St. Charles receives grant funds

A grant in the amount of $100,000 from the Kane County Board was given to the city of St. Charles in the nick of time last summer, and it ended up saving valuable riverfront property.

On Monday County Board Chairman Karen McConnaughay presented the St. Charles City Council with a check for the grant which went toward the Fox Island Square Renovation Project.

The project made improvements to the west side of the riverfront between Illinois and Indiana streets, the most eroded area in St. Charles.

"It (the grant) enabled us to build environmentally correct retaining walls and cover it with granite boulders," explained Vern Oie, treasurer of the River Corridor Foundation of St. Charles.

The renovation was completed last June, just in time to protect the riverfront from the floods in August.

"We really would have lost a lot of riverfront," said Oie.

St. Charles applied for the grant in 2006, which came from funds the Kane County Board allocates to go toward environmental, educational, and economic development issues.

The board received $5 million in applications from various municipalities, with only $1 million for the grants.

"This project is one of the standout projects in the region," McConnaughay said.

In the future the city plans to create a walking path along the improved area.