Residents increasingly concerned over Towne Centre

The topics the nearly 20 St. Charles residents who met at the Baker Community Center Wednesday night are concerned about the same issues that put the word "Neighborhood" in the name of the their near west association.

They don't want traffic whipping down or stacking up outside their front doors. They don't want the police department to suddenly view their section of town as a problem. And they don't want a neighborhood that's twice the size it is now without seeing matching benefits in their city's tax coffers.

Yet those are problems they see coming if the new St. Charles Towne Centre development gets built as it's currently designed.

The project would be built on the site of the old mall. It would include 157,000 square feet of office and retail space in addition to 777 apartments/condominiums as large as three bedrooms. That's roughly the same number of residential spaces that exist near the proposed site right now. The project stretches from Route 64 to Route 38 and 14th Street to Randall Road.

Projections shared with the group by Fifth Ward aldermen David Richards and Ed Bessner show the development drawing about 7 million cars' worth of traffic over a year.

While the aldermen seemed to share the association's concerns, Richards did say he hopes the project brings an Oak Brook-like shopping quality to that part of town.

"Let's face it, 128 acres has been out here collecting garbage for way too long," Richards said. "There are some good points about this project."

The residents agreed a development is needed for the site. But the land has been, and still is, zoned for commercial use only. That's what they expected to get built on the site - a project that brings in a strong sales tax infusion to the city coffers. With much of the land residential, the residents said they don't see the city reaping the true value of the site.

Because of that, they are hoping to mount a wave of concern from residents in the area similar to the crowds of more than 500 residents who gathered with concerns when Wal-Mart came to town. If nothing else, the association wants a similar level of public awareness and thought put into the project.

Fliers, yard signs and well-attended public hearings on the issue are to be the norm if the association can mobilize a force.

The first test will come at 7 p.m. Tuesday at city hall for the next public hearing on the project.

Concerned: Residents want to see benefit from site