Edwardsville looks to future

Edwardsville residents have plenty to look forward to in 2016.

Several projects, including the Spray and Play Park (May 31), Planet Fitness (early January) and the SIUE Fire Station (August), will be completed and open to the public in the upcoming year.

There’s plenty of other projects that have Mayor Hal Patton excited about the future.

“We had the ground breaking for the SIUE Fire Station, so that’s other construction, and we are very proud of that. The Spray and Play Park ground breaking took place about a week later, and that’s going to be exciting to watch the progress,” Patton said. “Those projects are up and going, and that will be followed by the joint police and fire station. We will see that project coming to city council probably in February. I expect at the beginning of the year the I-55 corridor and the 13-year process of figuring out how to grow and how to plan appropriately for growth is coming to the next step, which is zoning and overlays.”

Included in the I-55 corridor is the proposed 70-acre sports park. 

The city recently completed a land deal with RLP Development for 32 acres of land in the corridor. It also picked up a 6-acre donation from Robert Plummer, and the city will purchase an additional 32 acres of land over three years from the Edwardsville Community Foundation for $41,000 per acre at no interest.

“I’m excited about the 70-acre sports park project,” Patton said. “We will have our focus group called back in. It’s been almost 10 months since they last met. This group is about 20 members of the community that come from different backgrounds that will put their best ideas on paper so that we can start planning for that new park.”

Downtown Edwardsville will also see some growth.

The Mannie Jackson Center for the Humanities recently had an open house, and Ret. Gen. Colin Powell will be guest speaker at the foundations’ inaugural dinner at SIUE’s Meridian Ballroom on March 31.

“Colin Powell is coming to town to talk about things that are important in humanities and relations,” Patton said. “Unfortunately, the turmoil that we see in our country and the divisiveness that we see, this facility cannot come in a better time in my opinion.

“I personally believe in Dr. (Dale) Chapman, Dr. (Ed) Hightower and Mannie Jackson that this can be an incubator for other places around the country to jump on and have a center that teaches about relations and improving how we get along. That’s fantastic.”

The facade program, which was first introduced in 1998, continues to help shape downtown.

Patton said there are a number of projects in the works for next year.

“I know three major buildings in downtown Edwardsville that will go under major renovation in the upcoming year,” Patton said. “It’s nice to see our Historic Preservation Commission and the Certificate of Approval process being streamlined a little bit.”

With downtown becoming busier, Patton said the city may start looking for additional parking lots and spaces.

“If we can add additional spaces, I think we will see other buildings bring on new life and new retail,” Patton said. “I’m definitely keeping my eye on parking opportunities in the downtown area.”

In August, the city and Glen Carbon extended their water agreement for another 10 years. In May, 2014, the two came together for a boundary agreement.

Patton hopes those relations continue with Glen Carbon and Mayor Rob Jackstadt.

“I want to continue to work with Mayor Jackstadt and his council  to work together on ways we can consolidate services and work together on projects,” Patton said. “I think we can continue to look at things in the public safety arena and park arena of working together and joining forces. I think there’s a lot of growth occurring in Glen Carbon and Edwardsville. If there’s way we can work together and share ideas and save taxpayers’ dollars, I’m all for that.”

This may become even more important as the state continues to fight financial difficulty.

That is also impacting the school district, which is a concern of Patton’s.

“2016 is going to be a very challenging times for our school district. Not everybody realizes the financial constrains the school district is under because of what’s happening with state funding as well as stagnant growth over the years,” Patton said. “It’s a very serious situation that I want to be able to help them as much as I can. Mayor Jackstadt and I our are huge fans of the school district. We know that people are moving to Edwardsville and Glen Carbon because of the quality of our school district.”

The school board OKed the issuance of working cash bonds in November.

Patton said it will take everyone in the community to make sure the quality of the school district doesn’t decline due to the financial difficulties. He also applauded the efforts of the school board, teachers and leaders.

“They have very good leaders and very programs,” Patton said. “We cannot be any more complimentary of the jobs that they are doing. It seems the school board is working together and has a vision of getting out of the financial difficulties that they are in.”

At the state level, Patton is hoping the budget can be worked out and the pension problem can be fixed. Other than the school district, it’s his biggest concern of 2016.

“We have serious problems in the state of Illinois. It’s not just one group that caused them, and it’s not just one group that’s going to be able to fix them,” Patton said. “We are all going to have to give a little bit.”

Source: http://www.theintelligencer.com/local_news/article_4408ecd0-a285-11e5-a927-37f1320a2ddf.html