St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 14

ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH THURSDAY, MAY 15, 1997 14A House Patriots Landing at Scott Air Force Base Housing Dispute Nearing End At Scott Air Base Henry Rizzo, D-Kansas City, said one of the most important parts of the bill was the sports authority requested by the Cardinals. The House added a similar authority for Kansas City, to study the needs of the Royals, the Chiefs and other teams. Supporters say such studies will help the state plan ahead instead of facing the sudden loss of professional teams. The Cardinals' owners have said Busch Stadium is probably good for 15 to 20 years but public funding could be needed for maintenance and eventual replacement.

The owners have said they have no intention of leaving St. Louis. The St. Louis sports authority would have two members from St. Louis, two from St.

Louis County and one each from St. Charles, Jefferson and Franklin counties. A House committee removed a provision that would have required a public vote on the use of any tax money for stadiums. Legislators said that provision was premature because the bill authorizes no money just a study. The change could cause problems in the Senate, which want ed to require public votes.

Another controversial section deals with the proposed speedway. International Speedway, owner of five speedways including Daytona International Speedway, is evaluating a site on Interstate 29 near Kansas City International Airport. The company plans to build a facility either there or in Kansas, said John Graham, a company vice president. The House-passed bill (SB165) allows state sales-tax money to be used to build highways and provide utilities for the speedway. The money available would be based on the pro-, jected increase in state sales taxes generated by the speedway.

Preliminary studies put the figure at $45 million, Graham said. Kansas has passed a similar bill so the company is waiting to see what Missouri offers. The speedway plan flopped in the Senate last week. Since then, the speedway has stepped up its lobbying, bringing champion drivers Rusty Wallace and Ken Schrader, both of Fenton, to greet legislators and hand out autographed photos. From page one Bass Pro Shops, which wants state backing for a fish and wildlife museum in Springfield, Mo.

Other groups that would benefit include historic preservationists, charcoal producers, farmers, private airports, low-income housing developers and international exchange students who study business. House members added close to 70 amendments to the economic development bill. "That bill just set a record," quipped Sen. John Scott, a St. Louis Democrat who has been in the Legislature for 27 years.

Because the bill ballooned, it returns to the Senate. Negotiators have until 6 p.m. Friday to work out a compromise. The thick bill will probably be plopped on legislators' desks in the final hour, when they have little time to read the fine print. The House passed the bill on a vote of 118-21.

The bill's handler, Rep. TyWherry Housing Road Scott Pr'VjjJjj Patriots Landing ft II (lgl) LMMHKiMill! have it. We just want to solve these issues and move forward." More meetings are scheduled before the dispute can be settled. Issues still to be resolved include: The state's refusal to accept McCarthy's offer to install devices called dual check valves with video monitoring, rather than reinstall plumbing for 282 housing units. A dispute over whether the Illinois EPA should disclose all its photos and documents to aid the builders in correcting alleged code violations.

The state's claim that some sewer lines are higher than water mains and that some drain connections are too close to housing units. But state officials accepted the McCarthy Group's proposal to use a "dry boring" procedure (to avoid having to break up foundations) to accomplish a 10-foot separation of sewer and water lines in 348 units. They also said they would happily accept dismissal of the suit, as proposed by the McCarthy Group, as soon as major issues are resolved. McCarthy had hoped residents could start moving into the first 98 housing units at Patriots Landing last September, more than a year ahead of schedule. But that prospect was killed by the plumbing dispute.

Now, both sides are still optimistic that families can start moving in this fall as originally scheduled, and that all 684 units will be ready for occupancy by the contract's deadline early next year. An additional 114 units of housing are planned for later. Patriots Landing, on the south side of Scott, will replace Cardinal Creek Village, a military housing complex built in the 1950s. By Robert Goodrich Of the Post-Dispatch Staff Contractors and state officials say they are close to settling a plumbing dispute that had threatened to indefinitely keep anyone from moving into 630 new military housing units at Scott Air Force Base. Some key issues remain, however, in the dispute at the Patriots Landing housing complex at Scott.

State' inspectors had charged that sewer and water pipes at the units' foundations were not separated by 10 feet, as required by the Illinois state plumbing code. The intent is to make sure drinking water is not contaminated if a sewer pipe should break or leak. Inspectors also cited other alleged plumbing violations. In February, the housing complex builders, the McCarthy Group, responded with a suit in circuit court in Belleville claiming the inspectors had misinterpreted the code. At the building foundations, they said, sewer and water pipes immediately diverged to the required 10 feet.

For a time it looked as if the entire $95 million Patriots Landing project including $68 million worth of housing would be stalled by a long, bitter court battle. But in a response this week to a McCarthy Group settlement proposal made in April, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency and state Department of Public Health list 10 previous points of contention on which the two sides now agree. Karl Kloster of the McCarthy Group said Wednesday that the agency's document appears to be a big step toward agreement. "We went through it with our team yesterday," he said. "We're glad to a rm -tv wiiuniniinyfmiiMnnuETiTire FINAL DAYS! Ends Tuesday 5 PM! Anmka'i Keyboard SUPER STUKE Newused pianos by Schimmef, Steinway, Charles Walter, Yamaha, 0 I A Mf i I.

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"This is too important an issue," he said. The leader of the Senate conferees, Sen. J.B. "Jet" Banks, D-St. Louis, said he, too, remained optimistic.

Though Banks initially opposed the private school tax break, he said he now supported it because it won 18 votes in the 34-member Senate. The Senate wants to allow deductions of $2,500 for each child attending private or parochial schools in grades 9-12. Gov. Mel Carnahan contends the plan is unconstitutional because of a ban on using state money to help any "church, sect or denomination of religion." Citing the governor's opposition, House Speaker Steve Gaw tried Wednesday to get the House-Senate conference to drop the private school break. "I want to get a bill that'll get signed" by the governor, said Gaw, D-Moberly.

That comment led Sen. John Scott, D-St. Louis, to accuse Gaw of jeopar By Virginia Young Post-Dispatch Jefferson City Bureau JEFFERSON CITY Legislative negotiations on a taxut proposal broke down late Wednesday. negotiators five House members and five senators left in a huff without setting a time to meet again. They have two days to resolve their differences.

The legislative session ends at 6 p.m. Friday. At issue is whether consumers should get a 3-cent reduction in the sales tax on groceries. Holding up the plan: a dispute over whether to add tax breaks for families who send their children to private high schools. aeaiers rane rneir saies to a universiry or pircn a Tenr in a parKing Dit They still CAN'T BEAT OUR PRODUCTS, PRICES or SERVICE! Ami a mm.

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