A “Petition for relief from judgment” filed by North Valley neighborhood activist Tim Herold seeks to have the court reconsider a November ruling that paved the way for the Detweiller Playground Trust (DPT) to sell some of its riverfront property to neighboring O’Brien Steel. That decision, apparently by Judge Sean Donahue, who heard DPT’s motion on Nov. 19, “was entered without necessary parties, including the Park District, without full disclosure of material facts including an existing easement, and without notice to the Detweiller Marina Neighborhood Association, which has included the property in its boundaries for over 25 years,” Herold’s petition states.

The document details ongoing criticisms:

• Despite seemingly under consideration for years, no neighborhood group, the Peoria Park District or the public “really” were notified of the possible sale, it says, and it came to light almost four months after the court ruling when a related item appeared on a Park District meeting agenda;
• there’s at least the appearance of a conflict of interest since an O’Brien Steel executive joined the DPT board. Quoting a public comment by DPT President Andy Schneider, who said the proposed sale “allowed O’Brien Steel a piece of land to use for expansion,” Herold asks, “Why would the for-profit needs of O’Brien Steel be a reason for the Thomas Detweiller deed restrictions [from his will] to be reversed”?
• the boat landing at the foot of Caroline Street would be negatively affected;
• a related acceptance of the proposed sale by the Illinois Attorney General’s Office seemed to feel that the City of Peoria’s lease with the Peoria Boat Club would not be renewed to let the property revert to its original, charitable public-use purpose, but the Trust claimed the City was willing to buy the land. However, that didn’t happen, and plans don’t seem to ensure public access, much less use. “It seems clear that the DPT knew that for many years, it had not been using the large portion of its land that was leased to the Peoria Boat Club as had been intended by Mr. Detweiller for playground, recreation and public use,” Herold says.
• no necessary environmental or archeological studies have been done;
• several historical markers would be threatened, including a bronze memorial honoring the Detweiller family, a Peoria Settlement Monument, and the model of the planet Mars, part of the Community Solar System created by the local planetarium now part of the Peoria Riverfront Museum;
• an apparent lack of financial responsibility raises “serious questions about oversight, stewardship and whether the Trust’s assets have been managed in the best interests of the public.”

In that regard, one rationale for the sale claims that conditions of the property have changed, an assertion Herold says “is demonstrably false and misleading.

Tim Herold

“The surrounding land uses did not change,” says Herold, citing a 1999 Northside Business Park Tax Increment Financing plan labeling the area as “industrial use” but the playground area as “park/open space,” and a 1958 zoning map showing the area around the Detweiller property as heavily industrialized.

“The claim that the property has become unsuitable due to industrial surroundings is not a change of conditions, but a failure of stewardship and investment by the Trust,” Herold says, “and excess spending on legal and accounting,” according to the DPT’s own tax returns. “Curiously,” Herold says, the DPT listed its Fair Market Value in 2022 as $500,000 and in 2023 and thereafter — before the proposed sale — it “jumped to $1,085,000.”

Further, the Trust “did not seek grants, partnerships, Park District involvement, market the marina, engage the community (or) explore alternative ownerships or management, (and) “did not put a for-sale sign out and seek the highest bidder,” the petition states, “rather, it seems that private financial sales agreements have been made.

“The Detweiller Marina Neighborhood Association sees nothing necessary nor appropriate in the reversal of Mr. Detweiller’s will.”

The petition seeks a Temporary Restraining Order and, separately, is asking the Illinois Attorney General’s office to stop the sale and order the DPT to seek solutions with the City of Peoria, the Peoria Park District, other Peoria charitable groups and the public.

Although the petition requests an expedited hearing, it’s taking time.

“I think they have to wait until I get all parties served before they schedule a hearing, which I’m still working on,” Herold told The Community Word. “We are still seeking an attorney.”

Meanwhile, the North Valley Neighborhood Association is working to get the 300 and 400 blocks of Caroline Street, which now has access to the Illinois River, as “Thomas H. Detweiller Way,” Herold said.