To get the decade-old Uptown underpass project over the finish line in Normal will require increases in food and beverage and hotel-motel taxes.
That staff recommendation emerged at a special Normal Town Council meeting on Wednesday evening. It was a work session on the project.
The start of construction has been deferred now for nearly a year after bids came back significantly higher than expected. Since then, staff have tried to trim the project. That “value engineering” cut estimated construction costs by several million dollars.
PDF: Underpass presentation shared at Wednesday's Normal Town Council meeting
Value engineering
Staff said they cut back on shrubs and plantings, but preserved trees to prevent program spaces on either side of the underpass from being sun-baked.
“That was an important aspect of our design is that it was very functional, very welcoming to people as they come and experience this south plaza,” said Director of Public Works and Engineering Ryan Otto.
The underpass itself will remain 10 feet high by 20 feet wide, and Otto said no structural elements will be changed in the tunnel itself.
“We don’t want it to feel constricted with both pedestrians and bicyclists as they use it for traversing underneath the tracks, so it will be well-lit,” said Otto.
In response to council questions, Otto said there will likely be an anti-loitering ordinance in effect for the space and security cameras to discourage use by unhoused people. The drainage scheme includes a lift station to remove water. Staff said the gradient would be shallower than some sidewalks, say on Fell Street, and the town would have a snow and ice removal plan for the area.
Other cuts to the project included a smaller footprint on the south plaza, and eliminating one tier of seating in the south side amphitheater, replacing it with grass. There will be one less stairway as well. People will still be able to sit there for activities as they do on the slope of Uptown Circle. The town eliminated controllable multi-color RGB lighting. Glass railings on the north side walkway will become metal only. Exterior stone will be replaced with cast concrete in the same buff color as was used in Uptown Circle.
Price tag
At a bid of $32 million after the second round, the low bidder remained low. The second bidder came much closer to matching that amount than in the first round. The town estimated the total project cost at $40.3 million after all design work, studies, and utility relocation are done.
The town has continued to seek more funding and has secured extensions on deadlines to spend grants already awarded. Before the bidding last year, the total project cost had been an estimated $28 million. The town portion of that would have been $2.9 million. Now, with a $40.3 million cost, the town share would rise to roughly $14.9 million, or $12 million more than originally estimated.
“We have, on occasion, solved problems with additional cash in projects. However, a $12 million gap is not solvable in terms of our cash position for the town,” said town finance director Andrew Huhn.
How to pay
The town has proposed a $12 million bond issue to finance the additional cost over the next quarter century. The estimated annual payment on those bonds is roughly $875,000 said Huhn.
“We know this is a big project with a big ask. I do not take that lightly and the project team does not take that lightly,” said City Manager Pam Reece.
Staff proposes new revenue to fund that debt by increasing the food and beverage tax from 2% to 2.25%. Staff said most comparable communities in Central Illinois would be a quarter point lower than Normal’s new food and beverage rate, though Champaign’s tax would be slightly higher.
The hotel-motel tax would rise from 6% to 8%. The new rate would be higher than Bloomington, Champaign, and Urbana, and comparable to Springfield, Decatur, and most parts of Peoria. Peoria has a central district where the hotel-motel tax is 9%. Normal’s new rate would remain lower than the 10.8% that Galesburg charges.
The case for it
Staff repeatedly drew comparisons to the start of uptown renewal nearly a quarter century ago when the town invested in infrastructure first and facilitated commercial development second.
Benefits cited:
- Infrastructure and public safety
- Health and sustainability
- Human and social impacts
- Community identity and public spaces
“We believe this underpass project is a transformational project that serves as a catalyst for Uptown South development,” said Reece.
Reece said the underpass would allow the town to invest resources in an area that is infill, compact, and urban, adding it would “make better use of existing spaces, promoting development of the urban center.”
Reece quoted the town’s 2040 plan in which community members articulated a case not for creating a community identity but building on the existing identity through programming and urban design.
“The town’s role as a steward of public spaces allows it to have a palpable impact on our sense of place. Public space is where that sense is often strongest because public space is used by everyone together,” quoted Reece from the plan."
The plan said the best public spaces convey a sense of being rooted in a certain community and none other.
“Normal is full of these places such as Uptown Circle that stand out as examples of thoughtful, timeless sustainable design on a human scale. These places did not happen by accident,” Reece quoted.
Staff also noted the project will have some direct and indirect economic benefits during construction and unknown impacts from potential future development.
Council reaction
“You don’t just live in great places, you work to make those places,” said Mayor Chris Koos. “And when you go into a community, and you go, 'Wow, what’s going on here?' it’s because people did some heavy lifting and made some very tough choices — financial and otherwise — to make that place the unique place that you identify as a wonderful place.”
Koos said it's important for Normal to continue to do this.
Existing bond issues that pay the town’s current $57 million debt are paid with revenue from a Tax Increment Financing District or from General Fund revenue allocated to fund the debt service. The TIFs expire just as the bonds are paid off. Council member Karyn Smith noted the revenue to support the underpass would not come from a TIF or the General Fund.
“Since we’re earmarking a specific tax for this specific project, what would it do if we were to sunset the tax increase to coincide with retiring the debt for this underpass project?” asked Smith.
Andrew Huhn noted the council could consider that option.
Other than that, council members didn’t give a lot of their own opinion of the proposal. They asked a number of questions about things like drainage, interest costs, safety margins on revenue estimates from the tax hikes [more than adequate, said staff] the potential to bundle the new bond issue with refinancing of existing bonds, whether existing bond re-funding would be at a longer term [no], maintenance costs [regular but it’s a 75-100 year structure], drainage, and ice and snow.
Where it all started
The reason this underpass odyssey began was to address accessibility and safety issues for railroad passengers. Council member Scott Preston prompted staff to repeat the origin story for the overpass idea that became the underpass project.
Union Pacific notified the town it would close the at-grade crossing of the tracks at Uptown Station during construction of the station. Koos noted the only place a municipality can appeal such a decision is at an intersection, not at Uptown station. He said the intersections at Linden and Broadway provide challenges to those with disabilities and a better access point is needed. Staff also noted freight trains occasionally block those intersections even when Amtrak trains are boarding. If passengers cannot get to the other side of the dual track at that spot, Koos said it can delay trains for the rest of the day.
Quick action
The proposal will go to the council in November. That is also the estimated start of the 18-month construction period. The town must spend the federal portion of its grant money by September 2027, and staff acknowledged that aggressive timeline caused the bidders to factor in potentially higher costs to meet the deadline.
