Du Quoin looks to fund improvement at restaurant

The city plans to enter into a redevelopment agreement with a Du Quoin restaurant in hopes of staving off a potentially larger infrastructure problem later on.

<p class="x_MsoNormal">The Du Quoin City Council voted this week to put on public display a resolution that would assist China Buffet, located at the Southtowne Shopping Center, with the purchase of a restaurant waste disposal system that would keep grease and other food waste from entering the city's water and sewer system. The cost of the upgrade, which would separate grease and food waste from the water that enters the city's sewer line, has been estimated at about $7,500.

<p class="x_MsoNormal">The city will pay for the upgrade through a previously established Du Quoin Business District, which has allowed to city to levy a retailers' occupation tax on businesses within the district in order to finance larger improvement projects.

<p class="x_MsoNormal">Jeffrey Ashauer, the city's economic development consultant, said coming changes in the neighborhood, most notably the pending completion of Taco Bell, make addressing the use of the area's water and sewer lines increasingly important.

<p class="x_MsoNormal">"We feel there's too much restaurant grease going into one sewer line," Ashauer said. "We're strangling a problem before it becomes a serious problem. Left unchecked, this city would have a huge problem."

<p class="x_MsoNormal">According to the resolution, the owner of China Buffet, Nancy Chen, is "not financially capable of paying the costs of the project that alleviates the emergency unless the City agrees the revenues generated within the business district are used for certain costs eligible under the plan and the act."

<p class="x_MsoNormal">Under the agreement, payment for the project is contingent on the restaurant both obtaining the upgrade from a qualified developer and also cleaning and maintaining the rear of the restaurant "to the satisfaction of the city." The city also retains the right to inspect the system.

<p class="x_MsoNormal">The resolution still awaits final council approval.