By Bill Raack, KWMU
St. Louis – A large crowd is expected in St. Peters Thursday night for a meeting on a controversial proposed levee project.
The Army Corps of Engineers is holding a public hearing on the issue. The city of St. Peters wants to build a $22 million levee to protect 1,600 acres of land at the intersection of Interstate 70 and Highway 370.
City spokesperson Lisa Bedian says it's a great location for an office park.
"It's only fifteen or so minutes from the airport and it's providing the kind of land available where a company that wanted to relocate to the St. Louis region and build their own campus, a corporate campus, would be able to build that project in an area of this size and with this kind of access to major highways," Bedian said.
Conservation groups oppose the project, saying that the 4.5-mile levee would raise flood levels elsewhere along the Mississippi River.