About a dozen people turned out Monday, March 28, for a public hearing the Crystal City Council held to discuss a petition for voluntary annexation of a 53.24-acre tract of land south of the city.
Businessman Jim Kennedy owns the property.
Kennedy also owns the Festus Airport property, and the parcel proposed for annexation would connect the airport property to Crystal City’s southern border.
Kennedy did not return calls for a comment about the proposed annexation or his plans for the property.
Two men who attended the hearing spoke during public comments. Neither one was a Crystal City resident, but both said they have ties to the Festus Airport and were worried Kennedy’s plans for the property was a threat to the airport’s future.
Both also spoke about the importance of the airport to the entire region.
The first, Alexander Bischoff of Arnold, who describes himself as a pastor who runs Operation Savannah, a ministry for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder, out of an office at the Festus Airport, said he believes Kennedy will sell the area and the Festus Airport property to developers, which would mean the end of the airport
Bob Borman, a retired county school district superintendent who lives in Festus and volunteers to help manage the airport, said he had similar concerns.
“I hope there will be an opportunity for an airport in Jefferson County,” Borman said. “If we don’t have an airport, I think it would be a big loss to the county and the area because it’s the only airport in Jefferson County.”
Crystal City Tom Schilly said he believes the annexation and presumed development of the property eventually would be a boon to Crystal City.
“I think it will be a positive to the city,” he said. “We should have been (previously) annexing, anyway. We can only annex to the south.”
Ward 1 Council Jack Ginnever said he does not see anything unusual about the request for the voluntary annexation.
“I’m not too concerned,” Ginnever said. “(The request) is just to make it a part of the city.”
Brandon Moonier, the city’s attorney, said Crystal City will accept public comments about the possible annexation through April 11. The council will then vote on whether to annex the property.
Schilly said the council could vote on whether to annex the property at its next regular meeting on Monday, April 25, unless the council decides to call a special meeting before then to vote on the matter.
Moonier said a formal objection to the annexation could be raised in the 14-day public comment period if 5 percent of eligible Crystal City voters signed a petition.
Schilly said people may contact Kennedy with questions about potential development of the area proposed for annexation.
Kennedy once had proposed building an iron ore processing facility at the former PPG Industries Works 9 Plant in Crystal City after his companies signed a 100-year lease in 2007 to develop the site, but no construction ever took place and Kennedy’s companies dropped out of the project.