Town Centre a risky venture

The the mayor and city council of St. Charles:

I have many concerns about the Town Centre development because I feel it will have a negative impact on our entire town.

The development is in direct competition with the First Street complex. I thought that First Street was the big deal to pump up downtown. Not only has First Street experienced snail-pace growth, now this proposed Town Centre project is designed to move business activity away from Main Street. In which direction is St. Charles going?

Dodson Place in Geneva is a Shodeen white elephant. The Towne Centre project will have over 600 residential units - the potential to be a whole herd of white elephants. Is St. Charles going to fall into the same trap Geneva did, only on a much grander scale?

My greatest concern about Town Centre is simply why now and what is the rush? To actively pursue a project of this size and cost in these economic times is at best iffy and at worst foolhardy. Let the land continue to stand vacant until the times settle down. It is plainly too great a risk for the city to take to allow Town Centre to be developed. If Mr. Shodeen has such great faith in this venture, let his company fund 100 percent of the cost with no TIF or other city perks allocated to the development.

To those who say this development will not in any way hurt the southwest area of St. Charles, perhaps you would be willing to swap houses with us, live here, and see what happens to your quality of life. I am very concerned about what will happen if the development is allowed.

Jim H. Hannah

St. Charles