to make an application because we did a search. That’s the hiring process,” said Koos.
He said the pushback on the hiring of Art Station staff is not enough of a headache to cause the town to reconsider accepting the building and programming.
“I think the Art Station is a good fit. The board of the Art Station thought it was a good fit. I think it gives stability to that organization much as taking the Children’s Discovery Museum brought long-term stability. It opens more avenues for granting. It offers more stability for going to the private sector for capital campaigns because they know that making that investment will go through as promised,” said Koos.
