Urbana council clears indoor soccer facility
URBANA The city council on Monday gave final approval to the construction of an indoor soccer facility to be called Soccer Planet in north Urbana, and project organizers hope it will fill a service gap left every year when it gets too cold to play outside.
The project's developer, Graham Berry, said last week that he hopes to break ground this spring and have the facility open by October.
The council approved a contract between the city and the developers that would exchange special development incentives for the expected increased property value for what is now a vacant lot at 2400 N. Willow Road, west of O'Brien Auto Park and Blain's Farm & Fleet Store. The developers could receive up to $300,000 in property tax rebates over 10 years, depending on how much the property value increases.
"It's an investment in infrastructure that promotes year-round activity," said Alderwoman Diane Marlin, D-7.
In other business, votes on contracts with the county and city of Champaign for designs and land acquisition as the agencies move toward the construction of segments of Olympian Drive and North Lincoln Avenue were again slowed.
The Champaign County Board deferred a similar vote last week when board members could not finalize certain language and technicalities in the contract. Urbana council members decided to hold off on the vote until a final agreement is produced.
MoreI can't believe I'm defending Urbana, the city with the highest per capita percentage of floppy hats and Birkenstocks east of the Mississippi, but Urbana is not banging anyone for taxes. They are rebating only the increased portion of the property tax after the property is developed, and then only for period of time. The City will be getting the same amount of taxes that they get off the property now, plus a little more.
I'm not a fan of soccer, but why be negative about it? If it does well and get's kids running around playing sports and brings in business and is successful, isn't that a good thing?
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