WENTZVILLE, Mo. — St. Charles Community College is in the early stages of expanding to Wentzville, but there are some who are concerned about the plan.
People with concerns about St. Charles Community College coming to Wentzville are worried about how it’s going to change that area of town, along with concerns about if they‘re going to have to end up paying for the infrastructure to move that far out.
SCCC is planning to build a brand new building in Wentzville at the intersection of Schaper Road and Interstate Drive to expand workforce and technical programs.
“We see the demand indeed for training programs for tradesmen, for construction workers, and for the innovative fields. Therefore, they've been pursuing the construction of a new higher education facility to train those trades,” said a representative of the project, who declined to be named.
State Sen. Tricia Byrnes said this campus will be great for the area.
“We have a $2.8 billion expansion and it will be going from Wentzville all the way to Blue Springs. We need workforce development. We have big projects. Wentzville is in an exciting position and an exciting time,” Byrnes said.
But there are a few citizens who are concerned specifically about the water and sewer system that will have to be extended.
“As we all know, this is a tax-exempt property. Yield generates zero revenue streams for the city or the county. This is a needed service. And I ask you, put taxpayers first and that you extend the water and sewer instead of forcing the college district to build a well in a leachate field that smells,” Citizen Advocate Arnie Dienoff said.
John Wiemann with St. Charles Community College says they’ve only received one formal complaint and will do their best to be good members of the community.
“We believe we're proposing a first-class building on this property and we have plans to make sure that we develop it in a very responsible way,” Wiemann said.
The Wentzville Board of Aldermen has a few more steps to go before officially rezoning the area from agriculture to commercial.
St. Charles Community College hopes to open the new Wentzville building in May 2025.