The Prairie Hills Land Bank Authority’s first project will be the environmental cleanup of the former Haeger Pottery property, 411 W. Calhoun St. in Macomb.
“We are excited to work on this project. It’s the first property that’s come into our newly formed land bank, which was official in August, and we’re excited to see where we can go,” said Executive Director Victoria Livingston.
She led a public informational meeting this week at the Spoon River College Community Outreach Center in Macomb. She told the crowd that the land bank hired a consultant to write an EPA grant to pay for clearing the site. Parts of the property are contaminated with lead, and the concrete foundation and parking lot remain along with the rubble of the building.
Livingston said the land bank will ask for a $1 million grant. She said the Trump administration has released guidelines for applicants, so she believes the grant program will be funded.
“As of right now, we are confident that the grant cycle for 2026 will remain,” she said.
The grant application is due later this month. She expects award announcements in May, with the funds becoming available in October.
If everything goes according to plan, cleanup of the property could begin in October 2026 and be completed in December 2027.
Livingston said $1 million would pay for fencing and security around the space, removal of the concrete, removal of a few feet of contaminated soil, and pay for fresh soil, grass seed, some concrete, and additional fencing.
The plan now calls for converting the property into a park, though Livingston said they’re still accepting input.
She found the public meeting helpful.
“I think everybody is sort of on the same page with what they’d like to see,” Livingston said.
“Additional green space is never a bad thing, and so being able to give people access to the outdoors and some of these comfortable green spaces for community things would be fantastic.”
Possibilities for the park include a playground or a field of native pollinator plants, but that has not been settled yet.
Livingston said she also heard a few new ideas during the meeting, such as a suggestion to build a brick wall that mimics the one at Chandler Park. The new wall would fence off the site from the nearby railroad tracks.
The Prairie Hills Land Bank Authority’s members are Macomb, Monmouth, Carthage, Colchester, Dallas City, and Manito. Livingston said they’re talking to a couple other communities and a couple counties that might also be interested in joining.
“We would welcome new members, but if we have these six for a while, we have plenty of work to do,” she said.
According to information from Livingston, a land bank is formally a local unit of government. It’s a path to address vacant or distressed properties.
Land is held by the land bank for a set period of time, and then is passed back into productive use. The property at the Haeger site would be turned over to the city of Macomb once it’s cleared and redeveloped.
Tri States Public Radio produced this story. TSPR relies on financial support from our readers and listeners in order to provide coverage of the issues that matter to west central Illinois, southeast Iowa, and northeast Missouri. As someone who values the content created by TSPR's news department please consider making a financial contribution.
