UPDATE:  Please see Galesburg Cancels Plan To Expand Lake Storey for more about the official cancellation of the lake plan by the the Galesburg City Council on June 7th, 2021.

By Ted Tourlentes

The Galesburg City Council had a presentation September 28th of an initial feasibility study to expand Lake Storey and to build a massive new expensive subdivision, with over five times as many houses as Soangataha Country Club. So far, the city is moving forward with no community forums or outreach.

The City of Galesburg will force 8 houses to be demolished if the plan to expand Lake Storey goes ahead. This is unethical. Most of the people in these homes have lived there for over 20 or 30 years. Will the COVID-19 pandemic and the  pandemic global economic crisis still continue when the city forces all these people to move?

The city's current sewer system is required to be updated in the near future at a huge cost to taxpayers. It makes no sense to add another big tax increase, to expand the lake and build a massive new expensive subdivision. What are the realistic odds that 500 couples or families will move to Galesburg to buy a $234,000 lake house? People with high income jobs who can telecommute, to do work that is not connected to, or dependent on, Galesburg. This is the target market for the plan to expand the lake.

Lake Storey proposed expansion area. From City of Galesburg Lake Storey Expansion Initial Feasibility

The plan to expand Lake Storey would have a devastating environmental impact, destroying over 600 acres of habitats and biodiversity. The valley has a wide variety of plants and wildlife which need to be protected because there is a global biodiversity crisis.

• 1 Million Animal And Plant Species Are At Risk Of Extinction, U.N. Report Says - NPR
• One Million Animal And Plant Species Are At Risk For Extinction - Science Friday
• Nature’s Dangerous Decline ‘Unprecedented’; Species Extinction Rates ‘Accelerating’ - UN Report

The plan to expand Lake Storey would allow a real estate developer to get $26,000,000 profit at the expense of all Galesburg taxpayers. See page 53 of the plan. 

There would have to be a huge new municipal bond and tax increase to pay for a new dam, new roads and sewer and water pipes to lots for 500 new houses, priced at $234,000 each. Most Galesburg taxpayers can not afford to buy a $234,000 house, but all Galesburg taxpayers would be taxed to pay for a new subdivision, designed to be segregated for people with high incomes only. The plan to expand Lake Storey will make inequality in Galesburg the most extreme it has ever been and it will be entrenched to be permanent.

There is no real need to expand Lake Storey and create a massive new expensive subdivision with over five times as many houses as Soangataha Country Club. Galesburg can be far better off, near term and long term, by pursuing other options to grow and strengthen our community for everyone, especially for those people most in need now. It might take years for Illinois and the world to recover from the health crisis and economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 Pandemic.

For more details, please see www.savethevalley.info.

Additional information:

Lake Storey Expansion Initial Feasibility - City of Galesburg
Maps, pages 17-22
Real Estate Development Costs, page 53
  - 500 homes at $234,000
  - Potential Profit, $26,000,000

Galesburg City Council Work Session Video - Sep. 28, 2020
Scroll or click the blue slider, to 55:15, for the Lake Storey Presentation

News reports:

Galesburg envisions larger Lake Storey - The Register-Mail, Oct. 1, 2020

Galesburg’s Lake Storey could expand shores to become summer destination - WQAD TV, Feb. 6, 2020

Galesburg Considers Expanding Lake Storey's Shores - WCBU Public Radio, Feb. 5, 2020

City floats expanded Lake Storey - The Register-Mail, Feb. 3, 2020