BLOOMINGTON - Improvements are taking root more than a year after the first seeds of redevelopment were planted on the city's west side.

The West Bloomington Neighborhood Plan soon will open an office at 800 W. Washington St. and hire an executive director.

For neighbor and volunteer Valerie Dumser, the progress has been satisfying.

"We are finally legitimate," Dumser said. "We are finally an entity."

The plan recently received the American Planning Association Award for strategic planning. Project volunteers will be honored at 7:30 p.m. Monday by the City Council.

In April 2008, the city and State Farm Bank paid $90,000 for a study to look at an area bounded by Locust, Taylor and Lee streets and Morris Avenue.

One of the plan's first projects, a community garden at Roosevelt and Mulberry streets, has generated the interest of neighbors, said Heather Paul, a steering committee member.

"That plot of land may only be one-third of an acre, but because of it we have been able to show there is value in this plan and that in turn has helped us grow enough to get an office and an executive director," Paul said.

Brad Butzirus, a west-side landlord, is helping the steering committee find office space. The Stevenson Center at Illinois State University is helping to find an executive director, who is expected to start Jan. 2.

The committee doesn't know how much the director would be paid, but already has raised some money to pay for the office and the director.

Other topics

The city's auditing firm will present a report on the Central Illinois Risk Pooling Authority, the city's self-insurance entity, during a work session at 5 p.m. Monday. The council also will discuss a list of pending projects that could be paid with the remaining $1.9 million from the downtown tax increment financing district.

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GO!

What: Bloomington City Council honors West Bloomington Neighborhood Plan volunteers.

When: 7:30 p.m. Monday

Where: City Hall, 109 E. Olive St.