Warson Woods Board of Aldermen Monthly Meeting

Courtesy of Pat Flood.

Warson Woods Board of Aldermen had their monthly meeting Feb. 18, 2014. Just a few notes:

1.        The plans for the now vacant St. Matthew’s Church property. Warson Woods purchased the adjacent lot two years ago.   The mayor stated that the purpose at the time was to retain the lot as green space as the Church had intended to sell it to a developer.  He said that the green space idea was not meant to be permanent and the City and the Church are now proceeding with plans to possibly develop the area.  Residents spoke in opposition to the condo development idea discussed at prior meetings and mentioned in a newspaper article. The mayor said the condo idea had a lot of support.  Residents stated their belief that Warson Woods should remain a single family dwelling community; that property values would be reduced if the condos were built; that traffic would increase drastically and that children would be put in danger because of that. Speakers also suggested that the City should consider developing single family houses; retain the green space; or use the Church building for a City Hall or multi-purpose building. 

The Board was also asked if citizens should get petitions signed. The Mayor said that the Consultant is now speaking with six citizens to get their ideas and he, the Consultant, should be allowed to do his job.   The groups will get larger as the project progresses.  When asked why larger meetings were not being held now the Mayor said that it made no sense for a large number of people to be consulted at this time.

Communication was the biggest complaint with many residents near the Church property saying that they felt they were not receiving the information they should.  It was discussed that a meeting had been held with the Consultant and when asked if there was any reason why the Aldermen from the Ward where the property is located were not invited they were told there was no reason.

2.        Lighting at Andrew and Manchester. The lights on the entrance way should be on soon.

3.         The Bread Company will be moving from its current location in Greentree to the Schnuck's parking lot.  Concerns were raised with Kirkwood about increased traffic on Woodlawn due to one of the Manchester entrances being closed off for the store.

4.        A new website is being developed by one of our police officers who has expertise in this area.  A demonstration was given. This will aid the communication issue including hopefully posting meeting agendas with hyperlinks to proposed ordinances and other documents so they can be reviewed by Citizens without having to attend the meetings or in preparation for comments at the meetings.

5.       The City Attorney reported that proposed ordinances regarding the parking of commercial vehicles on the streets and the installation of solar energy technology on homes are being prepared.

Next Board Meeting: Mach 18, 2014 7 p.m.