Civic Center Plaza due for repairs, Elgin council says
The city of Elgin will look at plans to fix up Civic Center Plaza, including the possibility of moving the ice rink to Festival Park.
The city council's committee of the whole voted Wednesday to hire Dewberry Architects Inc. of Elgin to work on design options. The work initially was said to cost $61,000, but the figure will be higher because council members decided to ask Dewberry to include options for the ice rink and Festival Park. The city council will get the final figure before giving final approval at a future meeting.
Moving the ice rink - a very popular winter feature - would give the rink higher visibility and make room for more green space at Civic Center Plaza, City Manager Sean Stegall said.
Councilwoman Tish Powell said she liked the idea, and suggested that design proposals include green and sustainable components. "I think we can be a little bit more creative back there in terms of what we put there ... because what's there, it's not very attractive," she said.
The total cost of fixing up the plaza is estimated at $600,000 or more, including replacing concrete pavers; replacing lighting; removing the stairway and raised area next to the appellate court building, which is adjacent to the Hemmens Cultural Center, to comply with ADA mandates; and adding benches, trash receptacles and decorative planters.
The full project, if approved by the city council, will be open to bids.
The council's decision to move forward with design comes nearly a year after complaints from Elgin Symphony Orchestra patrons who slipped and fell on the uneven pavement.
"We are happy that the city council is taking steps to make the area safer and more welcoming for our patrons, and anyone who visits Hemmens or walks through the Civic Center Plaza," ESO board chairwoman Karen Schock said.
The plaza improvements were put on hold last year due to uncertainty about whether municipal funding would be cut as part of the state's budget crisis. The time has come to do the work, Councilman Terry Gavin said.
"We just need to improve it and get the work done," he said. "Enough."
Last year, Mayor David Kaptain had pointed to the risk that any new work done at the plaza could be damaged if construction later takes place at the Hemmens.
A task force recommended renovating and expanding the facility, but those discussions, too, were put on hold following the state's budget woes. "(The architectural firm) will take that into consideration as much as they can," Kaptain said of the plaza site designs.
The ice rink currently hooks up to city hall's cooling system. Kaptain said maybe the rink could be placed on the south end of Festival Park to hook it up to the cooling system of Grand Victoria Casino. Civic Center Plaza dates back to the late 1960s. The cost of fixing it up had been estimated at $1.5 million or more, but that was based on dated, pre-recession figures, Stegall said.