MINUTES OF THE REGULAR BOARD
OF ALDERMEN MEETING
City
Hall April 19, 2004
Council
Chambers 7:00 p.m.
The
Mayor led with the Pledge of Allegiance.
ROLL
CALL
Present: Alderman Marshall, Alderman Leahy, Alderman Golfin,
Alderman Kramer, Alderman Robertson, Alderman Wynn, Alderman Cross.
Asst. City Attorney Gretchen Wallace, City
Clerk/Administrator Seemayer, Zoning Administrator Wolf, Director of Economic
Development Shelton and Executive Secretary Williams.
Absent: Alderman
Moreno, City Attorney Murphy and Treasurer Reynders.
CONSIDERATION AND APPROVAL
OF THE AGENDA OF THE REGULAR BOARD OF ALDERMEN MEETING OF APRIL 19, 2004
Motion was made by
Alderman Golfin, second by Alderman Wynn to amend the Agenda of the Regular
Board of Aldermen meeting of April 19, 2004 by moving the “Swearing in of
elected official” to item C, 2. Roll
call: Alderman Marshall, yes; Alderman
Leahy, yes; Alderman Golfin, yes; Alderman Kramer, yes; Alderman Robertson,
yes; Alderman Wynn, yes; Alderman Cross, yes.
Motion was made by
Alderman Leahy, second by Alderman Marshall to approve and adopt the Agenda of
the Regular Board of Aldermen Meeting of April 19, 2004 as amended. Roll call:
Alderman Marshall, yes; Alderman Leahy, yes; Alderman Golfin, yes; Alderman
Kramer, yes; Alderman Robertson, yes; Alderman Wynn, yes; Alderman Cross, yes.
CONSIDERATION AND APPROVAL
OF THE MINUTES OF THE REGULAR BOARD OF ALDERMEN MEETING OF APRIL 5, 2004
Motion
was made by Alderman Golfin, second by Alderman Kramer to approve and adopt the
Minutes of the Regular Board of Aldermen Meeting of April 5, 2004 with certain
clarifications noted.
Alderman
Leahy stated that the warrant list attached to the minutes is the warrant list
that was approved but they made exception to the TIF notes for the Manchester
Road TDD activity. It should read
community services, not TIF.
Alderman
Golfin stated that page 4, first paragraph, last sentence states, “This is an
aspect of the actions that has the most serious repercussions for the Association. The code strictly prohibits organizations
from supporting candidates for public office . . . ” That quote appears to him
as it’s written reflective of the Articles of the Hanley Industrial Court
Association, when actually, it was a quote from the letter that was
received.
Mayor
Kelly stated that it is out of their indentures and is actually part of the IRS
Code as well.
Alderman
Kramer stated page 3, in the last paragraph of the minutes there was a
situation where the Aldermen had the opportunity or not to raise their
hands. He wanted to clarify what he
meant when he raised his hand. The
minutes states, “Mayor Kelly asked for a show of hands from the Board members
that would not use eminent domain to take owner occupied properties in Hanley
Industrial Court or any place else in the City. Mayor Kelly stated that he wanted to clarify that the City has no
intention of doing that”. While it is
never the intention, he would never see it as the intention of his vote to
condone the use of eminent domain. It
is a very realistic possibility if it is for the greater good of the community,
if there is a situation where the majority of residents or the majority of
property owners have agreed to a development situation and there is one
roadblock standing in the way, he would like to have the opportunity to weigh
that and assess at that time without ruling it out completely as he did
apparently with that vote.
Alderman
Golfin stated that he would amplify Alderman Kramer’s comments. He feels the same way. However he feels the statement is not the
intention and adequately qualifies that.
There may be a specific case.
They have seen cases in Webster Groves where there may have been one
particular obstruction and then they might have considered the use of eminent
domain.
Alderman
Kramer stated there were a couple of instances where that took place with the
Kenilworth Development and Brentwood Square.
Mayor
Kelly stated in both of those instances it is important to point out that the
issue was not that those residents did not want to sell their property, it was
how much money they were getting for their property. The point he was trying to make at the last meeting was the fact
that he had talked to this specific property owner and had made it clear to
him, who was the only owner occupied property owner in the potential
development, that the City would not use eminent domain to take his
property. That was the point he was
trying to make because that is not the goal of the City to do that with this
project. He was trying to emphasize
that to this particular property owner.
Roll
call on minutes: Alderman Marshall,
yes; Alderman Leahy, yes; Alderman Golfin, yes; Alderman Kramer, yes; Alderman
Robertson, yes; Alderman Wynn, yes; Alderman Cross, yes.
BIDS
City
Administrator Seemayer stated that bids were opened on Friday, April 16th
for the purpose of acquiring a new City ambulance. Along with the bid there was a trade-in allowance that they
could quote on. They received two bids
for a new ambulance and then a separate bidder to purchase one of their old
pieces of equipment. The bids are as
follows:
Braun Industries, Inc. $164,624.00
No trade-in allowance
Foster Coach Sales, Inc. $149,129.00
Trade-in allowance for current ambulance
$19,500
Rescue vehicle $25,000
There
was a bid from Fire Masters Apparatus who want to purchase the rescue vehicle
for $24,500. The bids will be referred
to the Public Safety Committee.
Alderman
Golfin asked if the City is contemplating trading in both of those vehicles and
replacing them with one.
City
Administrator Seemayer stated that they are contemplating trading in both
vehicles but for the rescue truck they would like to replace that with a second
used ambulance. They have much more need
to have two ambulances. They can carry
equipment on the new fire truck. The
City would purchase the second used ambulance if they could find one at an
equivalent price of what they would receive for that rescue truck.
Mayor
Kelly stated that the reason for not keeping the current ambulance as the
backup is the fact that they will not fit into the firehouse. The backup ambulance would be a smaller one,
so they could fit into the garage.
Certified Election Results
City Administrator
Seemayer read into record the certified election result from the April 6, 2004
municipal election.
Ward
1 Ward 2
Gerry
Moreno 257 Mike Marshall 267 Unopposed
Jim
Fiete 39
Kathryn
Jepsen 369
Ward
3 Ward 4 Two-year term
Andrew
G. Leahy 339 Lorraine
Krewson 103
Terry
Stoverink Noles 221 Leon
Golfin 134
Ward
4 One-year unexpired term
Thomas
Kramer 194 Unopposed
Motion
was made by Alderman Wynn, second by Alderman Leahy to accept the certified
election results from the April 6, 2004 municipal election. All in favor none opposed.
Swearing-in of Elected Officials
Mayor
Kelly administered the Oath of Office to Alderwoman Jepsen, Alderman Marshall,
Alderman Leahy, Alderman Golfin and Alderman Kramer.
Public Hearing – Amending Chapter 25
Mayor
Kelly announced the public hearing for amending Chapter 25 would now be heard
at 7:15 p.m.
Zoning
Administrator Wolf came before the Board and stated that the amendment is in
response to the EPA regulations. The
City is a part of a coalition of MSD and the 90 municipalities in St. Louis
County along with St. Louis County to serve as a reporting authority with
respect to the Clean Air and Clean Water Act.
It deals with storm water runoff and erosion control. The City has regulations in the ordinance
but they were slightly different than what MSD wanted to implement, so they
along with the other municipalities will be adopting the new regulations with
this legislation. It repeals the
current storm water erosion plan and enacts the new one. The new one is consistent across the county.
Alderman
Golfin stated that as he reads the legislation it actually strengthens the
regulations required rather than loosens them.
Zoning
Administrator Wolf stated that it has that affect particularly on larger projects.
Alderman
Golfin stated that prevents the runoff of soil erosion into the storm water.
Zoning
Administrator Wolf stated that primarily on projects one acre and larger, it
has more control features. They will
try to implement reasonable control measures on projects under one acre.
Alderman
Golfin asked if there are some areas in the City where they are going to
address soil erosion specifically.
Zoning
Administrator Wolf stated that it applies to new projects. It does not apply to existing conditions,
although they could if they noted some existing conditions of which he is not
aware of any that is more than one acre.
If there are some they would implement those.
Alderman
Leahy stated that on page 3 of the bill, section (g), for the one acre and
above, the applicant would have to go to the Missouri Department of Natural
Resources to get a permit. Would the
City establish a permit from within the City for anything less than one acre? What does the City do with anybody that
wants to do an infill housing that does not take up a full acre of land? Do they have to come to the City and comply
with another set of guidelines that they will have to meet or are they looking
for a committee to establish what that less than one-acre requirement might be.
Zoning
Administrator Wolf said yes. The only
thing that is being enacted is the larger size. He would think that would be a part of the infill construction
regulation that would be discussed at the Public Works Committee meeting. The Public Works Committee will be giving a
recommendation on it and then it will come to the full Board. Those aspects of the regulations that will
deal with storm water control unfortunately will trigger going to a
modification of Chapter 25, which then goes back to the Planning and Zoning
Commission.
Alderman
Kramer stated that they are working on the infill housing residential
construction requirements in the Public Works Committee. In the body of that they refer to the
upcoming tree preservation ordinance that Alderman Marshall has been working on
and ideally in that same body they would refer to the less than one-acre storm
water erosion control.
Mayor
Kelly asked if there were any comments from the audience.
Karen
Smith – 8930 Harrison came before the Board and stated she would support
something along those lines. She has an
issue where her neighbor built up their side of the house and she is getting
all of their water runoff, and it is killing her landscaping. She would like to see something instilled to
prevent people from building things that will create hardship on a
neighbor.
Alderman
Marshall asked if there is any current guideline as far as construction that
prohibits people from directing water to their neighbors yard.
Zoning
Administrator Wolf stated that you cannot change the direction of flow or the
intensity of flow, but water that used to run towards your south property line
for example can continue to run that way.
What you cannot do is take all that water that used to run in a sheet
off the entire south property line and funnel it so it goes down to the
southwest corner.
With
no further comments, Mayor Kelly announced the public hearing closed at 7:23
p.m.
HEARING OF ANY MATTER OF
PUBLIC INTEREST UPON REQUEST OF ANY PERSON PRESENT
David
Walter – 2328 Annalee came before the Board and stated that he is the husband
of Kathryn Jepsen, newly elected Alderwoman of Ward 1. He is here tonight to make a presentation on
behalf of Vox Populi. They are a
citizens group in Brentwood that got together about six months ago and decided
that rather than complain about things they would do something about it. Something that they wanted to do as a
tradition for the community beginning this evening is present the Good
Government Award. This award could go to
anybody on the Board of Alderpersons, the Mayor, employee of the City or a
schoolteacher. The group felt that it
would be important for them to recognize people occasionally if someone has
demonstrated outstanding behavior in government. Mr. Walter presented the first Good Government Award to Alderman
Leahy Ward 3 for monthly ward meetings.
Barb
Hughes – 2001 Urban came before the Board and stated that she has been talking
about an off-leash dog park in Brentwood.
They have established a committee of about a dozen people. She has also been working with a group
called People for Dogparks. They
initially started working with St. Louis County to get dog parks in county parks. They have evolved into working with various
municipalities around the county area.
They will be having a meet and greet on Sunday, May 2 from 11:00 a.m. to
2:00 p.m. at Quail Ridge Park in Wentzville, MO. The concept of the dog park is not just for dogs it is for their
people also. It is a great way to get
to know each other in the neighborhood.
She asked if the City was at one point considering a dog park in Oak
Tree Park. She understands there is
some City owned property on Russell that they have been looking at. They would also like to know when are the
parks department meetings. They would
appreciate the consideration of someone working with them on this effort.
Bob
Osterholt – 9380 Pine came before the Board and stated that he works for
Southside Roofing located at 290 Hanley Industrial Court in the Hanley
Industrial Court and is a member of the Board of Directors for Hanley
Industrial Court. His comments tonight
are as a resident, not in anyway representing the industrial court. Two meetings ago he was pleased to hear the
sentiments of the Board regarding eminent domain. He is the owner operator of a business/Brentwood resident that
the mayor spoke of. It seems that the
comments from Alderman Kramer and Alderman Golfin is backtracking on what was
said two meetings ago. They do not want
to move Southside Roofing from Brentwood.
One of the Aldermen mentioned a single holdout. Southside Roofing is the holdout in Hanley
Industrial Court and he does not want to move.
They will not make a deal with the developer to be moved. They are not going to sign a deal with anybody
and are not looking for more money.
He is ¾ mile away from his place of work and lives in a great
neighborhood.
Kent
Phelan – 258 Oakwood in Webster Groves came before the Board and stated that
page 3 of the minutes of April 5th stated that there are three owner
occupied properties within the redevelopment area, the City, Missouri Boiler
and Southside Roofing. There is
actually a fourth property. He and his
brother Tim own the property at 1300 Hanley Industrial Court. They are also the owners of Access Courier
and together they employ 300 people.
They join the Osterholts in saying they will not be selling either.
INTRODUCTIONS, READINGS,
AND PASSAGE OF BILLS AND RESOLUTIONS
Motion
was made by Alderman Robertson, second by Alderman Cross to give Bills No. 5227
and 5228 first and second readings.
Roll call: Alderwoman Jepsen,
yes; Alderman Marshall, yes; Alderman Leahy, yes; Alderman Golfin, yes;
Alderman Kramer, yes; Alderman Robertson, yes; Alderman Wynn, yes; Alderman
Cross, yes.
Bill No. 5227 – Fourth Amendment to
Redevelopment Agreement
Asst.
City Attorney Wallace gave Bill No. 5227, AN ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE
EXECUTION OF A FOURTH AMENDMENT TO REDEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY OF
BRENTWOOD AND EAGER ROAD ASSOCIATES, L.L.C., its first and second readings.
Alderman
Kramer read a synopsis of the bill into the record. The synopsis is attached to the minutes.
Alderman
Leahy stated with a one-year extension what would be the adverse effect to the
project if at the April 2005 determination another year extension were not
granted.
Mayor
Kelly stated that the developer needs to proceed on the construction of the
office building by July of 2004. The
main goal of this project is the office building. Initially the first phase was going to be the construction of the
office building. They had a tenant
locked in and were proceeding with it when 9/11 happened. This business was going to move from New
York to St. Louis and that contract fell through. The developer proceeded with the 2nd phase of the
project, which was the retail component first.
Since 9/11 the office market in the St. Louis area has gone down. The reason for the extension is that it is
still the goal of the City to have an office building built there. They are not looking for other retail. What they could do once their options run
out is issue another RFP to construct an office building. Given that DCM owns the property and is willing
to proceed with the building of an office building they figure they have the
best shot at building it. It could
potentially reduce the amount of the TIF for the 2nd phase. Once this project was selected and the
developer started moving forward the TIF clock started ticking. Whether they build it today or build it in
four years there is going to be a certain amount of years left and they need to
have the ability to pay that back. In
order for DCM to get loan commitment to build the office building they need to
have it about 60% leased.
Alderman
Marshall stated that this issue came to the Ways and Means Committee and DCM
had asked for two years. It was the
recommendation of the committee to give them one year and look at it again
later.
Alderman
Robertson stated that it is his understanding that DCM has completed a substantial
amount of work that supports phase 2 as far as site work and the road behind
the building, which they did not have to do in order to capture the TIF
money.
Mayor
Kelly stated that a lot of the roadwork was scheduled for phase 2. The lane that is in front of Home Depot,
which is the right turn lane, will extend from the McDonald’s around the corner
on Eager. They will be adding an
additional designated right turn lane where people would not have to stop or
slow down coming from Eager to Hanley. Those
are things that are part of the phase 2 project that they proceeded with in
phase 1.
Alderwoman
Jepsen stated at that intersection they are competing with Clayton. Are the vacancies filling in Clayton?
Alan
Skop – President of DCM Management came before the Board and stated that the
Clayton market is as weak as the overall office market. However their project does not directly
compete for most of the tenants in Clayton.
A lot of those are law firms that need to be near the courthouse and
that type of situation. They are more
of an operational type of tenancy.
Although they do not compete directly just a general softness of the
market overall affects everybody. They
have seen pickup in the tenant interest over the past six weeks. They have several prospects they are working
with, so they can move on to the next phase.
They do compete with the suburbs both west and out by Earth City.
Alderwoman
Jepsen stated there was an article in today’s paper about enterprise zones. Is
that area part of an enterprise zone now?
Mayor
Kelly stated the City does not have any enterprise zones.
Economic
Development Director Shelton stated that the enterprise zone is designated
based on income of the residents that live in that area. The entire area of the City of St. Louis is
an enterprise zone and a couple of places in North County.
Motion
was made by Alderman Marshall, second by Alderman Golfin to approve and adopt
Bill No. 5227. Roll call: Alderwoman Jepsen, abstain; Alderman
Marshall, yes; Alderman Leahy, yes; Alderman Golfin, yes; Alderman Kramer, yes;
Alderman Robertson, yes; Alderman Wynn, yes; Alderman Cross, yes.
The
Mayor thereupon declared Bill No. 5227 duly passed and signed same into
approval thereof. Said Bill was given
Ordinance No. 3930
Bill No. 5228 – Storm Water Runoff and
Erosion Control
Asst.
City Attorney Wallace gave Bill No. 5228, AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 25,
ARTICLE VI, DIVISION 7 OF THE REVISED CODE OF ORDINANCES OF THE CITY OF
BRENTWOOD, MISSOURI BY AMENDING SECTION 25-125 (b)(4) K; BY DELETING SECTION
461 THROUGH 467; BY ADDING IN LIEU THEREOF NEW SECTIONS 461 THROUGH 469;
PROVIDING FOR THE CURRENT MAINTENANCE OF THIS CODE; PROVIDING FOR THE EFFECTIVE
DATE OF THIS ORDINANCE; AND, PROVIDING FOR THE REPEAL OF ALL CONFLICTING
ORDINANCES, its first and second readings.
Alderman
Kramer read a synopsis of the bill into the record. The synopsis is attached to the minutes.
Motion
was made by Alderman Golfin, second by Alderman Wynn to approve and adopt Bill
No. 5228. Alderwoman Jepsen, yes;
Alderman Marshall, yes; Alderman Leahy, yes; Alderman Golfin, yes; Alderman
Kramer, yes; Alderman Robertson, yes; Alderman Wynn, yes; Alderman Cross, yes.
The
Mayor thereupon declared Bill No. 5228 duly passed and signed same into approval
thereof. Said Bill was given Ordinance
No. 3931.
ACCOUNTS AGAINST THE CITY
Motion
was made by Alderman Marshall, second by Alderman Cross to adopt the warrant
list dated 4/19/04 as submitted. All in
favor none opposed.
REPORTS OF COMMITTEES AND
DEPARTMENT HEADS:
Mayor’s Report
Mayor
Kelly recommended Scott Stinson represent the City on the newly formed TDD for
Strassner Road. He, the County
Executive, Metro and one appointee from each of the entities will serve on that
Board of Directors. Scott Stinson lives
in Ward 2 and is more than happy to represent the City as a Board member for
the Strassner Road TDD.
Alderwoman
Jepsen asked if there is a place to have anyone from the Hanley Industrial
Court Association on that Board.
Mayor
Kelly stated that as far as the executive board there will only be the six
members. The Board of Directors for the
TDD main function is to establish the collection process, make sure that the
paperwork is done for the formation of the TDD and the funds are allocated
properly. The projects are already
designated with estimated costs, which include the Metro link bridge,
improvements to Eager Road in front of the Promenade, improvements to Wrenwood
at Brentwood Boulevard and also the additional work to the parks system to
connect Oak Tree Park to Memorial Park and help fund the bridge over the
creek.
Motion
was made by Alderman Wynn, second by Alderman Marshall to appoint Scott Stinson
as a Board member to the Strassner Road TDD.
Roll call: Alderwoman Jepsen,
yes; Alderman Marshall, yes; Alderman Leahy, yes; Alderman Golfin, yes;
Alderman Kramer, yes; Alderman Robertson, yes; Alderman Wynn, yes; Alderman
Cross, yes.
Manchester Road
TDD
Mayor
Kelly stated that the Manchester Road TDD was overwhelmingly defeated to make
the much-needed improvements to Manchester Road. There was a lot of
misinformation or people did not understand what the TDD was going to do and
what those funds could be spent on.
They felt the ballot language was very specific as to what the funds
could be spent on. The City had
received a grant for $1.5 million dollars to make improvements to the Hanley
Road/Manchester intersection. They will
be withdrawing their use of that grant because they will not have matching
funds to acquire it. They would have
needed $300,000 for 20% match. The
Manchester Road Committee that started working about four years ago will hold a
committee meeting on Thursday, April 22 at 9:00 a.m. at Brentwood City Hall to
discuss what to do next. They lost a
great opportunity to start to make some significant improvements to that
corridor.
Alderman
Robertson stated that he supported the Manchester Road TDD as it was. He would like to become more involved in the
planning to find a TDD that would be acceptable to the majority of voters in
the district. It is really disgraceful
the way Manchester Road is set up and maintained by the State of Missouri. He lives about 200 yards from Manchester Road
and it is dangerous. His kids cross it
going to and from school. It is part
of his responsibility as a Ward 3 Alderman to try to help that process.
Mayor
Kelly stated that one of the benefits was MoDOT was able to commit $9.2 million
dollars for resurfacing of the existing roadway from Big Bend to Lindbergh
which will start in 2006. Unless they
get something passed relatively quickly, all you’re going to see is MoDOT come
through and resurface the existing roadway, and they won’t get any of the
benefits of improving the storm water problems, drainage off the streets, etc.
Public Safety Committee –
No report
Public Works Committee
– No report
City Engineer – No report
Parks – No report
Zoning Administrator – No
report
Ways and Means Committee
– No report
Planning and Zoning – No
report
City Attorney – No report
City Clerk/Administrator
Special
Use Permit – Brentwood Parks and Rec.
City
Administrator Seemayer stated that the Parks and Recreation Department would
hold their annual summer time concert series in the months of June, July and
August in Brentwood Park. They have
allowed in the past with approval from the Board of Aldermen for the residents
to bring in beer and wine. They do not
sell it there. It was discussed at the
Public Works Committee meeting and was given a two to two vote.
Motion
was made by Alderman Robertson, second by Alderman Cross to approve the
bringing of beer and wine to the summer time concert series held in June, July
and August in Brentwood Park. Roll
call: Alderwoman Jepsen, no; Alderman
Marshall, yes; Alderman Leahy, no; Alderman Golfin, yes; Alderman Kramer, yes;
Alderman Robertson, yes; Alderman Wynn, no; Alderman Cross, yes.
Director of Economic Development
Director
of Economic Development Shelton came before the Board and stated that the Board
has asked that they keep everybody updated on the status of the Comprehensive
Plan. The Chairman of the Steering
Committee Don Biemdiek is here and he would like to give a full update.
Don
Biemdiek came before the Board and stated that this April marks the twelfth
month that the Comprehensive Plan Committee has been meeting. They had their first meeting on May 21 of
last year. The members serving on this
committee are Len Eschbach a member of the school board, Fred Epstein a
business owner in Hanley Industrial Court and a member of their Board of
Directors, John Geppert the chairman of the Planning and Zoning Commission,
Ryan Heath, Art Oppenhiem a former mayor of the City, Mark Kurtz a former mayor
of the City, Betty Morgan member of the Board of Directors of Brentwood Forest,
Bonnie Rasmussen former member of the planning and zoning commission who
resides in the southwest part of town, Maureen Saunders, Ron Watermon a new
resident in town who handles public affairs for the St. Louis Cardinals and Bob
Shelton coordinator. He commended Mr.
Shelton for shepparding them into meetings, making arrangement, distributing
agendas and minutes of the meeting. Mr.
Shelton has also contacted the various professionals that they have been
interviewing and scheduling of their appearances. They have met with seven different planning consultants and have
interviewed four or five opinion takers.
One of the main objectives is to be sure that everyone in Brentwood who
has something to say about the future of Brentwood or some ideas has an
opportunity to present it. They are
hoping by a citywide questionnaire and some focus group meetings around the
City to get as much input as they can.
When
they came to this they inherited ten different plans that had been developed
since 1959 in the City. The most recent
comprehensive plan was 1991. It was an
excellent document. In that document
the City was challenged to be proactive in terms of development and not
reactive. Up to that point, the City
had reacted when commercial and residential interests came and started a
process. The 1991 plan suggested that
the City not just react to what the marketplace was doing. Five years after that the City retained an
Economic Development Director Bob Shelton.
The City adopted the 353-redevelopment corporation, which was a
development tool that allowed for tax abatements and incentives to encourage
development of obsolete and poorly planned properties. The City also used the tax increment law for
financing some of the projects. All of
which were recommended in the 1991 plan.
The plan in his opinion, by showing, the mapping and proposed uses in
the City stimulated one project and that was the Brentwood Square project. The way that came about is in that plan they
proposed that both sides of Kenilworth be zoned for commercial use and after
that plan was adopted the owners of Brentwood Square started looking at ways
that they could solve a tremendous problem they had with parking that was
created by two widenings of Brentwood Boulevard and an increased use of automobiles
in the City of Brentwood. Brentwood
Square was designed for people to walk to.
Now it does not happen that way people drive two blocks to go to
Brentwood Square. That stimulated the
interest in the owners, plus speculators who paid attention to what was going
on went and bought houses. It is a
good example of what can happen if you identify an area that is inappropriately
zoned in the plan and send a message out that this is something the City would
consider in the future.
The
first major redevelopment project after the 1991 plan was not stimulated by the
plan. In fact the plan did not even
contemplate it and that was the Evans Place development with the
Promenade. The Promenade was stimulated
by the residents, the owners got together realizing that they could not sell
their homes and made enough money to replace housing any place in St. Louis
County because the housing prices for the type of homes they had was not
adequate. They got together and selected
a developer, Sansone Group. The Sansone
Group and the owners came to the City of Brentwood and said they would like the
City to do some things to help this happen.
The citizens got together and the City responded by approving the
project. Out of that project came the
Brentwood Pointe project and then the one you just extended tonight. As much thought as they would give to this
plan and all the input they will get cannot necessarily guarantee that anything
is going to happen because the marketplace does not always react.
This
plan when they are finished with it will be presented to the Planning and
Zoning Commission. This committee is
actually doing the legwork and the collecting of data that is by law the
responsibility of your Planning and Zoning Commission but because of their
workload and the projects that they were dealing with it was felt that a
separate committee was necessary. If
the Planning and Zoning Commission approves it then it will be presented to
this Board for its approval.
When
the plan is finished it is up to the Board to see that it works. One of his personal recommendations is that
the City should consider hiring a full-time or possibly part-time city planner
to staff. The planner will keep the
plan alive.
Don
Biemdiek stated that Brentwood has a number of two-bedroom, one bath
residences. When the second child comes
the house is not big enough. Instead of
enlarging that home they move to another community. They have had a number of discussions about aesthetics. He is not sure their plan is going to get into
the aesthetics of the tear down and rebuild.
Alderman
Leahy stated that he would like to see the Comprehensive Plan Committee look at
anything that will help maintain the residential character, so that they can
make decisions that will help support keeping kids in the schools.
Mr.
Biemdiek stated this is why they have a school board member on the
committee.
Mayor
Kelly stated that with the opening of the Villas at Brentwood, they have
replaced all the housing units they have lost and added more bedrooms than they
had before. Brentwood lost 27% of its
population and 40% of its student population in the 70’s. In the 90’s even with all the development
Brentwood only had a 3% reduction in population in Brentwood. Surrounding municipalities had much larger
reductions.
Mr.
Biemdiek stated the members of their committee have been very interested in the
new urbanism style of designing cities.
The new urbanism concept is that the city should be designed to minimize
the use of the automobile. Most of the
recent planning is being designed around the automobile.
Alderwoman
Jepsen stated that she has had a couple of good conversations with an older
woman. She and her husband would like
to sell their bigger home, if there was an affordable senior condominium
complex in the area. Some sort of
senior condominium in the $200,000 to $250,000 range would empty many bigger
older homes. The big feature of the new
urbanism is the high-density housing where many people may keep a toddler
there, until the child gets older to go outside. The house that’s going up on Annalee is an amazing example of a
house that fits in pretty well. It is
big and new with brick on the front and does not have a lot of detailing that
screams I am new. Perhaps we could get
builders to look at that.
Alderman
Kramer stated that he wanted to recognize the work of the Comprehensive Plan
Committee, which is voluntary. He had a
chance to go to a few of the meetings and was enthused at the scope of
knowledge that sat around the tables and the various amounts of input that they
are bringing forward for the City.
Excise Commissioner – No
report
Library
Alderman
Wynn stated that the library has increased its circulation 22%. There were 84 new cards given out last
month. Since the beginning of the year
they have had 250 new cards issued.
Municipal League – No
report
Waste Management Commission
Alderman
Golfin stated a meeting of the Waste Management Commission would be held on
Monday, April 26, 2004 at 7:00 p.m. in the small conference at Brentwood City
Hall.
Storm Water Management
Communication
Insurance Committee
Historical Society
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
NEW BUSINESS
Ward
3 meeting scheduled for Tuesday, April 20th at 7:00 p.m. City Hall.
Brentwood
National Night Out Against Crime meeting in order to pull the program together
at 7:00 p.m. at the police department.
ADJOURNMENT
Motion
was made by Alderman Kramer, second by Alderman Marshall to adjourn the meeting
at 8:45 p.m. All in favor none opposed.
Pat
Kelly, Mayor
Attest:
Chris
Seemayer, City Clerk