SPRINGFIELD, IL – An ordinance authorizing the city of Springfield to donate the Y Block to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources is on first reading July 7.
The ordinance would be up for discussion at the July 14 committee of the whole meeting when alderpersons would assign it to the debate or consent agenda for a final vote before the full city council July 21.
The Y Block, just north of the Governor’s Mansion, is home to the popular Levitt AMP (Amplified, Music & Places) Springfield Music Series, which is in its eighth season.
The 2.25-acre area bounded Fourth and Fifth streets and Capitol Avenue and Jackson Street is valued at $1.54 million.
The Office of Public Works did soil and groundwater sampling, which it submitted to the State of Illinois last year.
“I am working through that process,” Mayor Misty Buscher told The State Journal-Register in a May 18 interview. “Unfortunately, it was a mess left for me (when I became mayor in 2023). I didn’t create that mess. I’m just trying to fix it.”
The state’s FY25 budget included $4 million to design and construct a park on the 2.25-acre site.
Gov. JB Pritzker told a Citizens Club gathering in May 2024 that any new development should maintain “openness to the public and be active year-round.”
(This story will be updated.)
Contact Steven Spearie: 217-622-1788; sspearie@sj-r.com; X, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Y Block in Springfield could be given to the state | Exclusive
Reporting by Steven Spearie, Springfield State Journal-Register / State Journal-Register
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By Steven Spearie, Springfield State Journal-Register | USA TODAY Network
