Crystal Thomas
The State Journal-Register
After spending months deciding what should be built on the YWCA block, Mayor Jim Langfelder still needs aldermen to give his choice — a park — a final up or down vote.
The process hit a bump on Tuesday when Springfield aldermen voted to table an ordinance that would lease the city-owned downtown block for 10 years to the North Mansion Y-Block Development Group, led by attorney Don Tracy and backed by Gov. Bruce Rauner. The group would raise $8 million in private funds to create and maintain the park.
Council members wanted to know why the group rejected signing on to a project labor agreement, a move that brought out several union supporters in opposition. They also wanted to know why the sitting governor would have to give written approval during the lease if a building went up on the block. In the end, aldermen tabled the ordinance, which means it will require seven aldermen to vote to move it forward for a final council vote.
Tracy said the group doesn’t want a project labor agreement because the project is being financed with private funds. A PLA would require all workers to be union members, which could drive up costs and elongate the construction timeline, he said.
He said Rauner is adamant in not wanting a building on the block and that the sitting governor sign-off provision was a compromise with the mayor, who negotiated that a corner of the block be set aside for mixed use. The mayor and Tracy are still finalizing the terms of the agreement.
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Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin
He said the motion to table the ordinance was “discourteous to the mayor, Mr. Tracy” and Belgian landscape architect Peter Wirtz, who was at Tuesday’s meeting to answer questions about the park he designed.
McMenamin is a fan of the park’s design.
“I thought it created a very positive setting for visitors, tourists and our residents,” McMenamin said. “It created an almost magic environment for children to wonder, with the water and the mounds.”
McMenamin said city code does not require a PLA on private projects and that it was “inappropriate for a labor union to coordinate how a private developer should dictate a private project.”
He recognized the park was a “default decision” by the mayor because the other proposals required TIF money and didn’t have firm financing. Plus, he said the city might be tipping the supply-demand balance if it promotes more residential or office space in the area.
“It’s reckless to create new residential and office space downtown when we have existing buildings that are going to come online,” McMenamin said, referring to TIF projects that will soon be completed.
Despite his support for the park, McMenamin didn’t think the mayor can get the votes for it. He wants the mayor to the “let the dust settle” and seek new requests for proposals in about a year’s time, after municipal elections.
“I think that collectively Local 477, Downtown Springfield Inc., and The (State Journal-Register) editorial board (which have all voiced opposition to the park plan) have effectively killed the park idea and the gift to the city of Springfield from the Don Tracy group,” McMenamin said.
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Joe McMenamin for Ward 7 