St. Charles to Create Master Plan for 100-Acre Property

St. Charles Parks and Recreation Department officials plan to hire a consultant to develop a master plan for a 100-acre property in northeast St. Charles.

The property--located north of The Boeing Co. and between Highway 94 North, Hawning Road and the River Road--was donated by St. Charles County to the city in March 2000. Since then, little progress has been made to develop the property as a park, largely due to lack of funding, said Maralee Britton, director of Parks and Recreation Department.

On Tuesday, the Parks Board approved a search for consultants who could create a conceptual plan to develop the park. Britton anticipated it may cost $50,000 to have the plan created.

The consultant would be asked to survey the area to determine boundaries, meet with the community to develop plans for programming, and develop a potential timeline and cost estimate for improvements. The master plan would be completed in about four months.

Some parks board members hoped the act of creating a master plan is enough to convince both the City Council and St. Charles County that the parks department is serious about developing the property.

"This is 100 acres," said Parks Board member Tom Probst. "Where else in the city are you going to get 100 acres for a park? This is a long, long, long range plan and something we should not let slip from our fingers. This needs to be done in a way that gives it the best chance to succeed."

In September 2010, the City Council opted to reallocate the $100,000 in gaming funds that would have been set aside for developing the park toward road improvement projects instead. The City Council also removed future planned funding for the project from the capital improvement plan. 

Those decisions prompted some discussion between St. Charles County administration and the St. Charles Parks Department over the city's plans for developing the land. The contract between the city and county contains a provision that gives the county the right to the property if it hasn't been developed in 20 years, said Britton.

"I think the biggest part of this--the bottom line--it needs to remain as park land," said Britton. "One hundred acres of park land in a 200-year-old city does not come easily."

Currently, the property has not been dedicated to the parks department, something  the City Council would have to do before the parks department could spend money to develop the park.

“I think the council would like to keep this as a park,” said Bridget Ohmes, Ward 10 councilwoman and liaison to the parks board. “But I think they would like to see some plans or something that we are moving forward.”