Savanna depot redevelopment seeks vision
SAVANNA, Ill. — Proposals continue to come in for land that’s cheap and buildings with potential at the former Savanna Army Depot, but the board that overseas the depot’s redevelopment is growing savvier and more wary.
The Jo-Carroll Depot Local Redevelopment Authority’s economic development committee mulled over the latest expressions of interest, tabled some offers, agreed to proceed with caution on others and grilled a would-be suitor Tuesday.
Ultimately, members agreed that they need to figure out what they really want before they can entertain any more plans and determine if they are compatible.
“There’s got to be this synergy to what goes on,” said Ed Olds, an LRA board member. “Part of the problem is we have not had a viable master plan. We have that thing the Army made us put together, and it’s really not very useful.”
Arlie Dahlman of Freedom Engineering, a consultant to the LRA, told the committee it should assign buildings to separate categories — for tearing down, functional reuse and logical, likely development. If the group doesn’t create a master plan, Dahlman said it could “have the same problem we have all over the depot — something here and something there and not necessarily compatible.”
The depot was ordered closed by the Base Closure and Realignment Commission in 1995, and the Army functions left in 2000.
“This is year 10 and we still don’t have a plan?” LRA board chairman John “Jack” Rapp asked. “This is the type of stuff that comes up every time. We find a reason not to let them develop.”
Kay Rhoads, chief of the Sac and Fox Nation of Oklahoma, has said her main frustration in developing a $3 million gaming venture and $60 million destination resort at the former depot has been creating a business plan that the LRA board will approve even though the LRA hasn’t conveyed any clear picture of what wants.
“I know what my vision is, but I don’t know what the LRA’s vision is because they haven’t told that to me,” Rhoads said.
The LRA was chartered to create jobs, but “in order to create jobs, you have to have an overall vision and plan,” she said. “I need to see who my neighbors are going to be. I’ve got to see the whole picture in order to put a strong economic development picture together.”
“That’s why they haven’t got jobs out there,” said Rhoads, who was dean of students at several colleges, and was president of Medicine Creek Tribal College in Tacoma, Wash.
During Tuesday’s meeting, Rapp told LRA Executive Director Dave Ylinen and LRA Property Manager Mara Engaldo to start working on a master plan, which should be completed by February.
The committee also was lukewarm to a plan by Michael Grace and Bill Pauly to operate a tactical training business on the former depot’s firing range. Grace headed up Savanna Depot Tactical Training Center when it operated under Savanna Depot Technology Corp., the company that has been served notices of default and termination after failing to meet its goals for creating 2,000 jobs storing sensitive computer information.
Grace said between 40 and 500 students — from Boy Scouts to Marines — could cycle through their training each week. Pauly said he would like to know if this business would fit into the LRA’s master plan, and soon, so that if it doesn’t, they can stop pursuing the venture.
Board members said Grace and Pauly would have to wait until everything shakes out with the technology company, and Rapp also pointed out that when the tactical center was previously in operation, students showed a complete disregard for boundaries and performed tactical maneuvers in Savanna’s alleys.
Rapp deemed their chances of leasing the buildings slim, but added that no one has yet expressed interest in the firing range.
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