Ottawa city officials said they’d help Illinois Valley PADS find a solution to the homeless shelter’s crowding problem. Mayor Dan Aussem says the solution is selling the city-owned building the shelter’s in now to PADS and building a new place there.
PADS had asked to build a bigger place on E. McKinley Rd. But a lot of south side residents objected and the City Council rejected the request two months ago.
PADS Executive Director Carol Alcorn believed there wasn’t enough room to build at the current site on Canal Rd. due to easements and restrictions left over from when a feeder canal went through the area to serve the Illinois and Michigan Canal. Those restrictions were lifted in the last five years.
There’s no timeline for demolition, construction, and reopening.