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News Briefs - June 24, 2009
Richmond Heights
City reworks streets to deal with Highway 40 traffic
With both Hanley Road and Big Bend Boulevard closed at Interstate 64/Highway 40, Richmond Heights is dealing with increased traffic on narrow neighborhood streets, prompting the city to make some streets one-way and put up detour signs.
Much of the increased traffic has been on small streets off Clayton Road, particularly on Boland, Wise and Claytonia, said Major Roy Wright of the Richmond Heights Police Department
“We’ve had a lot of citizens complaining about speeding,” Wright said. “We have increased police presence in some areas” to deter speeding.
As of June 19, Highland Terrace is restricted to northbound-only, one-way traffic between Dale and Wise avenues. Signs at Wise and Hoover Avenue detour traffic to Bellevue Avenue, while another sign at Ethel Avenue reads “no thru traffic.”
On June 22, the city removed the one-way restriction on Moorlands Drive, but put up “local traffic only” and “no thru traffic” signs. Additionally, Claytonia Terrace’s one-way restriction has been reversed, making it southbound-only, one-way traffic between Clayton Road and Ethel Avenue. It is also now illegal to make a left turn onto Claytonia from Clayton Road.
In a related statement, the Missouri Department of Transportation reminded motorists to stay on preferred alternative routes and asks that if motorists must use the neighborhood streets, they slow down, yield to pedestrians and cars backing out of driveways, and keep an eye out for children playing nearby.
“We understand that people are trying to find quick alternatives, but we maintain that using the main routes is safer and just as quick,” said Whitney Wilson, a spokesperson for MoDOT. “We want to keep people on Brentwood, 170 and McCausland as much as possible.”
Central West End
Development corporation seeks input on zoning codes
The Central West End Midtown Development Corporation will host a public meeting at 9:30 a.m. June 27 at the Schlafly Library, 225 N. Euclid Ave., to discuss ways to streamline zoning ordinances in part of the Central West End.
For the past several months, the CWEM has been reviewing the many overlapping ordinances with a group of stakeholders, aldermen and urban design consultant John Hoal with the ultimate goal of making the CWE more palatable to developers. Currently, developers must deal with various ordinances, including historic districts and a wide range of development zones, many of which affect the same property.
“We have been reactive, and we’re working on a way to be more proactive,” said Dan Krasnoff, executive director of the CWEM. “We want to do this before developers come to us.”
The group has been focusing on an area bound by Kingshighway Boulevard to the west, Forest Park Avenue to the south, Vandeventer Avenue to the east and Lindell Boulevard to the north, although both sides of Lindell would be included in any resulting plans. Krasnoff said that despite recent controversial developments, the study was not inspired by any particular project.
Krasnoff said that the June 27 meeting will focus on explaining the various ordinances and gathering feedback from residents on what they’d like to see in the neighborhood. CWEM plans on hosting another public meeting in the fall to present drafts of potential legislation.
University City
Residents question upcoming vote on sales-tax increase
At a June 15 meeting of the University City City Council, residents questioned the council’s approval of putting a sales-tax increase on the ballot next August.
The quarter-cent tax is one of several measures recently approved by the council to help balance the city’s budget and will appear on the ballot during a special election Aug. 4. No candidates are on the ballot.
“I take exception to the sales tax that is coming up in August,” said resident Jen Jensen. “You’re counting on a yes vote to reach your goal [of balancing the budget]. What happens if it doesn’t pass?”
If it doesn’t pass, “The city will drastically deteriorate. The people will look up and say, ‘What happened?’” said third ward council member Byron Price.
Residents also complained that if the measure passed, University City would have the fourth highest sales tax of all the municipalities in St. Louis City, behind only Edmundson, St. Ann and Woodson Terrace, all of which have a 7.825-percent sales tax. Such a high sales tax would make the city less competitive as a community, they said.
At the meeting, Mayor Joseph Adams explained the tax as “a stop gap as we try to figure out what this national, world and local economy is doing.”
The council approved the city’s budget and proposed tax at the same time earlier this month, the same night of a public hearing about the budget, as well as a buyout of flooded homes on Wilson Avenue. Several residents expressed their concern about voting so quickly after the public discussion.
In response, council member L. Michael Glickert introduced a motion stipulating that next year, the budget must be voted on at the next regularly scheduled meeting after the public hearing.
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