CHAMPAIGN – Crews will almost certainly break ground on a new Christie Clinic campus in southwest Champaign this fall after the city council Tuesday approved an agreement that allows for the construction of the clinic and its surrounding subdivision.

The first phase of construction calls for a 60,000-square-foot clinic just northwest of the Curtis Road interchange with Interstate 57, the first major development adjacent the touted interchange.

"I think we're teed up," said Tom Jordan, a project manager with Foth Engineers who has been working closely with Rock Island-based Raufeisen Development, the company heading the project.

The city council must still approve a final design for the overall subdivision, but Tuesday night's vote provided Christie officials with the authorization to break ground, Jordan said.

The plans for the subdivision have moved "as fast as anyone could have hoped," said planning director Bruce Knight, but filling out the subdivision could be a five- to 10-year process.

Preliminary plans call for senior transitional housing, a "community wellness center" and a 105-room hotel, all of which would be anchored by the clinic. The design also calls for small retail or office spaces centered around an open town square, but the sale of those properties could be slow until the economy improves, Knight said.

The clinic itself could be anywhere between 200,000 and 260,000 square feet upon completion beyond the first phase.

In other council business:

– Council members unanimously voted to reinstate an enforcement mechanism to keep advertisements – political signs, garage sale posters or handbills taped to street lights, for example – off public property.

– The city council voted unanimously to dissolve the public works advisory board, the third city committee to be axed in recent months. Mayor Jerry Schweighart said the board has not been effective as a policy-making body.

– The council unanimously approved nearly $2 million worth of contracts to design and construct storm water drainage improvements in the Washington Street East watershed.