'Beautify' the neighborhood: Why Peoria is paying to tear down old garages

Stroll down almost any alleyway in Peoria's East Bluff neighborhood and you're almost sure to encounter a problem the city is getting creative in trying to tackle.

Old, dilapidated garages — some burned out from fires, some decayed by age, others suffering from neglect — pepper the alleys of the neighborhood. In the last three years, the city has started over 200 code enforcement cases related to garages in the East Bluff.

Now, the Peoria City Council has approved a plan to use $100,000 from the East Village Growth Cell to fund up to 40 garage demolitions in the East Bluff.

"A lot of times garages don't get the most attention. With limited budgets, people often focus on the structure of their house so you see dilapidation in garages more," community development director Joe Dulin said. "Residents, if they're going to put $4,000 or $5,000 into their property, they're not going to use it to tear their garage down — they want to put a new roof or new siding or new windows."

East Bluff residents say this program should not only help "beautify" the neighborhood by ridding it of unsightly structures but could also help mitigate a growing problem with rats, raccoon and other pests.

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"I know that it's going to help the neighborhood," said Richard Mitchell, president of the East Bluff United Neighborhood Association. "This hasn't been tried yet. It does fall under the TIF program and we've done well with the TIF, but we still have a ways to go."

Jesse McGown, president of the East Bluff Community Neighborhood Association, said this program will help "beautify" the neighborhood but added there are a lot of people who still use their old garages and would maybe prefer rehabilitation instead of demolition.

"There's a lot of junky garages, but the key is do people want them torn down? That's the key," McGown said. "A lot of people use them for storage, so I don't know how big of a demand there will be for destruction because I know some people still using those garages."

Dulin said in addition to pest control, tearing down some of these old garages will help open up alleyways for more parking and green space in the neighborhood.

"An overall blighted feel to the neighborhood, you see reduced property values, you see less quality of life," Dulin said. "All of those things it's not something people think of often, and as I said before, really the emphasis for people on limited budgets is to improve the structure they're living in, and so often times the garage isn't on the top of the priority list and this gives us an opportunity to come in and help them."

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Mitchell said he hopes the program can spur people to do even more cleanup work in the neighborhood.

"I would say it may influence people to take additional advantage of the program and clean up the neighborhood itself, clean up their houses," Mitchell said. "If they can get a person or persons interested in getting something to look better to live in. We've got to go and find out what it's going to take."

Applications for the garage demolition program open May 7. Those who are interested are asked to contact the community development department.

To qualify, the home must be owner-occupied, the garage must be a detached structure and reside within the East Village Growth Cell. The house must be habitable, property tax payments must be up to date and the owner cannot owe any fines to the city.

The TIF covers a 663-acre area that spans south of McClure Avenue, east of Knoxville Avenue, north of I-74 and west of Glen Oak Park . It includes OSF Healthcare Saint Francis Medical Center campus, the Knoxville Avenue business corridor and the East Bluff neighborhood.

Assistance is capped at $5,000.

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This article originally appeared on Journal Star: 'Beautify' the neighborhood: Why Peoria is paying to tear down old garages