Danville City Council approves downtown revitalization plan

DANVILLE, Ill. (WCIA) — The City of Danville is taking another step toward their ultimate goal of a new-look downtown. Danville City Council voted Tuesday night to approve a future downtown revitalization plan.

The plan comes after a long eight-month data-collection process and a $75,000 state grant. It took a detailed view at infrastructure downtown, with a focus on roads, buildings and parking.

City officials say this was a big step in the right direction, but there’s still more work ahead.

“I think it’s a really good general guide to follow for the redevelopment of downtown with not too many specifics, but just good data and actual facts that we can follow,” said City Grants and Planning Manager Logan Cronk.

Cronk said to fix issues downtown, they needed to first understand them.

“We really just wanted to take a holistic view of the financial economic situation that downtown Danville was in, and then we drilled into the parking needs. What are the conditions of all of the buildings?” Cronk said.

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Cronk added that the building blocks for the revitalization plan were built off the findings of the assessment; in particular, what the city lacked.

“Some of the key points where there’s not very much residential living available downtown. It’s to take a really, really good look at how much money it’s going to cost, what the gap actually is,” Cronk said. “It’s 500 plus residential units that could be built in downtown Danville, which was a shocking number to all of us.”

Public Works Director Dave Ruwe was at the meeting too. He says those key areas now give them a better idea of what to focus on.

“As far as parking goes, buildings go, just a general future for what downtown might look like. That’s really what the exciting thing is, is to lay out a vision moving forward and a goal to reach for,” Ruwe said.

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The city will now need to fund aspects of the redevelopment plan. They’ll get a chance next month when they apply for a state construction grant.

“Hopefully in the next couple of years, this momentum keeps growing, and we just have a really, really cool, modern downtown that the community can enjoy,” Cronk said.

The upcoming construction grant is through the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. The state could get up to $2 million if selected. Danville city officials say they have not worked out a specific dollar amount for the project yet.

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