Metro-East Area News Briefs

Chronicle Media

Map showing locations of Granite City properties qualifying for portions of a pollution suit settlement.  (Image courtesy of Madison County Circuit Court News)

Court approves Granite City pollution settlement

A Madison County Circuit Court judge, Feb. 16, approved a $4.25 million settlement in a class action lawsuit suit brought by Granite City property owners against nearby SunCoke Energy Inc. and the Gateway Energy and Coke Company.

Attorneys alleged particulate matter and odorous gases emitted by the companies’ Granite City industrial facilities caused damage to area real estate and other property in the surrounding area.

Total awards to the almost 7,000 individual property owners or residents, named as plaintiffs in the suit, will range from as little as $33 to as much as $2,500, according to court documents.

The settlement is applicable to homeowners who lived in a designated area around the two plants between November 2009 and August 2017. Claimants had to register for a portion of the settlement by November 2017.

The court awarded attorneys for the plaintiffs $1.4 million from the settlement.

The two companies were also ordered to pay $100,000 for administrative costs and services, as well as $286,809 in reimbursements for the cost of environmental experts and scientific testing,

Luxury apartments slated for downtown Belleville

Tygracon Properties Inc. of Columbia plans to redevelop upscale apartments in a three-story downtown Belleville office building.  (Photo courtesy of project Belleville)

Tygracon Properties Inc. of Columbia plans to redevelop the top two floors of an aging, three-story downtown Belleville office building, at 300 E. Main St., as an upscale 12-unit apartment complex.

Citing a real estate uptick in the East Main section of the city’s aging downtown, the developer plans to spend $1.5 million on the project.

The Belleville City Council, Feb. 20, approved a series of incentives for the project, including $60,000 in tax increment financing (TIF) funds to be distributed over a four-year period and a 50 percent rebate of the property tax increases directly related to the building renovation. The first floor of the building will remain retail, occupied by a hospice service.

Innovative East St. Louis community center to open

Formal dedication of East St. Louis School District 189’s new Family and Community Engagement Center, 401 Katherine Dunham Road, is set for Feb. 28.

Part of an ambitious new District 189 strategic plan, the center is designed to development an environment conducive to academic achievement in the economically challenged city.

“It will create a one-stop shop model for resources including transportation, homelessness, immunizations, after school programming, and more” said Tiffany Gholson, Director of Parent and Student Support Services, “It will also aid in collaborating with schools for a seamless enrollment process for next year.”

Dedication ceremonies are set for the James E. Williams Center at 10 a.m., with an open house continuing until 6 p.m.

Class action suits challenge towing redemption fees

A Madison County Circuit Court judge has certified a class action lawsuit that alleging that Collinsville is charging motorists excessive and unconstitutional towing fees. Similar suits against Alton and Edwardsville are pending.

At issue are “tow redemption fees” of up to $500, assessed by municipalities in addition to towing company charges, when vehicles are towed and impounded, as the result of improper parking, traffic law violations, or for other reasons.

The suits alleges some municipalities charge vehicle owners a release fee, simply to have an official fill out a release form, which owners must present to towing companies in order to retrieve their vehicles from impound lots.  The towing companies may charge the vehicle owners additional towing and storage fees, which can run into hundreds of dollars.

While several vehicle owners have filed suit in Metro East over the years alleging excessive tow company fees, the currently pending suits challenge solely the administrative towing release fees charge by municipalities.

The law suits contend the release fees are out of line with those charged by other municipalities.

The suits also contend that the municipalities are effectively denying vehicle owners due process by requiring owners to pay what amount to a penalty before going to court being found guilty of an infraction.

All three of the pending suits have been filed by attorney Brian Polinske of Edwardsville.

Madison County Associate Judge Clarence Harrison recently certified the suit against Collinsville as a class action, after Polinske presented required evidence that the towing fee issue could be better addressed through a single court action than through multiple suits filed by multiple plaintiffs.

Hearings on class action status for Polinske’s suits against Alton and Edwardsville are scheduled for next month.

Polinske originally filed the suits in 2011, but appeals and other actions have kept them tied up in court since.

 

–Metro-East Area News Briefs–