Sunday, May 10, 2009 8:56 PM CDT
COLUMN: Council took right action on Marty's; FutureGen still on?
By BILL LAIR, Managing Editor
blair@jg-tc.com
Congratulations to the Charleston City Council for allowing a beer garden at Marty’s.
The council voted unanimously last week to disregard the recommendation of the zoning board, which had voted 3-2 against allowing Marty’s to add an outdoor seating area.
Marty’s ownership had asked to expand even though they could not add parking.
Retail establishments generally must provide a certain amount of parking spaces for the number of customers that could be in the business.
Marty’s is located at 1666 Fourth St., at the intersection of Fourth and Grant. It’s a block south of Lincoln Avenue and across the street from Eastern Illinois University’s McAfee Gym on the east and Lincoln Hall on the south.
I’ve stated previously — businesses that border EIU should have different zoning requirements than other retail establishments.
Boxa’s owners had to deal with similar parking restrictions when they first approached city officials about opening a restaurant in the University Village shopping center on Lincoln Avenue just north of Pemberton Hall.
Yes, non-students do frequent businesses such as Boxa, Positively Fourth Street, Jimmy John’s, Jerry’s Pizza and Marty’s, but if those business owners wish to target students and walk-in customers, that should be permissible within a certain distance from campus.
The city’s comprehensive plan states it would be desirable to have a “commercial village” adjacent to campus.
That commercial village primarily would be aimed at students and pedestrians, not auto traffic.
Marty’s fits that description. Like Ike’s in the University Village complex, Marty’s has a large walk-in business.
In fact, that’s not a bad thing for bars. Customers who walk may be safer than having a bunch of people pile into cars and head home after an evening enjoying some adult beverages.
But the city has a long way to go before establishing a university commercial village by the campus.
While allowing Marty’s to expand is the right thing to do, the new apartment buildings just north of Marty’s are another matter.
It’s tough to bring a commercial village to that block when Marty’s owners have invested a substantial amount of money in several new apartment buildings.
But that’s another matter.
The city council got this one right in allowing the zoning variance so Marty’s can expand.
For years, I have heard several longtime Charleston activists lament the loss of Lincoln Lake as a major boost to Charleston’s economy.
Several longtime economic developers have never forgiven then-Gov. Dan Walker for killing the proposed lake southeast of Charleston after it had received federal approval.
Lincoln Lake was to have been similar in scope to Lake Shelbyville and Rend Lake. The big Lincoln statue that now sits at Lincoln Springs Resort originally was placed on rural land near where Lincoln Lake was to be carved.
But Walker killed the plan over state contributions to the project and all those lake-associated economic development dreams dried up.
If FutureGen goes the way of Lincoln Lake, I will feel the same way about George Bush and Barack Obama as those “old-timers” feel about Dan Walker.
And the more time passes, I find it more difficult to maintain my optimism that FutureGen will be built at Mattoon as originally proposed.
But U.S. Rep. John Shimkus still feels good vibrations about the project.
Shimkus last week said he sees light at the end of the carbon sequestration tunnel for the project in Mattoon.
He was reacting to comments from Energy Secretary Steven Chu Thursday.
“This is the first statement from the new administration showing interest in getting a project moving forward,” Shimkus said of Chu’s remarks at a briefing on the Obama Administration’s fiscal 2010 budget for the Department of Energy. “It gives me more confidence that all the hard work put into the Mattoon effort may be paying off.”
Obama’s stimulus bill that became law earlier this year included $1 billion for carbon sequestration. According to Shimkus, Chu said last week the FutureGen program is his first choice for the funding, commenting that “if all goes well, we hope to start up this year.”
However, Chu added, and this is a HUGE “however,” “We haven’t made a final decision yet on whether it will be FutureGen in Mattoon or somewhere else, but Mattoon is far along. So the first pass is we are restarting discussions with the FutureGen Alliance.”
All I heard from my Barack Obama-booster friends is that their guy supported FutureGen, even though I have never seen any evidence of it.
Well, he has been president since Nov. 4. Dick Durbin, who has demonstrated support for FutureGen, is the No. 2 leader in the U.S. Senate, controlled by Democrats.
It’s been more than seven months since Obama’s win but Chu is still wobbling along stating: “We haven’t made a final decision yet on whether it will be FutureGen in Mattoon or somewhere else.”
I still believe FutureGen is a worthwhile project and I believe the scientists who said Mattoon is the best spot for FutureGen.
It’s time for some action in Washington.
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Harry Potter wrote on May 11, 2009 9:43 AM: