Belleville, St. Clair County will buy Belle-Clair Fairgrounds. What are their plans for it?
Officials from St. Clair County and Belleville have three immediate goals for the 22.5 acre Belle-Clair Fairgrounds & Expo Center property they voted to purchase Thursday night.
They want to have a place where people can go for temporary housing if they are displaced by natural disasters such as tornadoes or flash floods.
They want a new home for St. Clair County Animal Control, which flooded during July’s record rainfall.
And they want to schedule even more community events there, including the return of the St. Clair County Fair, to generate revenue and increase traffic to the surrounding Belleville businesses.
St. Clair County Board Chairman Mark Kern laid out these goals in an interview with the Belleville News-Democrat after Thursday night’s special meetings of the City Council and County Board regarding the purchase.
The property at 200 South Belt East in Belleville was listed for sale earlier this year.
Kern said the county ultimately decided to invest $2.35 million in federal funding in the property with Belleville’s support because it wants to “preserve” the site in case of another emergency like COVID-19.
The county used the fairgrounds as a mass testing and vaccination site during the pandemic. More than 100,000 shots were administered there, Kern said.
Some residents still haven’t returned to their houses after July’s flash flood. Community leaders helped by putting them up in hotels. But Kern said hotel rooms might not always be an option — especially with a larger weather event — without moving people far away from home.
The fairgrounds is the dependable, local alternative, the chairman said.
“If another person had come forward or another entity had come forward and said, ‘We’re going to operate the fairgrounds as it is,’ and it would be available like it was available to us, we would have been very comfortable with that,” Kern said. “But it was pretty clear that things were changing at the fairgrounds, that it was not going to be available for those purposes, and that’s when the county stepped in and decided that we would invest in this site for disaster-related purposes.”
Kern said it will require upgrades like adding bathrooms and shower facilities to the site. He acknowledged the 58,919 square-foot steel building might also need renovations because of its age.
The purchase was approved through a set of special meetings Thursday night over an intergovernmental agreement between the county and city. The county’s finance committee was the first to vote to recommend the board sign it.
At Belleville City Council, three aldermen were absent for the vote, but the 13 in attendance were unanimous in their backing of the purchase.
The city of Belleville will own one out of 51 shares of stock in Belle-Clair Fairgrounds Park Inc., the corporation through which the property operates. The county will own the rest.
“The county is going to actually be buying it,” Belleville Mayor Patty Gregory told the BND. “The city’s role will be what it’s always been, to continue with police and fire protection, and also I’m sure there will be times when, with the events, we will have input and we will be actively helping with marketing.”
Three county board members were opposed to the purchase agreement, including District 20’s Ed Cockrell, District 24’s Kevin Dawson and District 19’s Phil Henning.
Cockrell cited the cost in his criticism of the deal during the County Board meeting.
“I wouldn’t expect anybody in this room to do this deal with their money,” Cockrell said. “I wouldn’t do it with my money. I wouldn’t ask anybody to do that. I just don’t think the taxpayers of St. Clair County should do this with their money.”
In response, Kern said the purchase would allow the county to uphold its duty to residents.
“This provides us an opportunity to do our duty as a county, which is to protect people in the event of a disaster,” Kern said.
Beyond that goal, Kern said in an interview that officials hope animal control will build a new facility around the Belle-Clair Fairgrounds with an adoption center and that the site’s events calendar will grow, particularly after COVID-related cancellations.
Events such as a monthly flea market and craft shows currently take place at the fairgrounds. It has also been the home of the St. Clair County Fair and Ainad Shriners Circus.
Gregory called the property acquisition a “win-win situation, especially with the anticipation of remodeling.” She said it’s good for the city because of economic activity and sales taxes generated by the fairgrounds.
“We’re very excited about the possibilities,” the mayor said. “We’re accomplishing so many things in the city because of our relationship with the county. It’s really helping the city move forward in a positive direction.”
This story was originally published December 16, 2022 at 9:38 AM.
