Enquirer Democrat ? City's Finance committee recommends lease ...

By Rick Wadeid="0">

Concerns about possible future city water distribution system needs has the city of Carlinville hesitating to lease Tower Grove Park to the Carlinville Park District for 30 years in order to help the district obtain a grant to make improvements. id="2">

The park district is applying for an Open Space Lands Acquisition and Development (OSLAD) Grant, available through the state?s Department of Natural Resources which would pay up to half of the cost for a $38,000 to $70,000 proposal to upgrade Tower Grove Park. id="3">

In order to get the grant, the Park District would have to prove it retains control over the area upgraded by the grant money for 25 years, which means it needs a lease from the city.

The city has expressed a willingness to cooperate with the Park District in the matter, leasing the south half of the park to the District. A city water tower sits on the north half of the park.

In the current draft of the grant, the district is seeking funds to level out the terrain of the entire park.

?When we met with community members, one of the specific requests was that we level out the land. There are a lot of places if you?re just walking through with your grandkids, you could twist your ankle and fall in a hole. It?s just kind of rough,? said Carlinville Park District Board president Julie Fleischer. ?But we cannot do that with the grant if we don?t have an intergovernmental agreement for the entire area.?

The grant also asked for money to install a soccer/football goal post in the area where the former water tower once stood, which would also need to be included in the lease agreement.

?Basically, the state wants to know that whatever we do with the grant, money will stay there for 25 years,? Fleischer said.

?I don?t know if I can assure you of that. I don?t know what?s going to happen 25 years out,? said city attorney Will Hebron. ?If we have a water problem and need to do something with the north end of that property, we are going to make sure we have a right to do it.?

Fleischer said an intergovernmental agreement would allow the city to do whatever work is necessary. ?If you only lease the south half, it?s not going to destroy the grant. We will continue to apply for the grant, even if it?s just for the south half. We?ll just exclude the landscaping on the north side and the goal post. We?ve done so much work on this, and the community is counting on us.?

?I guess the issue is, if we want something done, who has the right to decide whether we can do it or not. If you?ve got part of the north half, we don?t just have a right. It seems to me that is the only item that is a problem,? Hebron countered. ?You are making for a lot more complicated of an agreement for somebody to draft, and then approve, than if you just take the south half and spend your own money for the goal post.?

The deadline to apply for the OSLAD grant is Sunday, July 1.

?If the south half is all we can get done, it?s better than getting nothing done at all,? said Fleischer. With only one City Council meeting left before the deadline, an agreement would have to be reached quickly.

In the end, the Finance Committee recommended the city attorney and the Park District hammer out an intergovernmental agreement this week leasing the south side of Tower Park to the Park District, with the stipulation that the city would cooperate with the Park District to level out all the rough spots in the entire park. The other stipulation would allow the city to perform any necessary work to the park.

Finance committee recommends lease agreement with Park District

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