Planners size up future growth of UI, C-U
By MIKE MONSON
News-Gazette Staff Writer

   Officials for the cities of Champaign and Urbana, as well as the University of Illinois, see considerable growth ahead in the coming decade – following several years of strong local growth.
   And they're busy planning for it.
   Champaign is well along the way toward finishing a five-year update of its comprehensive plan. The update would add 1,460 acres to its future land use map, showing where residential growth would be most desirable.
   The city has also, in conjunction with the village of Mahomet and Champaign County, put together a U.S. Route 150 Corridor Plan that sees the corridor as becoming a choice site for corporate headquarters and high-end commercial and industrial development.
   And a proposed 37-acre research-technology incubator park to be developed by the University of Illinois and two local developers at St. Mary's Road and First Street is causing some excitement, with Motorola planning to relocate a software design center there from Urbana.
   In Urbana, growth will likely be concentrated on the city's southeast and north sides, with industrial and some commercial growth to the north and residential and commercial development in the southeast area, according to Urbana Community Development Services Director April Getchius.
   "I think we're prepared for good responsible growth," said Getchius. "It's imperative we have some growth because Urbana has so many tax-exempt properties. We have to have growth to make up for it."
   The UI has ambitious plans to develop research parks, one in central Urbana, the other in south Champaign, that could become magnets for high-tech businesses.
   The university also would like to see a hotel and conference center developed, possibly south of Assembly Hall, once the $200 million relocation of the South Farms is finished, said UI Associate Vice Chancellor Dave Dressel.
   Planning for and managing growth is serious business in Champaign-Urbana, one that involves several full-time professional planners and compiling inches-thick documents, with the help of citizen advisory bodies. Those plans are often subject to revision.
   "It's very dynamic," said Gale Price, a Champaign city planner. "It's like a giant jigsaw puzzle. That's why we do these five-year updates (of the city comprehensive plan). The market dynamics change and you deal with them."
   In Champaign, a Growth Areas Task Force spent the last two years looking at where development should occur in Champaign over the next 20 years. It concluded there is sufficient undeveloped property designated for commercial and industrial growth, said Champaign Planning Director Bruce Knight.
   But the 15-member task force designated six new areas covering 1,460 acres in north and northwest Champaign and southwest Champaign, where residential growth should take place. These areas can be developed without having to spend large sums extending city services to the site, such as sewer and water.
   The future residential growth areas include:
   n 320 acres just north of Olympian Drive between North Prospect Avenue and North Market Street.
   n 275 acres just west of North Mattis Avenue, immediately west of the new Catholic high school.
   n About 500 acres just west of Interstate 57, north of Bradley Avenue and south of the Norfolk Southern railroad tracks.
   n 80 acres and 155 acres north and south, respectively, of Windsor Road and between Rising and Staley roads.
   n And 130 acres just north of Curtis Road and west of Mattis Avenue.
   City planners believe there's no need to provide an area for expanded retail development, given the huge retail growth that occurred north of I-74 during the 1990s.
   While property along North Prospect Avenue is nearly built out, some vacant land for retail development still exists nearby along Town Center Boulevard and north of Marketview Drive, said Price.
   City officials also want to redevelop vacant retail sites, such as the former Menard's and the soon-to-be vacant Best Buy building along West Anthony Drive and sites along North Mattis Avenue.
   Price noted that the city doesn't want all of its retail stores concentrated north of I-74 because the road system simply couldn't handle all the traffic.
   Champaign's prime area for industrial development is the Apollo subdivision, a 143-acre park that is half-full, and already home to the giant, 350-employee RPS distribution hub and three new warehouses.
   The Apollo subdivision, just east of North Market Street near Olympian Drive, can be expanded to 380 acres if demand exists, said Mark Dixon, a project manager with The Atkins Group, developer of the park.
   Another area that has been a focus of planning efforts for four years is U.S. 150 between Champaign and Mahomet.
   A recently finished plan calls for a mix of commercial and industrial uses between Interstate 57 and Prairieview Road on the east and west and I-74 and the Norfolk Southern railroad on the north and south.
   Under the plan, residential growth would be limited in this area to just one additional new house per landowner, to limit potential conflicts with industrial and commercial development. The plan calls for high construction standards for commercial and industrial uses and large setbacks along U.S. 150 and I-74 to create an open, campus image.
   Mahomet, Champaign and the county would adopt similar development standards along the corridor.
   "In Champaign, we'd like to see a continuation of a mix of distribution centers, office complexes and other low-impact, nonpolluting industrial uses," said Price.
   All three jurisdictions will consider adopting the corridor plan this spring. Once that occurs, Champaign and Mahomet will negotiate a boundary agreement.
   In Urbana, the city intends to rewrite the city's comprehensive plan, approved in 1982 and amended several times since then, as soon as the city hires some new planners to fill vacant positions, said Getchius.
   Getchius said she sees Urbana's growth occurring north of I-74 and in southeast Urbana, where the Stone Creek subdivision and golf course will be a lynchpin. Commercial growth will also continue along Illinois 130 in southeast Urbana, she said.
   In north Urbana, the construction of Olympian Drive – an east-west arterial between Interstate 57 and U.S. 45 – along with an extension of North Lincoln Avenue between I-74 and Olympian Drive, will be keys to future growth, Getchius said.
   "I think you'll see a lot of industrial on the west edge" of Olympian Drive in Urbana, and "more commercial on the east edge by U.S. 45," said Getchius. North Lincoln Avenue will see primarily industrial development, she added.
   Construction of Olympian Drive and North Lincoln Avenue still awaits a formal cost-sharing agreement by the county, Urbana and Champaign.
   At the northeast corner of I-74 and U.S. 45, Urbana recently annexed the 26-acre Pickerill farm and hopes to see commercial development there, Getchius said.
   In southeast Urbana, the Stone Creek subdivision and golf course being developed by The Atkins Group will be a key to the city's future residential growth. The 544-lot luxury subdivision saw the opening of its 18-hole golf course last year, but lot sales and new-home construction have been slow, with about 25 lots sold and 14 new houses up, according to Mike Martin, project manager with The Atkins Group. Three duplexes have also been built on Amber Lane near the Stone Creek development, with the possibility of as many as 25 duplexes, Martin said.
   At the nearby 60-acre Rose farm property, The Atkins Group, in partnership with developer Peter Fox, has decided to build an office park geared to high-tech users. That development at the southeast corner of Philo and Windsor roads could begin as soon as this summer, said Dixon. Plans also call for eight to 10 acres of commercial development on the site.
   The University of Illinois also has ambitious development plans, including two research parks for high-tech businesses, according to Dave Dressel, associate vice chancellor and director of the office for project planning and facility management.
   In Champaign, plans are under way for a 138-acre research park at the southwest corner of St. Mary's Road and South First Street, near the Assembly Hall. Motorola is moving its Urbana software-design business there. It's negotiating to build a 75,000-square-foot building. Fox and Atkins are developing the park for the UI.
   Dressel said a second research park, focusing on information technology, is planned for Urbana, between University Avenue on the north, Springfield Avenue on the south, Harvey Street on the east and Goodwin Avenue on the west.
   The center in Urbana would be suitable "for a very mature company that wants a significant presence on the campus and wishes to locate near engineering, national supercomputing applications and computer science" at the UI, said Dressel. Building the park would require some land acquisition, he said, though much of the area is now parking lots owned by the UI.
   The south center in Champaign "will probably take off first" because the land is not as developed, though some agricultural campus buildings would have to be moved, he said. He said the university is negotiating a master plan and the physical characteristics of the south center with Fox and Atkins.
   Motorola hopes to begin construction of its building by this spring, he said.
   Dressel said the south center could have as much as 1 million gross square feet of space, while the north center could have up to 600,000 square feet.
   Dressel said the UI also owns 60 acres of land on the north side of the UI-Willard Airport that, potentially, also could be developed into a commercial and light industrial park. An incubator business that outgrows its south center location or needs a place for light assembly might want to locate there, Dressel said.
   Dressel said the UI eventually would like to see a hotel and conference center on campus, possibly south of the Assembly Hall. He said such a project might have to be a private-public combination, since the UI would like conference rooms "more akin to classroom facilities."
   "It may require some donor funds," he said.
   Any hotel and conference center, however, must await the $200 million, multiphase move of the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, he said. The UI must obtain money for that move from the Illinois General Assembly.

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