Quincy City Council Meeting - August 11, 2025
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Quincy City Council Meeting - August 11, 2025
The Quincy City Council met on August 11, 2025 at 7:00 PM in the Council Chambers. The meeting included a presentation on the River Edge Redevelopment Zone, reports from Quincy Township, public comment, approvals of consent agenda items, discussions on the Driftwood Campground expansion, and the first reading of an ordinance to reorganize the Department of Planning and Development.
Presentation: River Edge Redevelopment Zone
- Jason Care, Development Director, presented on the newly certified state program. Quincy is one of only six Illinois communities with a River Edge designation. The program provides access to historic preservation tax credits (25% state, stackable with 20% federal) with no competitive cap or maximum award. The zone covers areas within 4,500 feet of the river, including portions of the downtown historic district. Eligible buildings must be income-producing and listed on the National Register or contribute to a historic district. The city's role is limited to identifying the zone; applications are handled by the state.
Quincy Township Reports
- Township Supervisor reported General Assistance statistics for July 2025 (specific figures were not clearly audible). The Town Auditing Committee report for August 2025 was also presented and accepted.
Public Comments & Testimony
- One resident (Mandana) spoke, referencing a prior meeting about a property issue. The speaker expressed concerns about the city's communication regarding program benefits, noted that the area is considered the "poor part" of the city, and questioned the effectiveness of previous public outreach. Due to poor audio quality, some details were unclear.
Consent Calendar
- The consent agenda included:
- 9a: Special event permit for The Scoreboard Crosstown Showdown Fundraiser on August 16, 2025, including street closure of York Street from 7th to 8th from noon to midnight (Ward 7).
- 9b: Referral to the Plan Commission of Hope House of Quincy's request for a special permit for a maternity house at 1603 Center Avenue (Ward 1).
- 9c: Referral to the Plan Commission of Adams County's request to subdivide property at 101-201 North 54th Street for an elevated water storage tower (Ward 3).
- 12a: Approval of $12,982.49 invoice from AT&T Services for underground cable repair.
- 12b: Approval of $33,517.00 proposal from Rees Construction Company for sewer lateral repair at 7th & Sycamore St. (removed from consent for discussion, then approved after clarification).
- 12c: Approval of $101,675.00 proposal from Insituform for structural sewer lining at Vermont St. between 22nd & 24th and 4th & Chestnut.
- The consent agenda was adopted with the exception of item 12b, which was discussed separately and later approved.
Discussion Items
- Driftwood Campground Expansion (Items 11a and 11b): The Plan Commission presented two requests: 11a sought to rescind the previous concurrence for expansion due to water drainage concerns and require a site plan review; 11b sought council concurrence with the proposed expansion of up to 13 gravel RV pads and a gravel entrance, with no new infrastructure. The council discussed the items and took action (the specific vote outcome was not clearly captured in the transcript).
- Ordinance 13c: Reorganization of Planning & Development Department: First reading of an ordinance to separate the Department into two divisions (Inspections and Planning/Development), each with its own director. The director explained that this is a reorganization without additional expense, intended to improve processing and code enforcement. No vote was taken; two more readings are required.
- Code Enforcement Update: The Mayor announced that the city has over 400 nuisance cases on the list and will be enforcing codes with a focus on voluntary compliance. He also warned of heightened enforcement in school zones.
- Request for Animal Control Officer Presentation: A council member requested that the Animal Control Officer present his role and responsibilities to address public confusion from social media posts about dog tethering. The council agreed to arrange this for a future meeting.
Key Outcomes
- Appointments: Kristen Niemann was appointed to the TIF Rental Rehab Committee (Mayor's appointment).
- Ordinances Adopted:
- 13a: Adopted an ordinance removing 2-hour parking restrictions on the north side of Maine Street from N. 28th to N. 30th Street (Ward 3).
- 13b: Adopted an ordinance granting a zoning variation for a projecting sign higher than 15 feet at 501 Hampshire Street (Ward 7).
- Finance Report: The Finance Committee report was received and filed, showing revenues of $91,000 and expenditures of $6,936.71? (audible numbers unclear).
- New Business: The council discussed code enforcement and the need for an animal control presentation. The meeting adjourned at an unspecified time.
Note: Portions of the transcript were of poor audio quality; details from the Driftwood Campground discussion and some financial figures were not fully discernible.
Meeting Transcript
Good evening. Welcome to tonight for the counter meeting. And to get us started, we'll talk and uh respect them with having some. And the later nearly happened. Good evening. Good evening. This is pretty council. I think I should commend all of you for still believing and devotion and closing. But I have involved new and look at the evening. But we can still consult immunity and spectrum. So we can have a special plan to uh invitation this evening. Um really without the signs and spirits and celebrities. I would like to be introduced Ryan, who is the sixteenth student, and we'll be starting a question from the house and back still, I thought it will be a popular talent. Thank you, then. And before I talk meeting to order, um, Jason, I believe you have a presentation for us on the river edge new development plan. Good evening, uh, Jason Care with uh development director. Um yeah, we're going to talk about the river edge redevelopment zone and what exactly it is. This is a state code, and the goal of the program is to help provide and redevelop environmental and time properties based the river in Illinois. The program encourages industrial and commercial growth to various tax and centers. Awareness, St. Louis, Elgin, Peoria, and Ratford. The uh program has expanded in 2023 to 2025 to include, you can see the about a dozen more communities, including Quincy. Quincy is the only city that has access to a river edge designation from the state of Illinois. In the entire state of Illinois, there are only six River Edge redevelopment zone communities, including country. You have a map at your colours of the zone, and it can be a little difficult to tell when you look at the boundaries to the north, Lakers Street, to the South Post and Street. Uh, the river is the boundary to the west, and the rule of the River Edge redevelopment zone is that it must be 4500 feet from the actual river. So we were able to start up on each two forest. We have the move down to Man Street as the River Curve. We were able to reprint to on a few sections and then we had to take it back down as the river codes again. So everything in that zone is considered the river edge redevelopment zone. We did kind of get into the pillars that you've seen on there, the red outlines as we get a little later in this uh display. So how to receive this designation uh where it started with the district because commerce and breader, uh, they had a lobbyist. The participant that makes this in 2024 to get things be included in this program. They were successful. Uh, we were added at the end of the session by the legislature in the summer of 2024, uh, soon after that inclusion. Uh, the Penning Office started working to develop the River Edge Zone and submitted the application to the state in late 2024. About 67 months later, the state of Illinois certified our zone then in May of this year. So can this zone do? Uh, can provide access to Captain Central for economic development and community revaluization. It encourages the reuse of historic buildings. It attracts developers, investors, and businesses seeking long-term redevelopment opportunities, and it preserves conscious short identity by generating new economic activities. The two of the program is really the access to the historic preservation tax credit. Currently, the state of Illinois offers a competitor historic preservation tax credit program. They set aside 25 million dollars to cover the entire state, and the maximum award is three million dollars. Uh locally uh $53100, the hotel project they would secure one of those three million dollar allotments from the state. Uh these income tax credits can equal 25% of the qualified rehab expensive. Uh, we said they're competitive we paid in talking with people from around the state. The application window opens and about a minute later it places because they've already got more than enough projects to show the entire um program. What's different is river edge eliminates the competitive need to. There's no maximum award for this program.
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