New Special Events Center in St. Joseph Moving Forward

ST. JOSEPH (WJON News) - The plan to create a new wedding and events center in St. Joseph has taken another step forward.

During its meeting on Tuesday night, the St. Joseph City Council approved both the findings of fact for the site and a parking lot variance request.

The council had a lengthy discussion on topics like complying with the city's noise ordinance, the hours of operation, extending sewer and water hookup to the driveway entrance, the possibility of the venue owners needing to add a right turn lane on Jade road into the driveway at a future time if traffic counts go up.

Owners Ken Bellicott and Kristyn Farrell plan to build a 14,500-square-foot special event center with a building capacity of 250 people on 60 acres of land along Jade Road south of Kennedy Community School.

The parking lot variance is because the owners plan to only pave the driveway, not the entire parking lot, which is in the city ordinance.

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WJON News first told you about the plan for the event center back in May when the council took its first action on the business by approving a zoning amendment.