St. Charles misses target date for community center bond issue
St. Charles officials missed today’s target date for a $30-million bond issue to fund the city’s community and recreational center.
But Mayor Patti York and key City Council members say they remain hopeful a financing snag can be worked out in the next few weeks and that no major delays in demolition and construction at the site will occur.
Councilman Michael Klinghammer said he hopes the snag can be worked out to allow the bond issue to go forward by Oct. 1, if not earlier.
At issue is whether the city’s partner in the project - the nonprofit ShowMe Aquatics and Fitness organization - can make a $3.5 million payment required when the bonds are issued.
That’s part of the agreement worked out last year between the city and ShowMe. City officials say the timing of the payment is in doubt because Cullinan Properties - the developer of a planned commercial-residential proiject at the old Noah’s Ark site - has yet to pay ShowMe for a piece of the Noah’s Ark location owned by ShowMe.
Talks are continuing to figure out a solution to avoid a major construction delay. There’s no indication, though, that the community center won’t be built.
St. Charles voters last year overwhelmingly approved the bond issue for the center, slated to replace a vacant Kmart building on Interstate 70 between Hawk’s Nest and First Capitol drives.
York said today’s unmet bond issue date always had been “very tentative.”
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This whole thing is a farce; ShowMe Aquatics were to have collected the $3.5 million through fundraising and not the sale of the property at Noah’s Ark. The Noah’s Ark funds were to be used for operating expenses. To make matters worse, the city and ShowMe have yet to set the fee structures for membership and other cost. This makes you wonder what else the city and ShoeMe are hiding from us.
The City is also working on an agreement with Cullian Properties to start some of the infrastructure works whereby they can release TIF dollars to Cullian and they can buy the property from ShowMe Aquatics and ShowMe can give the money back to the city so they can issue the bonds for the community center. That will give us sewers and streets. Wow what a deal….
The snag is the City of St. Charles purchasing the property at the Noahs Ark site from Show Me so Show me can pay the city the 3.5 Million. The city is negotiating with you guessed it Sue Schaeffer to purchase the ground where the Show Me Aquatice pool was going to go at Noahs Ark. The city will build a Welcome Center. More and more tax money used, when are the people of this city going to wake up and realize the city is spending like druken sailors? This mayor is not a fiscal conservative, she spends and spends and then wants to raise taxes to cover the spending.