By Philip Haldiman | Your Valley
The revitalization of Old Town Peoria has hit a road block.
In November 2021, the city brought in ZonaPart LLC to redevelop the area and enter into an economic development agreement with the city.
About a year later, council passed a conditional approval of a development agreement under the stipulations ZonaPart create a development plan and provide community outreach meetings to solicit public input regarding that plan.
The deadline for those stipulations to be completed was 60 days from the conditional approval, more specifically, Dec. 26, 2022.
That date has long passed, and despite staff’s recommendation to grant an extension to June 20 for the developer to complete the stipulations, the council unanimously voted against this extension, after breaking during a public meeting April 24 to discuss the matter in an executive session.
That said, the city has not been clear if this ends the relationship between Peoria and ZonaPart.
In an email sent to Peoria Independent, city spokesman Tim Eiden said the agreement never took effect and council chose not to continue offering additional deadlines beyond what was originally contemplated in the agreement.
