By Anne Thom

Will there be an answer to what Stacy city engineer Chuck Schwartz said is the $64,000 question: Where to place the water tower?

According to information presented at the Feb. 28 city council meeting, a 1995 study by Schwartzís employer Bonestroo & Associates cited insufficient water resources to cover public safety and health issues. The council said this is contrary to what some believe, that the study cited growth as the reason the resources were insufficient.

Schwartz has explored a number of sites including the site of the current water tower, property in the vicinity of the BP service station and car wash and now Richland Meadows.

News of this prompted seven Richland Meadows residents, lead by David Cook, to attend the city council meeting to speak out against a site in their neighborhood.

Cook, who is a city maintenance worker in Stacy, argued that the water tower should be located on higher ground than Richland Meadows.

He suggested alternatives including somewhere west of the mobile home park or in the industrial park.

Schwartz went over the plans the city has considered and then scrapped including the BP area, where the cost of the land is prohibitive at $200,000 to $250,000, replacing the current tower which would also have to include an extensive project to replace existing water/sewer pipes and the fact that the land adjacent to the mobile park consists of private water/sewer lines.

Councilman John Daher said to the citizens, ìNobody wants it in their backyard, every year the water tower gets more expensiveî and he said the city needs to act now because it is long overdue.

Mayor Michael Carlson agreed saying, ìIt all boils down to cost.î

Citizens turned to real estate agent and developer Dan Birdsall and wanted to know if a water tower built next to his homes would have a negative impact on the value of property.

Birdsall said generally no, although a buyer would probably raise a fuss if it was not disclosed prior to a sale that a water tower was going to be built next to a property.

Residents asked for fencing around the structure to insure the safety of kids.

Mayor Carlson said there are city plans for a park in each neighborhood and to make the area more attractive, a park could be located near the water tower. Many cities have such a design.

Daher said, ìWe have been talking about this for four years,î He wants to proceed with a plan.

The sites were listed again; Richland Meadows, Wellhouse #2 and Stacy Ponds Business Park.

ìI donít want to spend any more money looking, letís just do it,î said Daher following the publicís suggestions.

Schwartz though, was again dispatched to do some assessments and no decision was made that evening.

The contingent of Richland Meadows residents thanked the council for their time and departed.