BaratHaven development hits snag - P/D

yidnamu · PostApr 30, 2005#12005-04-30T20:25+00:00

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BaratHaven development hits snag

Steve Pokin

Of the Suburban Journals

O'Fallon Mo Journal

DARDENNE PRAIRIE

The developers of BaratHaven, a mixed-used 201-acre development in O'Fallon and Dardenne Prairie, have dropped the ball in communicating their plans to elected officials in Dardenne Prairie, said Dardenne Prairie Mayor Pam Fogarty on Monday.

The Dardenne Prairie Board of Aldermen tabled a proposed intergovernmental agreement between developers and the two cities last week.

In addition, Dardenne Prairie aldermen tabled the developers' request to designate the project as a Transportation Development District, which is a special taxing district.

[snip]

McEagle Properties, LLC, and Vantage Homes are partners in the project. McEagle developed nearby WingHaven, a 1,200-acre mixed-use development in O'Fallon. In BaratHaven, all but 28 acres are in O'Fallon.

[snip]

BaratHaven is south of WingHaven, between Highway 40 and Henning Road.

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Initial plans had called for 65 homes, but Christopher P. McKee, McEagle's vice president, and Todd Dwyer of Vantage met several times with concerned residents and reduced the housing density.

The O'Fallon Board of Aldermen has already given support to the TDD agreement, which would allow BaratHaven merchants to charge an additional sales tax of 0.875 percent and would require residents to pay an extra property tax of 10 cents for each $100 of assessed valuation.

The $1.95 million generated from these special taxes would pay for the subdivision's roads, storm sewers, sidewalks and storm water detention.

Morrow questioned why items such as roads should be funded from special taxes, and not paid for by the developer.

"I don't want O'Fallon to become a city where you buy your house and then have to buy your street, too," she said.

The intergovernmental agreement outlines building specifications such as street width, and details when the cities will assume ownership and maintenance responsibility.

At a March 24 workshop session in O'Fallon, a representative of the developers said the project could not proceed without approval of the intergovernmental agreement.

[snip]

William D. Laskowky, McEagle's director of development, said the project has much to offer residents. Amenities include some 97 acres of parkland, a 15-acre lake and plans for Barat Academy, a private, independent Catholic high school and middle school.

PostJun 23, 2005#22005-06-23T16:51+00:00

O'Fallon dropping BaratHaven

Steve Pokin

Of the Suburban Journals

O'Fallon Mo Journal

O'FALLON

O'Fallon no longer wants to be home to BaratHaven, a primarily residential development proposed for 201 acres adjoining WingHaven.

City officials Thursday night will discuss backing out of prior agreements with developers so that the project, instead, will be entirely in neighboring Dardenne Prairie.

Currently, only 28 acres of the project is in Dardenne Prairie; the rest is in O'Fallon.

Dardenne Prairie Mayor Pam Fogarty said Monday that O'Fallon's loss will be her city's gain.

Lyn Schipper, a Ward 2 alderman in O'Fallon and the board president, said O'Fallon no longer wants the project because a board majority that came into power in April does not support special taxing districts, such as the one requested for BaratHaven.

The city also no longer wants to spend an estimated $1.8 million ? money the prior board had already agreed to spend ? to build a collector road through the development.

In addition, Schipper said, O'Fallon is not interested in accepting 89 acres of parkland that is part of the project.

The developers ? McEagle Properties, LLC, and Vantage Homes ? donated the parkland to the Great Rivers Greenway.

Schipper said the parkland consists of trails that in large part are in flood plain and only suitable for passive recreation.

"Quite frankly, that was not the type of park that we were looking to add in O'Fallon," he said. "But it was what Dardenne Prairie was looking for, seeing as how they don't have a park."

Schipper said the city would have had to maintain the parkland. That cost, as well as the $1.8 million for the collector road, are expenses O'Fallon does not want, he said.

The city is being especially cost-conscious in light of a state audit of O'Fallon released last month, he said. That audit revealed the city's debt was much higher than had been previously stated.

Finally, Schipper said, the city wants to detach the 172 acres in O'Fallon ? and hand over the project to its smaller neighbor, Dardenne Prairie ? for another reason, as well.

"The city of O'Fallon has not had a very good reputation of being very neighborly to anybody in this county," he said. "This is our way of saying, ?Let's bury the hatchet so to speak and be better neighbors."

The city of Dardenne Prairie has a lawsuit pending against O'Fallon regarding various annexations of land near the two cities.

Dardenne Prairie contends that O'Fallon has repeatedly violated a negotiated boundary agreement between the two cities. Former Mayor Paul F. Renaud has said that the boundary agreement was a guideline that was not legally binding.

Dardenne Prairie sued O'Fallon in November 2003 after O'Fallon annexed a 10-acre tract called the Kimmler property, which is off of Feise Road in unincorporated St. Charles County. Dardenne Prairie surrounded the land on three sides.

Dardenne Prairie also sued O'Fallon in June 2002 after its larger neighbor annexed 107 acres known as the Bopp property ? located at the northwest corner of Feise and Bryan roads.

The property is considered to have prime commercial value.

Fogarty said Monday that O'Fallon has agreed that the Kimmler and Bopp properties will go to Dardenne Prairie. In exchange, she said, a residential area called Wellington Estates, off of Bates Road, will go to O'Fallon.

The developers of BaratHaven could not be reached for comment before the Journal deadline on Monday.

Dardenne Prairie benefits in several ways by having the entire BaratHaven development within city limits, Fogarty said.

"It does give us a park that we have been wanting," she said. The city does not currently have a park.

"It gives us a commercial area along Highway 40 that we have been wanting," she said. The project has 15 acres designated commercial along Highway 40.

"It also gives us a very nice Catholic school that we would be very proud to have," Fogarty said.

Paul J. McKee, Jr., chairman of McEagle, donated land for Barat Academy, which will be the county's first independent Catholic high school. Plans also include a middle school.

The Dardenne Prairie Board of Aldermen will be meet at 6 tonight to discuss BaratHaven and any special taxing districts that might need to be created, Fogarty said. The meeting will be closed to the public because legal matters will be discussed, she said.