After much discussion, the city of Carlyle is planning to take a step back for now on the proposed sports complex and look into doing a feasibility study.
City administrator Andy Brackett said at Monday's city council meeting that the council has been dealing with a lot of misconceptions from the public regarding the sports complex.
"The city council is trying to do what’s best for the city," said Brackett, adding that the controversial sports complex is no way intended to be political within the city.
Brackett said that there has been a ton of interest regarding the sports complex, and when the time comes, they would like people to come out and give them their input.
"This gives the best option to have a voice," he said.
During the public comments portion of the meeting, developer Duane Nordike elaborated on his proposal for a sports complex. His proposal would be located southwest of the Way of Life Church, bordering the lines of Old State Commons Subdivision, which is not located in a flood zone and has perfect drainage to the south.
It was noted that the sports complex would include 27 acres of ground, 240 parking spaces, a soccer complex measuring 340’x430’ — compatible to the International Official Soccer Field dimensions, four softball diamonds, an open area for a future playground, approximately 250,000 square feet, and would also have a concession stand and four pavilions. His bid also includes an ADA sidewalk from the parking lot to the concession stand, a chain-link fence for each ball field, aluminum bleachers, concrete pads for all bleachers and player benches, a shade system, lighting system mounted on concrete poles, and infield drain tile and grass outfield.
The property would also have access from the east onto Fairfax Street/Old State Road, Flatbranch Road from the north, Pipeline Road from the south off Old Route 50, and from the west from New Route 50 to Nehrt Road to Old State Road.
The total for the bid was $1,785,685. If irrigation was added, it would be $67,400 extra, or $1,853,085. All necessary design work has been done and the project is shovel ready.
Nordike told the council that he has a better offer on the table from an interested buyer about buying the proposed ground, but was willing to work with the city.
"This is to the point where we are getting up in age and moving on," Nordike said, adding that he gave a deadline of Nov. 1 for the city to make a decision. The Nov. 1 date was a date that farmers use for contracts.
Carlyle resident Brad Hoffman said that he had this down to three things that the council should be looking at — design, development and dollars.
"With design, what you will get for the money to accommodate all sports at all times. With development, for development for the future," he said, adding that even connecting Flat Branch Road to New Route 50 would bring in more development.
"The other thing is dollars — what is the best use of dollars that Carlyle will spend," he said. "Can you afford to do this? If not, we are eight years into it, and if the city of Carlyle does not have the funding to do that, speak now or forever hold your peace. We need to know and moving ahead as a city, do we have the dollars for this or not? There is nothing wrong with saying that you don't have the money to move ahead with the project."
Crews from Plocher Construction work on the west end of the Illinois Department of Transportation’s reconstruction of the bridges spanning Crooked Creek on Illinois Route 161 near Centralia in early October. (Photo by Bryan Hunt) Now in the third phase of the reconstruction, an engineer with the Illinois Department of Transportation on Oct. 10 shared details of the Illinois Route 161 improvement project west of Centralia.
Paul Grabowski, talking by phone, said, “Everything is going well; we expect to be open on the completion date and have it reopened by Dec. 1, barring anything very unusual.”
IDOT, working with Plocher Construction of Highland and their subcontractors, began the reconstruction project in January with the closure of that stretch of roadway.
Crooked Creek is 3.3 miles east of Hoffman and a mile outside of Centralia, and Route 161 has been a major throughway for those coming into and out of the city for work and commerce.
The reconstruction was deemed necessary by IDOT to replace aged and deficient 80-year-old bridges and culverts at that location, and to provide added flood protection for the roadway, while at the same time improving intersections at Route 161 and Shattuc and Noltings roads.
The work involves the replacement and elevating of the bridges and roadways, and improvements to the shoulders.
“The bridge, I would say, is 99 percent done” Grabowski said, with a little bit of work to do on what’s called parapets, low protective walls along the edge of a roof, bridge or balcony.
Plocher Construction is still moving in some dirt at the site but that work should be concluding soon.
There is still the laying of aggregate base for the roadway to be done in addition to the related paving to come.
Grabowski said there should be a fairly large box culvert coming to completion on the west side of the bridge, between the west end of the bridge itself and Noltings Road.
This was part of the project Plocher couldn’t get to as scheduled because of flooding in that location. Frequent rains and flooding caused Plocher and IDOT to go to a six-day work week to keep on schedule.
Grabowski said once the box culvert work is finished they will move on to paving, the laying of rock.
The dry weather has helped the project move along close to schedule, Grabowski said, “but who knows what’s going to come here in the future. We get that box culvert [done] really there’s going to be nothing to stop us after that.”
Top: Open house patrons file into Poettker Construction’s new headquarters in Breese on Oct. 12 for a first tour of the facility. Bottom: Poettker Construction owners, management and special guests take part in a ribbon cutting ceremony. (Photos by Bryan Hunt) Officials at Breese-based Poettker Construction ushered in a new era in business with the grand opening and ribbon cutting of its new headquarters on South Germantown Road in Breese on Saturday, Oct. 12.
Saturday’s event was for invited guests, while a second open house for the public will be held on Sunday, Nov. 10 from 2 to 5 p.m.
Construction on the 39,400-square-foot facility, just south of the company’s former headquarters, began in July 2018 with a formal groundbreaking.
The new construction consolidates five separate facilities into a single, central building that is more than 30 percent larger than the previous workspaces.
Chairman and CEO Charles “Chuck” Poettker, prior to the celebration, said employees have been in the new building since Sept. 8, and that following Monday he came to the office and several conferences were already going on.
Company president Keith Poettker credited Ryan Poettker, executive vice president and chief operations officer, with leading the charge on the new building’s construction.
Event-goers were invited to tour the facilities and amenities, contained in a building styled after traditional German bank barns which housed livestock and grain.
Corey Noder, a project director at Poettker, led the first tour of several dozen guests, explaining the building’s divisions — pre-construction and operations — what takes place in each of the offices, and good-naturedly singling out co-workers who happened to be in the room, as to what they do for the company.
“We were wanting something to complement our culture, complement the surrounding area, the rural area,” which is how they came to the bank barns, Keith Poettker said of how the design came to be.
Other design elements include the high-loft ceiling and horse-and-buggy carriage on the backside coming underneath the first-floor level.
The design is such that all the connections are exposed, to showcase the details that go into a building that are normally covered up, Keith Poettker said, “ask about that.”
Among the new facility’s features is an outdoor sanctuary incorporating a lake with a waterfall and two fountain features, landscaping and entertaining areas. The back of the building features a walk-out lower level with a covered gallery that echoes passages built on the sheltered side of German barns.
| Fri., Oct. 11 |
445.27 |
| Sun., Oct. 13 | 445.70 |
| Tues., Oct. 15 | 445.80 |
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| Oct. 11 | 1.80" |
| Oct. 12 |
.016" |
| Oct. 13 | .00" |
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| Oct. 15 | .00" |
