Preservation and Conservation Association

08/31/2026

More heavy reading, more proposed changes:
This language includes new parameters on nominating a property for historic landmark status. To nominate a property, the petitioner must reside in the county or work through an entity, such as PACA, or a local entity/person to file Likewise, the proposed language seeks to address the void we all felt when the family of Marilyn Wojnar sought to have historic landmark status removed from her home.

08/31/2026

More heavy reading for the last of August:
Here is my letter to the Champaign city planners concerning the proposed development credits.
Dear all,
I am struggling to understand the mechanics of the Development Credits which seem destined to be approved by the City Council this coming week. Upon first hearing the proposal, my mind went to the houses at Third and Healey streets whose owners could conceivably see a windfall. Using 301 East Healey as an example, here are my questions if I were the owner:
There is huge, untapped potential on my lot, how do I calculate the possible credits I could sell?
Would selling credits increase the property taxes at 301 E Healey?
How do I know if the offer I received is a good offer?
How do I seek competing offers? Will this involve a real estate agent?
This requires me as the hypothetical owner of 301 to file for landmark status within a certain number of days. My house seems simple, small, well loved, but nothing historic, no special architecture, nothing to rise to the level of landmark status, what happens then? Do I still get to sell my untapped potential?
In twenty years, I could sell my credits again??
For the developer:
I purchased the credits of 301 W Healey, and I want to build in Midtown, do I need City approval to extend upwards?
Is this change in height the only design change I have gained by purchasing credits?
If I don't use all my credits on this project, may I "bank" the credits for future development?
Does the purchase of the credits allow me to build a taller building perhaps near Holy Cross Church, in the old town, as a right?
If I buy the little house at 301, may I sell myself credits?
May I sell myself credits if one party of this transaction is an LLC?
Please, let's extend the example to a very real possibility:
There is a row of two-story homes as the Northern boundary of the So. State and Prairie PUD, on Clark street, and the small brick buildings which were retained along State street as more affordable housing. As the developer of the PUD, may I sell myself the credits on the small buildings on State? Could I purchase the credits on Clark to allow for taller building and then purchase the Clark street row and build taller, adjacent to the PUD, in essence giving myself credits?
Would the taller design be reviewed by the city or be mine by right?
I apologize for typing so late in the game, it has taken me quite some time to distill these concerns.
Sincerely,
Phyllis Williams
PACA Volunteer

08/31/2026

More heavy reading on a hot afternoon: Development Rights:
mostly associated with setting aside open ground for conservation efforts. Here, we see the concept applied to the built environment in Champaign. The City Council is considering this and some other changes at the 9/01 meeting.
We first learned of these at the CHPC meeting in August. In the next post, I will share my questions to Champaign planning staff.

08/31/2026

Let’s do some heavy reading on a hot afternoon. The following is a link to the agenda for the Champaign City Council meeting for 9/01/2026:

08/31/2026

08/30/2026

A horse drawn street sweeper is considered. Help after the 1984 tornado. Thanks, Ray!

08/28/2026

How does this happen!? Late at night, columns are multiplying! We have never had so many and, if vintage isn’t your thing, we have brand new huge columns at West. Doesn’t your she-shed deserve a porch? Come see us at the Warehouse, enter through the yard.

08/28/2026

The sidewalk along Washington Street is now closed as is the street in front of the warehouse. Please, enter through the yard, Walnut street side.

08/28/2026

Your opportunity to own a piece of the Joseph Royer designed County Poor Farm has arrived at the PACA warehouse. Thanks to the generosity of the County, we have 30 corbels for sale at $50 each.
Sadly, due to the deterioration of the building, we are unable to salvage from the inside.
If you develop a creative use for the corbels, Royer called them brackets, please share with us.
The link to the PACA Newsletter article on the Poor Farm at 100 by Dr. Brian Adams is in the comments.

08/28/2026

This is a nice read.

Four score and three thousand songs ago, in the middle of a whopping winter storm, a sharecropper and his wife brought forth upon this continent a baby girl named Dolly Parton. Parton, who died this week, at age 80, produced some 50 solo albums, sold somewhere north of 100 million records, starred in several movies, and wrote or co-wrote more than a dozen books. When her home county was devastated by wildfires in 2016, she sent $1,000 dollars a month for six months to every family that had lost a home. She donated a million dollars to fund the development of the coronavirus vaccine.

“Still, for all this, songs were always the heart of it,” Kathryn Schulz writes. And Dolly sang about everything—with a voice that may have been the most distinctive in the business. Schulz remembers Dolly Parton—not just as the Queen of Country music, but as the people’s President: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/postscript/dolly-parton-for-the-people?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=dhfacebook&utm_content=app.dashsocial.com%2Fnewyorkermag%2Flibrary%2Fmedia%2F713845574