Letter to the Editor: Transparency Versus Opaqueness Part 2

In the proposal between Land Vision and the City of St. Charles,  among the objectives listed was one that stated,  “Provide strategies that provide for quality residential growth, positive environmental impacts, and general protection of the quality of life in the neighborhood.” What I read there is that it was predetermined that the best use of the former Applied Composites property would be residential rather than manufacturing or any other option. The validity of the ‘study’ was compromised from the very beginning because Land Vision was working for Lexington Homes, and Lexington Homes wanted to build houses on the site. 

Another stated objective was to, “Involve St. Charles stakeholders—residents, property owners, business people, open space advocates, and municipal officials—in the planning process in a meaningful way.”  Sure, there would be a couple of meetings where they would solicit opinions from the area residents, but those opinions were not reflected well in the final document that became the Comprehensive Plan Amendment of 2007. None of the residents who were present and involved wanted to see the density of housing that Lexington Homes eventually proposed for the site.  

And as I will show later, even the input of the St. Charles Plan Commission members was ignored by the consultant. Ironically, the proposal contains this statement, “The objective of our project approach is to encourage stakeholders to articulate their vision, aspirations, expectations and desires for the future of the neighborhood; to generate enthusiasm for the vision; and to generate support for the planning process after the recommendations are adopted.”   Given the outcry from the neighborhood and the petition signed by 400 stakeholders against the Lexington Homes proposed PUD for the Applied Composites property, it would appear that objective was not met. 

In fact, one could easily say that involving the neighborhood stakeholders was nothing more than window dressing;  nothing more than a failed attempt to give the actual process an air of legitimacy. On February 15, 2007, an open house was held at Thompson Middle School for the stated purpose of gathering feedback regarding land use recommendations for the area including and around the Applied Composites site. The open house was attended by about 70 residents. In talking with those who attended, Lexington Homes was showing plans for possible units but kept stating that they had no firm development proposal. This reinforces the idea that the process was a sham because while the consultant and the City were stating that they wanted the public’s input, the stakeholders were basically being told that  residential is what you are going to get.  

Attendees had concerns about the planning process, the clean-up of the property, the traffic that would be generated by a residential proposal, whether anything other than residential was being studied/recommended, and the number of children that would be added to District 303 schools by a residential project. Some attendees wanted to see the site remain as a manufacturing site, some wanted to see it become park land, some wanted to see part of the property used for offices and businesses,  some wanted there to be housing for seniors and the disabled, if it was going to be residential.  Most felt it was important to keep the street grid in place. Some wanted to see a road connection to the north into the Timbers subdivision. Basically, none of the public input mattered because it was predetermined what would be there and the public’s voice was not going to be heard.

Jay Thomas

23 North 7th Street,  St. Charles