At its May 27, 2014 meeting, staff presented the City Council with an opportunity to attract the LST 325, a working World War II naval craft, to Peoria’s downtown river front. The ship is currently moored in Evansville, IN but its contract in that community ends in 2015. The City has been negotiating with the LST Ship Memorial Foundation, the organization that owns the ship and operates it as a museum, to determine their interest in potential locations in Peoria.
Along with refining its proposal and answering questions raised at the meeting, the City Council asked staff to do more public outreach to gauge the interest of the community in brining the LST 325 to Peoria. Staff has organized three opportunities for citizens to share their input and express their support or opposition:
· A public meeting will be held on Tuesday, June 17, 2014 at 6:30 p.m. in the ballroom of the Gateway Building (200 NE Water Street, 3rd Floor). Staff will make a brief presentation regarding the project, answer questions and take public comment.
· An on-line survey seeking to measure support and opposition to the project and its elements has been created and is now available at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/lstpeoria. A paper version of the survey is available by contacting the Office of the City Manager at (309) 494-8524. The survey will be open until June 20, 2014.
· Staff has created a Facebook page to share information on the project. The site can be accessed atwww.facebook.com/lstpeoria. In addition to being a source of additional project information, site visitors can leave comments expressing their support or opposition.
Staff intends to compile and summarize all public input for the City Council meeting on June 24, 2014.
Questions regarding the LST 325 project should be directed to Christopher Setti, Assistant City Manager, at (309) 494-8618 orcsetti@peoriagov.org.