St. Charles rowing club's forest preserve plans sunk
Plans by a St. Charles-based club to row its boats in a Kane County Forest Preserve have not gone merrily. And on Thursday, forest preserve commissioners announced the project has sunk.
Local enthusiasts founded The Saint Charles Rowing Club in 2012. The nonprofit promotes competitive rowing, particularly among high school students, to provide an outlet for physical fitness and a path to collegiate scholarships, according to its website.
To further that mission, the club inked a deal with the forest preserve district in November 2014 that would have allowed the organization to build an access road into the Fox River Bluff East Forest Preserve, near St. Charles North High School. The vision included a paved parking lot, floating dock and boathouse to store the club's equipment.
There appeared to be at least two waves of problems that caused the plan to founder.
For one, the engineering and construction of everything the club members wanted had a projected cost in excess of $250,000. The group received a $20,000 grant from Kane County to help the effort. A GoFundMe page created by the group for fundraising appears to have raised zero dollars.
Monica Meyers, executive director of the forest preserve, said the club asked to terminate the project.
"Their fundraising has not been going as planned," Meyers said.
She said the club had done some preliminary engineering at the site. And neighbors near the preserve have recently started speaking out against the plan.
Indeed, nearly 1,400 people signed a petition created by Kristie Stock-Domain against the rowing club's plan, calling it "mission drift" that would privatize the preserve for the use of the club.
"It has been proposed that Fox River Bluff is underutilized," reads a recent online update by Stock-Domain. "HA! That couldn't be further from the truth. So I need your voice, your words, your story. Help me show them what I see from my windows all day, every day - a thriving ecosystem enjoyed by countless taxpaying citizens."
Stock-Domain did not respond to an interview request Thursday.
Rowing club member and parent Carrie Halle said the neighborhood opposition created an unwelcoming, even threatening, cloud around the efforts. But it was really the site itself that doomed the plan. The number of trees that would need clearing and grading required just to make it possible to launch a boat proved too costly for the club.
Members started seeking an alternate site about nine months ago, she said. Now that they are closing in on a new site, the club felt it was time to let the forest preserve district know it would not move forward on the Fox River Bluff plan.
"I know the neighbors are claiming victory in this, but they weren't really a factor in the end," Halle said. "We still plan to be in St. Charles, just further north down the river. We sent 15 kids to college on scholarship the past two years. That's why we do this. So we're determined to prevail and continue our mission at another site."
The club has a golf outing June 10 at the Mill Creek Golf Club in Geneva to continue its fundraising efforts.
Neighbors opposed to any changes at the Fox River Bluff preserve may not be out of the woods yet.
Forest preserve Commissioner Phil Lewis said he was "disappointed" by the rowing club's decision to spike the project. Lewis does believe the preserve is underused. He hopes another organization comes up with a new plan to increase recreation in the preserve.
"The Saint Charles Rowing Club has indicated that they will not be moving forward with their plan," Lewis said. "That doesn't mean that the forest preserve isn't interested in putting a rowing venue on the Fox River."
Meyers said the forest preserve district will work with neighbors to develop a long-term plan for any amenities they'd like to see brought to the preserve.