Taylorville, IL (WAND) – A group of 69 businesses and property owners, representing more than 400 employees around the Taylorville square, signed a petition asking the city to collaborate with them on a proposed revitalization plan.

The petition asks the city to pause construction until businesses can provide impact and the city can ensure no historic elements of the downtown area are damaged. The petition also establishes the Taylorville Coalition of Responsible Revitalization.

“This petition is about responsible revitalization,” said Cindy Frisina, president of Heartland Development Partners, which owns six buildings on the square. “It is not about opposition. Please let us be involved with you so that we can have a great outcome that benefits all. We don’t want to see any unintentional harm to the businesses. We want to protect jobs.”

Taylorville Mayor Bruce Barry said the project is both necessary and beneficial to the city. He shared the city will try to keep business impacts to a minimum.

“The way I understood it is that it’s going to be an 18-month project,” Barry said. “So we’ll tear up different roads one side at a time so that the one side will be accessible.”

Barry said a state grant funds the project and includes new lighting, curbs, gutters, sidewalks, water lines and sewer lines. Many business owners are concerned specifically about sidewalk and parking impacts.

“Accessibility is so very important for our customers,” said Laura Hawkins, owner of Little Luxuries, which has been on the square for 25 years. “Sales will be down. Revenues will be down. The construction will just drive people away from the area, and it’s such a long proposed time frame that really concerns me.” 

“The city should be presented with … alternatives and say this alternative has this cost and this benefit,” Spurlock said. “Without that kind of a cost benefit, you can’t make a reasonable decision financially or practically, or about what effects it’s going to have on businesses.” 

Additionally, other business owners say a lot has changed downtown in the last few years. Frisina said over 30 new businesses have opened up, and those young stores are especially fragile to potential changes.

“All of us in the retail business operate on a very low margin of profit, and that’s why one month or two months would just put us under,” said Marilyn Spillman, who opened Emporium on Main in 2021. “They need to realize that if they tear up the sidewalks, they’re going to put us out of business.”  

But Barry said the city needs an update, and they will try to minimize the impact to businesses. He added the project will take 18 months, and construction will begin in January 2027. 

“I don’t know what’s going to happen 12 months from now, but I know that we will do the best that we can to try to have hardly any disruption at all,” Barry said. “And you’ll always have access to their buildings and the customers will too.”