Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Plan Commission chairman promises panel will take as much time as needed to vet the draft plan before handing it off to the City Council.
Residents who on Monday felt disheartened by the St. Charles City Council’s approval of the Lexington Club development may have taken a measure of reassurance home one night later as the Plan Commission chairman promised a thorough look at the 2013 draft comprehensive plan. Once complete, the document is intended to be a guide for all future development in St. Charles over the next 20 years. Some of those who have been watching the task force work with the city’s consultant over the past 18 months to pull together the draft document are the same ones who were closely following the Lexington Club and Corporate Reserve developments, both with residential components on the city’s West Side. The City Council Planning and Development Committee …
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Volatile issue likely to have high profile in St. Charles City Council races.
Monday’s St. Charles City Council votes that gave Lexington Club’s developer the green light to proceed no doubt prompted a sigh of relief for some even as it sparked anger among others. Perhaps 3rd Ward Alderman Raymond Rogina summed it up best Monday night when he said, “Democracy at times can be messy.” Rogina, one of five aldermen voting against the Lexington Club project, predicted the vote outcome moments before the vote was recorded, saying it would take yes votes by at least five aldermen and the mayor to push through the development. Referring to an email that he said influenced him and several of his colleagues, Rogina said, “We can do better. … “Reasonable people working together support why we have national recognition as a …
Monday, January 7, 2013
But the vote on the contentious issue was divided, and Mayor Donald DeWitte cast the tie-breaking vote on each of the five measures.
A deeply divided St. Charles City Council on Monday night reversed course on the Lexington Club development, pushing through five ordinances that clear the path for the developer to proceed on a project that has proven contentious both for its scope and for its reliance on tax-increment financing. Aldermen voted 5-5 on each of a series of motions, with Mayor Donald DeWitte casting the tie-breaking vote on each. As mayor, DeWitte seldom votes on issues — typically, the mayor and chairmen presiding over City Council committee meetings vote only to break a tie. DeWitte said after the meeting his record on the Lexington Club project is well-established and that his vote should not have surprised anyone. Those voting in favor of the five …
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Election challengers respond to mayoral candidate’s call to move forward on project.
Mayoral candidate John Rabchuk late Wednesday called on St. Charles’ aldermen to reconsider their 7-2 vote on Dec. 10 to reject tax increment financing for the Lexington Club development. The funding incentive has been considered crucial to financing the $45 million development that brought vocal opposition from neighboring residents and critics of the TIF. Calling the vote by aldermen, meeting as the St. Charles City Council Planning and Development Committee, “both unfortunate and detrimental to the future of St. Charles,” Rabchuk said, “We had an opportunity to decontaminate a known hazardous waste site and to turn a blighted area into a neighborhood that would contribute to the economic vitality of our downtown and surrounding areas, …
Friday, December 28, 2012
City government in St. Charles was an ongoing source of news over the past year.
Government is always a top news generator from year to year, and 2012 has been no different, from Washington, D.C., to Springfield, Ill., to St. Charles, Ill. Nationally, it was the presidential and congressional elections, and the economic. Statewide, pension reform and government finances were among the hot-button issues of the past year. In St. Charles, city government activity also drew what was sometimes intense scrutiny during 2012. Two issues revolved around developers, another revolves around future development. Construction zones — particularly for the city’s Red Gate Bridge and continuing work by the state on Main Street/Route 64 — dominated the landscape for motorists throughout the year. City officials kept a wary eye on …
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Lexington Club developer has asked the city for more time to consider options before a formal City Council vote.
City officials said Wednesday morning the developer of the Corporate Reserve has withdrawn the application for a zone change to allow the construction of hundreds of apartments on the site of the business park. Meantime, the developer of the Lexington Club had asked the city to delay further consideration of its application for tax-increment financing, a key component of the funding for that project, whose cost has been estimated at $40 million to $45 million. The St. Charles City Council, meeting Dec. 10 as the Planning and Development Committee, dealt the two controversial projects significant setbacks. Aldermen voted unanimously to recommend the City Council reject outright the Corporate Reserve application. Aldermen also voted 7-2 to …
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Two controversial development projects remain on the table pending formal action by the St. Charles City Council after its committee vote a week ago.
Monday night was St. Charles City Council’s last scheduled formal meeting of the year, and while some anticipated a final vote on the Corporate Reserve and Lexington Club developments, the items were not listed on the agenda. City officials had said last week that at least one, if not both of the projects, might be considered for a formal City Council vote at the Dec. 17 meeting. Alderman last week dealt significant setbacks to the Corporate Reserve and the Lexington Club projects. During their Dec. 10 committee meeting, aldermen recommended against a request for a tax-increment financing district for the Lexington Club in a 7-2 vote, and voted unanimously to recommend the denial of a zone change request at the Corporate Reserve, a …
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
He says developer cooperated with the city every step of the way, spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in the process.
The attorney for Lexington Club developer 333 North Sixth Street LLC, chastised the St. Charles City Council Planning and Development Committee after its 7-2 vote on Monday rejecting the tax increment financing component considered a linchpin to financing the $45 million development. Attorney Hank Stillwell warned aldermen they were sending a strong message that St. Charles is among the most anti-development communities in the western Chicago suburbs. Visibly angry, Stillwell laid out for the council that he and his clients and worked hand in hand with the city, making concession after concession to ensure the project was palatable to the city. Every stop of the way, he said, the council had indicated its support for those efforts — until …
Monday, December 10, 2012
If the St. Charles City Council next week affirms the Planning and Development Committee votes, both projects are dead for at least a year.
Residents opposed to new apartment complexes in parts of St. Charles were able to breathe easier as the St. Charles City Council Planning and Development Committee dealt what likely will be fatal blows to both the Corporate Reserve and the Lexington Club developments. The full City Council is expected to take up both issues next week. If the aldermen maintain the votes they recorded Monday, neither project could be brought back before the council for a full year, barring a vote to reconsider. It was unclear late Monday what the City Council’s rules are governing the timeframe for a reconsideration vote, however unlikely such a vote might be. Each proposal has been wending its way through the municipal approval process, and like other …
St. Charles City Council Planning and Development Committee meets at 7 p.m. in City Hall.
Two items that have been a source of concern to residents — the Corporate Reserve and Lexington Club developments — are on the agenda tonight as the St. Charles City Council's Planning and Development Committee meets. The 7 p.m. is scheduled in the St. Charles City Council Chambers in the St. Charles Municipal Center. The agenda for the meeting is below, or you can download one: ST. CHARLES PLANNING & DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE Alderman Cliff Carrignan, chairman 7 p.m. Monday, Dec. 10, 2012 | City Council Chambers, 2 E. Main St. 1. CALL TO ORDER 2. ROLL CALL 3. FIRE DEPARTMENT a. Recommendation to extend the Residential Sprinkler Moratorium until January 1, 2014. 4. COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT a. Presentation of a Concept Plan for 1915 W. Main Street…
Steve Swanson
1:49 pm on Friday, February 1, 2013
I was happy to hear from friends who attended the January 28th Plan Commission hearing on the proposed Comprehensive Plan that the point I made on January 9th was fully discussed. When you come over the hill North of Dean Street and look at the St. Charles section of Randall Road, you know that this area needs a vision because it is one of the main gateways into the City. more ›