bnd: http://www.bnd.com/2010/05/20/v-print/1263058/focus-on-old-before-the-new.html
The next new thing in St. Clair County seems centered on Reider Road.
St. Clair County is trying to get the funding to build a new Interstate 64 interchange at Reider Road, near Scott Air Force Base, and O'Fallon is planning a network of roads that can capitalize on it.
But rather than building more roads and drawing the population farther east, we need to focus on filling existing houses and empty commercial buildings throughout the region.
The results of the 2010 census are not in yet, but population estimates made in 2009 show minimal growth in the St. Louis region. Madison County added an estimated 9,100 residents, or a 3.5 percent increase over nine years. St. Clair County added about 6,200 people, or 2.4 percent, in the same period.
O'Fallon's stance is that someone will want to build near the new interchange, and the city needs to plan for that eventuality to avoid patchwork development. Makes sense. But we as a region also need to be just as aggressively plan how to capitalize on the opportunities already in place, so we don't end up with abandoned buildings in the older areas.
If we don't take care of our core areas, the next new thing will be somewhere other than the metro-east.