A committee of St. Charles aldermen agreed Monday night to chip in $20,000 to examine the possibility of providing such amenities as white water rafting courses, floating botanical gardens and elevated bike paths centered on the Fox River.
John Rabchuk, of the River Corridor Foundation of St. Charles, asked for the money after showing a brief video to the council that offered ideas for how to better use the river as a recreational resource for residents and tourists.
“These are possibilities,” he said. “Whether they make sense economically, we don’t know.”
The Active River Project Task Force, which has representatives from the city, park district and various other stakeholders, has been meeting since February. The group wants to hire experts and consultants by February to consider realistic options for St. Charles’ stretch of the Fox River, then conduct hearings and focus groups in the following months.
The group received a Kane County riverboat grant for $46,250 and is asking the St. Charles Park District for $20,000. The full City Council still must approve the city’s contribution.
Some of the ideas include removing the dam and installing a series of smaller dams to allow the area to be more easily traversed by canoe or kayak, or bring in rocks that create a narrow tunnel, Rabchuk said. Whitewater rafting businesses have contacted the group with interest in getting started, he said.
Another possibility would be an elevated bike path over the river that would allow joggers and cyclists to avoid downtown traffic.
The Fox River was once a recreational destination in the Chicago area, but after the water quality declined, that tourist traffic dried up, he said.
“The river is a great resource,” he said, that fell out of favor. Now there is the “potential to come full circle.”
He pointed to other cities that have capitalized on their own rivers. Grand Rapids, Mich., spent $27 million on a project that now generates $20 million annually for the city, he said. A smaller project in Charles City, Iowa, now allows the city to host a national tournament that attracts tens of thousands of people, he said.
Aldermen seemed enthusiastic. Ald. Rita Anne Payleitner said it was exciting to see the river’s potential as something other than merely scenic.
They questioned, though, whether the Army Corps of Engineers and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources were involved. Rabchuk said representatives have been at meetings and that both entities would have to sign off on any changes to the shoreline or river.
“There are a lot of unknowns,” Rabchuk said, “but a lot of excitement.”
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