St. Charles officials spend money to find Fox River answers

The St. Charles City Council will join two other groups to study whether dreams for recreation on the Fox River can become reality.

Aldermen Monday night committed $73,000 to see if the plans are merely a pipe dream or have the potential to make a big splash for the local economy.

Two additional local entities will share the costs of the $113,000 feasibility study. The St. Charles Park District will kick in $35,000, and the River Corridor Foundation will provide the final $5,000.

But questions remain about the plans to transform the St. Charles portion of the Fox River into a recreational water haven, and city officials aren't yet ready for anything more than dipping a toe into the water.

During Monday night's government services committee meeting, several aldermen expressed concern about the city taking the lead on a project that may be primarily recreational in nature. Recreation is the purview of the park district, said Alderman Art Lemke. Alderman Jo Krieger went a step further and questioned the funding split for the feasibility study. She asked for financial statements for the River Corridor Foundation to make sure the group wasn't shortchanging a plan that's right in its wheelhouse.

Both Lemke and Krieger voted “no” on the feasibility study funding. Alderman Ed Bessner was absent. But the remaining majority of the council supported the study if for no other reason than to get a better hold on whether any of the concept plans they've seen have a shot at overcoming engineering, environmental and permitting hurdles. Even if the study shows promise, the overall cost of all the changes to the river may be the biggest obstacle. Major work includes removal of the Main Street dam and transformation of the waterway between Main Street and Pottawatomie Park into white water rapids.

Aldermen Steven Gaugel and Rita Payleitner continued to be the biggest cheerleaders for the project Monday night. Supporters of the plan generally see it as having the potential to make downtown St. Charles a unique destination in the area for people who enjoy an active lifestyle. Similar river transformations in communities in other states have provided notable economic boosts, but it remains unclear if the template can work in St. Charles.

“I don't understand the hesitation,” Gaugel said when it became clear Lemke and Krieger were leaning toward “no” votes. “If we balk at this, we're sending a message that this is something that we're not interested in. Is that the message we want to send?”

Alderman Dan Stellato, who has voiced concerns about the unknowns of the plan, said it's time to find at least some of the answers to those questions.

“Let's at least just do the study,” he said. “We'll take another look at it after that. I saw some buy-in from a lot of other groups on this project. That's what I was looking for at this point.”

The full city council must take a final vote before the check is cut.