Zoning Commission

 Zoning Commission meets this coming Wednesday. Only thing on the agenda is a request for a zoning variance for a ground mounted solar system:

ZBA 25-01: Camille Bugg of StraightUp Solar, on behalf of Lana Crawford, is requesting a

variance from Section 15-3.4.6.B.2 of the Carbondale Revised Code, which outlines the City’s

setback regulations for ground-mount solar energy systems. The property is outside

Carbondale city limits, but within the City’s 1.5-mile zoning jurisdiction, and in an RR, Rural

Residential, District.

Carbondale 2030 Goal 1

 Here is Goal 1 from the Carbondale 2030 strategic plan:

Goal 1:  Provide a high quality-of-life and foster a sense of community. 

Strategic Initiatives

  Create a subsidy for internet, modem, installation costs, and fees to make broadband more affordable to residents. --Good. With the federal government's subsidy for internet for low income households expiring, this would be a real boon to them. Households qualifying under the federal program received $30 a month towards covering internet service and from what I have read, that was a real help.

 Continue to improve parks and recreation for those parks that are the City’s responsibility.-- I have seen some needed improvements at Marbury Arboretum, which really needs greater publicity and families use Turley Park on a regular basis.

  Conduct more year-round community-oriented programs for youth/young adults.  Continue supporting programs like the Boys and Girls Club and operations at the Eurma C. Hayes Center. --Also good, though maybe matching funding for each rather than an annual stipend. One complaint I have heard about Carbondale, among many, is that the city does not have much for youth to do. The Park District had a BMX track at one time, remnants still are by Evergreen Terrace, and there was a push for a skate park several years ago. Slabz, downtown, shows there is demand for a skate park and one accessible and outside would give youth another option for entertainment. 

 Publicize the positive aspects of Carbondale being proactive, using social media, and embracing the diverse nature of the community.  Establish a social media content team to promote all city departments and services. --Yep, Carbondale is the most diverse community in southern Illinois. I have had customers at the store tell me they moved here because of its diversity. Embrace it and let people know about it.

 Partner with civic organizations to improve the aesthetics of the entire community and the westend welcoming corridor into Carbondale.-- Good lord yes. All 4 approaches to Carbondale are ugly, though the trees and median on the east side presents the best appearance. Still, coming in from the west and east, the visitor sees freestanding businesses and strip malls, not as bad as Marion but still, they look as if they have just been dropped there. Murals are an improvement but we need colorful ones greeting people as they come to town, not just maroon and white Saluki murals . The north entrance is urban blight but could be improved with another sign welcoming people to the city and more plantings, as could the south end.

 Fully fund and publicize incentives for home ownership.--Yes, publicize the programs the city has to convert rentals into owner occupied units as well as funding for repairing homes owned by lower income residents. 

  Consider implementing a summer jobs program for youth/young adults --Consider or implement? Thinking about doing one meets this initiative but does not accomplish anything. Good program though. Maybe summer trash cleanup, especially along the entry ways to town.

Pag's Sold

 Has been in the works for several months (and Pag's has been looking for a buyer for several years) now but the official transfer of Pagliai's Pizza took place today.  Will be interesting to see what, if any, changes the new owners make.

Carbondale Vision 2030

 Found the current version of the Carbondale strategic plan while poking around on the city website. That's....a lot of stuff for the city to accomplish in 5 years. Of course a number of items are continue what we are already doing and consider doing this or that. 

Google Street View

 If you would like to see how your property has changed over the years, use Google Maps to look up its address, then click on Street View. In the black box in the upper left hand corner, click on See More Dates and the other photos Google Street View has taken of that location will appear at the bottom of the page. Street View photographs my house every 4-5 years so I can see how my dogwood tree has grown over the years.

Shooting

There was a shooting shortly after noon yesterday at the intersection of Springer and Main. According to police reports, a black male stepped out of a car and fired shots at another vehicle heading west on Main Street. No indication as to whether any of the bullets hit the car but, since Confluence Books was across the street and unable to move, a bullet hit a window in the building, though I did not see anything boarded up when I drove by this afternoon, so may have already been replaced.

Thank goodness no one was injured.

Zeenah's Palace

 Zeenah's Palace, a Nigerian-American restaurant, will open in the Wall-Grand Plaza on July 1st. Rather eclectic hours:  10 to 10 on Sunday and Monday, 4 to 10 Tuesday through Thursday, and 10 to 1:30 and 8:30 p.m. to 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday. Nice to have even more variety of restaurants from which to choose.

Properties for Sale

 According to Zillow ,there are a slew of properties for sale in the area of Carbondale bounded by Mill, University, Oakland and Walnut. Around 60 by my count, most I would bet are Home Rentals properties, which means they are not in the best of shape,

SIU Credit Union

 From the sign, SIU Credit Union will move their corporate offices into the back of University Mall, where Service Merchandise was located once upon a time. Now all mall management needs to do is find a corporate office to take over the Macy's wing and leave Bed Bath and Beyond open for Spirit Halloween each fall.

Celebrate 618

 Celebrate 618, sponsored by the Carbondale Chamber of Commerce takes place this week, since 6-18 falls in the middle of the week. A number of local businesses are offering 618 themed specials good 6/17 through 6/21. A few though, are only available on 6/18 so take advantage of them today.

Primo's Pizza

 Primo's Pizza announced on their Facebook page they are closed "indefinitely". Since the business asked anyone with gift cards to contact them about redemption, I would guess this is not a short term indefinitely.

Juneteenth

 Here is a list of the scheduled Juneteenth activities in Carbondale for the rest of the week. In addition, federal, state and city offices are all closed

• Senior Citizens Brunch 10:30 Monday, June 17 at Carbondale Civic Center
• Carbondale At The Table 5 p.m. Tuesday, June 18 at the Carbondale Civic Center. Call Dianah at 618-457-3282 to register.
• Juneteenth Celebration 6 p.m. at John A. Logan Community College.
• Kimberly France discusses her book “Black Settlements in Southern Illinois” 6 p.m. at University Mall
• Chalk the Sidewalk goes on all week from East Walker Ave to East Larch Street

PrideFest

 PrideFest has take over the downtown Square this Saturday afternoon, both the pavilion area and the Washington Street event space. Since no stage has been set up, at least as of 3 p.m., I would guess that, while there will be music, I doubt they will be putting on a show requiring a formal stage.

Cooling Center

 The Carbondale Warming Center has opened as the Cooling center for those needing respite from the heat. No word as to whether the Civic Center will also open as a cooling center next week

As we approach high heat indexes this weekend, we wanted to remind our community that the Carbondale Warming Center, located at 608 E College Street, is available for those who need reprieve from the heat.
The lobby will be open for individuals to rest inside an air conditioned space and water and Gatorade will be available for free. No public restroom is available to those walking in for temporary cooling relief.

Individuals may still register as guests to stay at the Carbondale Warming Center facilities where they will have full access amenities including the restroom and shower. Spaces are more limited during the summer due to the upstairs overflow space being unavailable at this time.

Donations are always welcomed and encouraged for the Carbondale Warming Center. At this time they are seeking bags of ice, water, and snacks (especially cooling ones such as popsicles). The Carbondale Warming Center is staffed 24/7. Doors are locked for security purposes at 10:30 PM and re-opened at 6 AM.

Downtown Restaurants

 By my count, three downtown restaurants have closed within the past 6 months or so:  Natcho Fries, Blocko's and SauSeas. Also by my count, three new ones have opened up since the start of the year:  Ripley's This n That and Booby's. So at least we are maintaining parity. Without major renovations, the only places additional restaurants could open on the strip are the Natcho Fries and Sausea locations and maybe the 7 Spice Grill, though given how long that place has been empty, it would take some major work to reopen.  I would include Chicago Hot Dog, but that building has been sold and Artistic Minds Tattoo is moving into it later this year.

Charlie's Fast Lube

 After about 6 months in business, Charlie's Fast Lube on East Main quietly closed up about two weeks ago. The Anna location is still in business, though.

Backflow Problems

 If you are having problems with sewage backing up into your basement, the city may help you install a backflow prevention device.  Requirements are:

• City of Carbondale sanitary sewer customer 

• Owner-occupied residence 

• Documented evidence that a residence has experienced a sanitary sewer backup in the basement during or following serious rain events due to storm water surcharge 

• Reported backup on file with the Utilities Dept. that was determined to be a sanitary sewer main issue and not an issue on private property by City staff. 

• Discuss the problem with the Water & Sewer Supervisor to confirm the backup is being caused by a sanitary sewer main issue 

• Obtain Utilities Dept. approval and a plumbing permit from the City’s Building & Neighborhood Services Dept. prior to notifying the plumber to proceed with the work in order to ensure reimbursement 

If you meet the requirements, the city will reimburse 90% of the cost of the device and its installation.  Read more about the program here.

Lewis Lane

 According to city plans, work is supposed to start on Lewis Lane, hopefully sometime this year, but I would be willing to bet it gets put off until after the multi modal transit system building gets completed. The plan for Lewis Lane is to reduce the width from 4 lanes to two and provide parking and a bike lane or two on the street.

Electric Rate

 The city sent out another email reminding electrical customers in the city that the new electric rates will kick in July1 although the price will only go up about a half cent a kilowatt hour, which is still pretty cheap. We had one of the companies in the store a  couple of weeks ago that pitch a lower electric rate because they can search among different suppliers. The problem is, from what I have found is that, like teaser internet or cable rates, the price is really low up front but jumps significantly when the initial contract ends. 

The City of Carbondale participates in an electric aggregation buying group with 94 other communities known as the Southern Illinois Aggregation Partnership (SIAP). Through this, the City of Carbondale has a contract with Homefield Energy that keeps electric prices at a fixed, steady rate throughout the year, instead of fluctuating as with other energy suppliers. The new aggregated rate from Homefield Energy will be

$0.091/kWh. This is a 12-month fixed rate from July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025.

However, this summer Ameren’s rates are sitting at a slightly lower cost. The new price-to-compare will be $0.08136/kWh from Ameren’s BGS-1 electric supply service this summer (June 1, 2024 – September 30, 2024) compared to Homefield Energy’s new aggregated rate of $0.091/kWh. The non-summer numbers from Ameren will not be official until late September for the period of October 1, 2024 – May 31, 2025.

The slight increase in the Homefield Energy rate from it’s previous rate of $0.08473/kWh to $0.091/kWh is attributed to capacity costs increasing for our region for the annual capacity planning year running June 1, 2024 to May 31, 2025. Homefield Energy also had to procure additional energy hedges for December 2024 through

June 2025 and the markets have continued either holding steady or slightly increasing for energy commodity prices.

If you wish to participate in the City's negotiated aggregation rate you do not need to do anything further after receiving your letter. If you DO NOT wish to participate, you must Opt-Out. Instructions will be on the letter or you can call Homefield Energy at 866-694-1262 to opt-out. The deadline to opt-out is June 19th, however there will be no penalties or early termination fees if you choose to opt-out at a later date. Here is the press release

Opt-out letters were recently sent out for the new aggregation rate by Homefield. There is an opt-out period currently happening until June 19th for all eligible residents which includes the following:

1. Residents currently enrolled with Homefield Energy under the previous aggregation rate of $0.08473/kWh

2. Residents currently being served by Ameren’s basic generation service for electric supply, regardless of if they opted out of the previous aggregation rate.

Residents who opted out previously, or moved within or into the City since the last opt-out period, may still have Ameren as their electric supplier and were mailed an opt-out letter by Homefield for the new aggregation rate beginning next month. These people can opt-out now before the June 19th deadline and will not be subject to Ameren’s minimum stay requirement since they will not be getting dropped by an electric supplier.

Minimum stay requirement from Ameren comes into play when a customer is receiving electric supply from a retail electric supplier and returns to Ameren’s electric supply service. If they do so, they have 60 days to select a new retail electric supplier and if they do not choose one, they must remain a customer of Ameren’s electric supply service for an additional 10 months (12 months total being on Ameren’s service).

South Illinois

 For whatever reason, most of the storefronts north of College Street are filled with one form of business or another. It is the ones south of College down to Grand that have problems, especially the strips of storefronts behind Geologic Oddities and Trax. If your storefront sits empty for that long, it may be time to take a look at the rent you are charging and include some things in the rent that you normally would not. Triple net is great if you have renters clamoring for your space but makes it harder to rent the space to prospective tenants.

Indian Restaurant

 No idea what the name is but apparently a new Indian restaurant will open later this summer in the plaza where Moe's Southwestern Grill is located. From what I gather, it is going into the location formerly occupied by the short lived Gud Fud Soul Food restaurant

Qin Guan

 Asked the front desk at Qin Guan this evening about the citations for health violations the restaurant received. According to him. the notice was posted two days, the restaurant made the needed changes and they got their certification back again. 

Grocery Sales Tax

 Under this year's state budget, the 1% sales tax on groceries ends in 2026. However as a sop to local municipalities, which got the money from the 1% tax, the budget also gives local governments the power to institute a local sales tax on groceries, without passing a referendum. Given that our city council passed an ordinance keeping in place a 1/4% sales tax put in place to fund school roof repairs,  that was due to expire several years ago, I would not be surprised to see a vote on establishing a local tax on groceries after the expiration of the grocery tax.

Carbondeli's

 Spoke yesterday with one of the contractors doing work at  Carbondeli's. Due to other jobs, the work is taking longer than projected and the owners now target the end of  August for opening.