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Democracy on the Front Lines
City Administrator’s Blog
Walter Denton
May 14, 2007
After many years as the biggest eyesore in O’Fallon, the Clark Station is going down today. The station, located in the center of downtown at State and Lincoln, has been vacant for over five years and has largely been used as a parking lot. The property owner has defaulted on his taxes and the City has been cutting the grass and weeds for years. While the City does not own the property, we took the owners to court on a nuisance violation and the judge agreed to allow us to condemn and demolish the structure.
The canopy was down by 8:00 a.m. this morning, and everything should be down by the end of the day. All that will remain is the concrete pavement. Since we do not own the property, we cannot do anything more than this to improve the site. We have the primary lien on the property, which means we can take ownership after a certain period of time of nonpayment of taxes. At that point, the City Council can make the decision what to do with the corner: sell it, redevelop it, build a parking lot, build a park, or do nothing with it.
In the meantime, it is a relief to see the gas station come down. State and Lincoln is the heart of the city, and it was frustrating to see the abandoned station every day and not be able to do anything about it. It took about 12 months to get through the condemnation process to demolish the structure. In conjunction with the demolition of the old EMS building last year, the two worst buildings in downtown are now gone.
The City Council is committed to downtown and it is vitally important for downtown O’Fallon to be successful. Over the past 10 years, the City has built new parking lots on First Street, installed decorative street lights, rebuilt the train depot (which now houses the O’Fallon Chamber of Commerce), repaved State Street, and constructed a new City Hall downtown. The City also owns the old 1st National Bank building, which is home to the O’Fallon Historical Society and Main Street. The City’s vision is to embrace new development while also preserving the core of the city. The demolition of the Clark Station is a big step toward improving the core of downtown O’Fallon.
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