Good Greif! I can’t imagine what a $38,000,000 recreation complex would look like, and you do know you are not talking about building it with a “loan”…the price will be closer $80,000 by the time you pay the interest on the bond.

It would be a lot cheaper to let people to chose their own recreation and pay for it themselves.

Let me tell you point blank that you are not going to get different age groups to participate in the same building in different kinds of recreation. It is NOT GOING TO HAPPEN.

How many people total would be in the area served?

I hardly know where St. Charles is located! I think I’ve been there once as a destination point–the antique district on Main (?) Street. I’ve driven past St. Charles on route to KC, MO.

Do they need a recreation complex? Guess we’ll have to let them decide. My life won’t change whether or not they build a new rec complex, but their lives may, so let’s let them decide.

How else are they gonna keep up with the Joneses…or in this case, St. Peters? Must be sure to figure out a way to quickly squander all that tax loot from “The Boat” and create even more traffic problems. Would’ve been nice if they used the 38 mil to improve the schools.

I think Jom has the right of it. St. Peters has the Rec-Plex and O’Fallon has the Renaud Spirit Center. St. Charles doesn’t have anything similar, so I would guess it really is a matter of keeping up with the Joneses.

If they really are looking at a financial windfall from the boats, they might be smarter to bank it and let it start earning money. Perhaps then they can both maintain the current level of services and eventually (once they have enough banked) reduce the property taxes. I think a city that was sitting on strong cash reserves, offered services on the current level of St. Charles and had low taxes would be a Very attractive place to live. Certainly more attractive than a city that boasts yet another bloated gym, and a debt to income ratio that means tax increases are an inevitability.

PS- I hate how the site now removes carriage returns. It crushes all of the paragraphs into one “run on” blob. What does the STLPD have against good writing structure?

It seems that it was not long ago that the St. Charles school district was closing schools because they were in need of repair that they didn’t have money for. I have not been in the St. Peters Rec Plex more than a couple times. I think that there are only a small amount of residents that use it all the time. I would rather see money go into education. St. Charles might want to keep some of that money. It looks like the economy will continue to erode for some time which means the tax base will do the same.

Venture, then K-Mart failed on that site. Apparently people don’t like to drive that direction.

It’s probably actually a $10,000,000 complex with $28,000,000 built in for kickbacks for the local politicians, contractors, and all the government inspectors needed to rubber stamp the project.

LOL b, that was a pretty funny comment.

If the voters of St Charles approve it, so be it. It is their town and their problem.

There is something to be said about not judging how others spend their money. I guess all of us St Charles non-residents should heed that. However, I would note that they have a splendid convention center, the Family Arena and other ameneties…I don’t see where they necessarily need the “community” portion of a community center.

This is a very much “keeping up with the Joneses” type thing. It is much worse in the many-municipal St Louis county. Does every town need to have a waterpark, golf course, and gymnasium? Can each town afford to maintain such facilities?

I would like to see where more cities join forces and share there services. That way people in Town A, B, and C could all use Town A’s waterpark, Town B’s golf course and Town C’s indoor pool at all resident/reduced rates.

But then again…that might just make sense.

Suzyjax, I lived in St. Peters for a long time and I’m pretty sure that any St. Charles County resident can use the facility. There are just different fees. St. Peters residents pay the lowest fees. It is available to everyone. I can only assume it is still like that. I really never used the rec-plex myself. My daughter used it a lot when she was younger. It was a meeting place for kids to get together and swim. Looking back, I guess it was a good supervised place for kids to go. Youth today are generally ran out of everywhere they gather. Reflecting on that, maybe it’s a good idea.

Wow! Lots of speculation and accusations in these comments. I live in St. Charles City and I’ve thought for a long time that we need a community center. I currently use the Rec-Plex, however I pay extra because I do not live in St. Peters. And yes, there are a lot of residents and non-residents that use the Rec-plex. I’m there almost every morning and sometimes in the evenings. The place is doing well. I don’t understand why all of you who do not live here care so much about how we spend our taxes??? I’m all for progress and I’d pay extra taxes to have better facilities to use. If everyone thought the way the commenters in this post think, we’d still be driving on dirt roads.

St. Charles, mucho hoosiers and so irrelevant to the metro area. You guys are all fools there, moving there to avoid the blacks, shooting down metro link to avoid the blacks, moving there “for the schools” when all it was for was to avoid the blacks. Blasphemous fools all you hoosiers are. There is more to Bud Crap and Marlboro smokes you hoosiers.

Hey STLB -
Guess what? I am black. And I didn’t move here to get away from the blacks. I was born here. Along with the rest of my big, black family. Way to show your ignorance. Have a great weekend.

Oh ye of little knowledge!

Often times people are asked to invest in their respective communities. These investments create many returns that are not seen, at least not right away. When citizens get together and decide to make such an investment as a recreation center, everyone wins.

Example: The Rec-Plex has, for the past few years, hosted the MSHSAA State Swimming Championships. They have brought hundreds of swimmers and their families to St. Peters. They fill the hotels, spend $$$ in the restaurants and buy items at Mid Rivers Mall.

All of this generates REVENUE! Yep, that’s right! Sales tax revenue that allows the City of St. Peters to provide services WITHOUT having to raise taxes. Add to that the jobs created and one job, according to the National Chamber of Commerce, produces $7000 in ancillary revenue for the community in which it is located.

So you see, EVERYONE wins. Revenue goes up, property value goes up and the various communities gain in prestige which has a value that is tough to measure, but you know it exists.

Thank you Honesty for the logical thinking and stating of facts, not opinions and judgements. You are correct. Progress and investments are positive improvements for a community.