Fort Bellefontaine West Park
FORT BELLEFONTAINE WEST PARK
PARK HISTORY
The land was purchased by the St. Louis County Department of Public
Works with funds from the 1955 Bond Issue. The area at that time was
named Wade Site Landfill. The land was transferred to the St. Louis County
Department of Parks and Recreation in 1971 and was renamed Fort
Bellefontaine County Park. The park was named after Fort Bellefontaine
which was the first military post west of the Mississippi River. The park at
one time was a rock quarry and then a landfill.
Ten acres of the park were leased to Organic Resources Management Inc.
(ORMI) in 1993, which established the Fort Bellefontaine Compost Center.
The lease was renewed for 15 years beginning April 2001. Effective March
7, 2001, the St. Louis County Department of Planning issued a Conditional
Use Permit (C.U.P.), which includes numerous requirements for review of
development plans and requires the Planning Commission to conduct a
public hearing at five year intervals “with regard to the overall operation and
term limit of this facility,” at which time “the Commission may choose to
not renew the C.U.P.”