BLOOMINGTON -- A tailgate party for the Kenny Chesney concert next month was approved by the Bloomington City Council at its meeting Monday.

Also, the council learned that rain and storm water is flooding the Bloomington Normal Water Reclamation District's four-year old plant in Randolph Township.

The City Council unanimously approved suspending the city ordinance that prohibits alcohol on public property for the city-owned Butler parking lot from 3 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 17. Ward 3 Alderman Kevin Huette was absent from voting.

The Butler parking lot along the 300 block of Front Street will be the site of a tailgate party to accommodate about 1,500 of the roughly 8,250 concertgoers.

Several local bar owners raised questions about the review process given to this event.

Mayor Steve Stockton said Coliseum management submitted its request to serve alcohol at the parking lot and did not need to go to the city liquor commission. As mayor, Stockton serves as the city's liquor control commissioner. Stockton has previously allowed 14 other taverns and licenses the opportunity to expand their serving area into private parking lots for special events.

In other matters, the council learned that parts of the city's storm water lines may need to be repaired or replaced because of the excessive amount of storm water flowing into BNWRD's Randolph plant.

The Randolph plant was designed to treat an average of 7.5 million gallons of sewage a day. On a dry day, the station treats about 3.5 million gallons a day. The plant is treating at its maximum 16 to 17 million gallons of sewage and storm water a day during heavy rains and another 10 million gallons is being diverted to BNWRD's Oakland Avenue plant, said Randy Stein, assistant executive director for BNWRD.

"It was designed only to be single type treatment plant, but now it is a combined treatment plant," Stein said.

The higher flows could mean growth on the eastside of Bloomington and Normal could be limited or the system could be reported to the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, said BNWRD Executive Director Bob Carter.

City Manager David Hales said the presentation was a quick recap of the problem and staff is still working on finding solutions and cost estimates for repairs.

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