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St. Charles embraces rowing club with new boat dock

Hope floats for the Saint Charles Rowing Club.

St. Charles aldermen gave tentative approval for a boat dock on the edge of city limits this week. The dock would keep the club afloat after plans to secure a dock in a Kane County Forest Preserve sank in March.

The rowing club backed out of the forest preserve deal when it failed to raise the $250,000 needed to engineer a boat launch out of the Fox River Bluff East Forest Preserve. Neighbors of that preserve also drafted a petition with 1,400 signatures decrying the plan as "mission drift" from the preservation goals of the forest preserve district.

St. Charles officials embraced a different version of the plan this week in the belief the club provides an inherent public good. The nonprofit promotes competitive rowing, particularly among high school students, to provide an outlet for fitness and a path to college. The club sent 15 of its members to college on rowing scholarships the past two years.

The new plan would place a 50-foot floating dock beneath the Red Gate Bridge on the northern border of the city. The club has an agreement to store its boats on private property adjacent to the bridge. The land has a gate that opens under the bridge and provides access to the water. The dock would provide a launch for the boats into the water. And, while it would be open to public use, there would be no cleats on the dock to tether a boat.

The one hurdle to final approval from aldermen may be the liability involved with dock. City attorneys believe the project will add a slight increase to the city's general liability insurance. The rowing club itself has a $500,000 liability insurance policy.

That's not enough for Alderman Ron Silkaitis.

"Even if you get liability insurance of $1 million, anything over $1 million they are going to go after the city for that," Silkaitis said. "I have a problem with this. I don't honestly see a benefit. I just see a downside from the liability if something should happen."

The remaining aldermen did not share those fears. They directed the staff this week to negotiate a license agreement with the club. The agreement will allow for city and park district use. Any permitting needed from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources regarding river access will be the responsibility of the club.

The proposed boat dock (red star) would be just south of the city's border with the Village of Wayne and under the Red Gate Bridge (gray line). Courtesy of City of St. Charles
The boat dock would be about 50 feet long to accommodate the length of the water craft the rowing club uses. The boats are so big they require a water entry point with enough depth to handle both the boat and multiple rowing crew members who will be inside it. Courtesy of City of St. Charles
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