Barbecue restaurant coming to O’Fallon, city to comply with COVID vaccine mandates

Plans for a new barbecue restaurant as part of the West Highway 50/Cambridge Boulevard Business District were revealed during the O’Fallon City Council meeting Monday, as aldermen transferred a redevelopment agreement to a new group.

The council transferred the business district redevelopment agreement to KBA Investments LLC, which is Scott Plocher of Plocher Construction of Highland, from TO-JB LLC.

Plocher and his development group has worked with O’Fallon on the five-story Blade Building at Green Mount Road and Regency Park, Sugarfire BBQ and Dewey’s Pizza, among others.

Plocher recently informed the Community Development Committee that his group wanted to propose a new restaurant on the 3.2-acres originally planned for the Hi-Pointe Drive-In, which is now under construction nearby.

“The lot would be re-envisioned to include the newest location for the Nashville-based Edley’s Bar-B-Que alongside a multi-tenant building that will be home to the Edwardsville based Goshen Coffee,” Plocher said.

He said it would be similar to the one just opened in Glen Carbon.

“The site will maintain a consistent but upgraded experience to the previous layouts and design configurations that have been presented to the City of O’Fallon,” he said. “Leaning on experience from the developers’ experience at other locations, this updated design will strike a balance between maximizing the appropriate use of the site while minimizing any negative impacts to the sounding neighborhoods.”

Community Development Director Justin Randall said the final site layout has not been completed and staff will evaluate the need to have a new planned use approved.

Randall said at this point, replacing the original Hi-Pointe restaurant location with Edley’s would not constitute a major change in the original planned use.

In December 2019, the council approved a development known as the Cambridge Boulevard Center for the redevelopment of the old O’Fallon Lumber site at the southeast corner of Highway 50 and Cambridge Boulevard. This created the West Highway 50/Cambridge Boulevard Business District.

The Cambridge Commons includes three buildings, a standalone restaurant with alcohol sales and drive-thru, a retail center with drive-thru and a retail building.

Alderman Todd Roach abstained because his wife is involved in the restaurant group developing the Hi-Pointe Drive-In.

City to comply with vaccine mandates

Mayor Herb Roach said the bottom line is that they want the city staff and the people they serve to be safe.

The new orders affect the city’s workforce, which is over 200 full-time employees, hundreds of part-time employees, the city council and the mayor.

“We will all have to show proof of vaccination or weekly negative tests to show up and work at city facilities,” he said.

“I understand that COVID-19 has been polarizing at times. But politics and personal feelings aside, the City of O’Fallon has a responsibility to protect our staff and citizens and to keep our workforce able to provide services,” the mayor wrote in his weekly column.

On Aug. 26, Governor Pritzker issued an executive order stating that all healthcare workers, school personnel, and state employees must be fully vaccinated from COVID-19 or undergo weekly testing to enter their workplace. This applies to all the city’s paramedics and EMT’s of our Emergency Medical Services Division.

On Sept. 9, President Biden announced the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) will issue an Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) mandating all private employers with 100 or more employees to require their workforce to be either fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or produce a negative test result weekly.

Utility Tax Amendment Approved

In other action, the council finalized plans to amend the Utility Tax, and the ordinance will take effect Jan. 1.

The wording changes but the rates do not right now. The same kilowatt-hour rates that were in the 2002 ordinance will be maintained.

The current ordinance expires in February 2022. Originally established to pay for the debt service on the public safety building bonds and for the parks program, the amended law would remove the 20-year sunset clause.

The debt service on the bonds does not mature until January 2024.

The current budget for the utility tax is $1.775 million, of which $534,000 goes to pay the bond debt service, $124,000 (10%) stays in the general fund, and the balance of $1.117 million goes to parks for operating needs.

The amended ordinance would fund capital improvement projects and park operations, general for right now, but the purpose would be decided later.

The amended tax ordinance states the rate will be 5% of the gross retail receipts of using electricity, which are calculated on a monthly basis.

O’Fallon Parks infield turf improvements

The city has agreed to pay $2,489,000 to Byrne and Jones Construction to install artificial turf on all ball fields at the Family Sports Park and Field #1 at the Community Park.

In the annual FY22 annual budget, $2.12 million is budgeted for the project. Total of contract $2,416,000 plus a 3% contingency of $73,000.00. The balance will be transferred from reserves.

City Purchased Ground

The city has agreed to purchase a parcel of ground west of the existing public works facility at 8645 U.S. Highway 50 to provide additional land for the department’s future needs. The cost is $220,000.Frost Real Estate Holdings represented the landowner.

As this was not included in the FY22 annual budget, water and sewer fund reserves will be used.

Blossom Café Plans Go Ahead

Plans for a Blossom Play Café were approved for Kimberly and Brian Lloyd at 2 Eagle Center, Suite 2.The Lloyds plan to convert the former medical office space to Blossom Play Café, an indoor play space, café and venue for birthday parties and parent-child classes.

The Eagle Center Office Park is located on the northeast side of Highway 50, between State Street and Green Mount Road.

Reserves at Timber Ridge West plans advance

The final plat for the first phase of Reserves at Timber Ridge West advanced for approval at the Oct. 4 council meeting.

The first phase is for 26 single-family homes. The overall development is for 117 lots on 96.65 acres, located adjacent to the existing Reserves of Timber Ridge subdivision, north of Windermere Ridge, and east of Pausch Road.

The proposal plans to extend the existing Alder Ridge Drive west.

This Phase 1 is altered from the original proposal for 22 lots in the area off Alder Ridge Drive and 11 along Flagstone Pass Drive that would tie into Pausch Road.

This new plan is for 26 lots along Alder Ridge Drive as they continue to work on the construction documents for the improvements to Pausch Road.

Developer said those plans are being finalized and they would not be able to start this fall and have the improvements completed before winter, so the road would be closed longer than expected. They hope to submit the road improvements plans this fall and begin construction early next year.

Milburn Estates plans advance

The council has advanced applicant Milburn Road’s proposal to the Oct. 4 meeting for the final plats of Milburn Estates 3rd Addition, consisting of 18 single-family homes on 5.51 acres. This is the third addition of a larger development located at the southeast corner of the roundabout on Milburn School Road and Milburn Estates Drive.

Mayor appointments

Mayor Roach reappointed Russ Thoman to the Police and Fire Commission for a 3-year term expiring September 17, 2024.

He reappointed Mark Kampen and Andrea Fohne to the Historic Preservation Commission for 3-year terms expiring August 19, 2024.

This story was originally published September 21, 2021 at 12:42 PM.