STREATOR: City selling Spring Lake property

CRAIG WIECZORKIEWICZ, craigw@mywebtimes.com, (815) 431-4082

Brian Beldyga, senior manager of Save A Life Tour, shouts a warning to Katy Atkerson as she attempts to turn her vehicle on a computer simulator meant to demonstrate the impact of driving under the influence of alcohol. Save A Life Tour visited Serena High School Tuesday as part of a national campaign to prevent teens from driving drunk.

Randy Puckett and his family frequently visit the Spring Lake property west of Streator, as they consider the outdoors refuge a natural getaway that is still close to home.

"I spend every weekend out at Spring Lake," Puckett said. "It's an inexpensive place for the family to go on the weekend."

But the Streator resident is afraid they will lose that now.

The Streator City Council voted 4-1 Wednesday to put the Spring Lake property up for sale, and with the land zoned rural residential by La Salle County, a developer could purchase it and build housing there.

Much of the property is located in a flood plain, which makes the land less desirable to build on. Even if someone purchases the 37-acre property and chooses to maintain it as an refuge, it could be closed to the public.

That worries Dale Irons, who has been going to Spring Lake for more than 30 years.

"It's a nice recreational area. They shouldn't take that away from us," Irons said. "If it's sold, it could be private property. It could be fenced off and closed off to everyone."

The property, located in a rural area along the north side of Spring Lake Road (East 16th Road extended), has been owned by the city since 1961, when the state sold it to Streator for $1. The sale agreement called for the land to be used for public recreation, but, according to City Manager John Kolata, a since-enacted law limits such "in perpetuity" agreements to a minimum of 40 years. After 40 years, the land can be used for whatever legal purpose the owner wishes.

Irons sees the potential loss of Spring Lake as another recreational option that would be taken away from Streatorites just because the city doesn't want to spend money to keep it in order.

"It's just like our swimming pool," Irons said.

Several city officials said the land should be sold because the financially-strapped community can't afford to keep it clean or provide enough police presence to prevent riffraff from causing trouble there.

"There's beer parties there. We know there are, from the police," Mayor Ray Schmitt said. "It's not doing us any good."

There is a group of volunteers who occasionally do some cleanup work at the site, but that isn't enough to keep the property looking as it should, City Manager John Kolata said.

For that reason, Councilman Willy Williamson is in favor of selling the property.

"We can't maintain it. We never maintained it," Williamson said. "It's just sitting there doing nothing for the city, so I'm in favor of selling it."

The city is asking for minimum bids of $97,500, which covers the appraised value of the property and a $2,500 appraisal fee. The bidding process closes at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 8, and all bids will be opened during the Aug. 16 City Council meeting.

By law, the purchase amount must equal at least 80 percent of the appraisal amount, but the city wants to get reimbursed for the entire worth of the land, Kolata said.

Kolata recommended that the council set aside a certain percentage of the purchase amount to go toward maintenance of other Streator city parks, and use the rest of the money to pay off the firehouse loan and other city debts.

Siobhan Elias, the only council member to vote against selling the property, said she hopes the city can put as much as 50 percent of the sale amount toward park maintenance.

Elias said she is not opposed to the property being sold, but she prefers it to remain a public recreational area.

Still, she said, "It would be great for a developer to come in and build. There are some nice places to build homes around there."

When La Salle County went through a rezoning process last year, the Spring Lake property was zoned rural residential at the request of the city, said Mike Harsted, land use coordinator for the county.

"I think that would make the property more saleable," Harsted said.

If whoever buys the property wants to make a change to the property that does not fall under that category, rezoning approval would be needed first.

If a new owner wants to build a subdivision at the site, then approval also will be needed by the Streator City Council because the property is located within a mile-and-a-half of the city.

How likely it is for a subdivision to be built there is uncertain. Ninety percent of the land is located in a flood hazard zone, which makes it less feasible to build on because basements have to be at least a foot above the flood plain, Kolata said.

"It is very expensive to build there (in a flood hazard zone), but people have done it before," Kolata said.