Update 06/07/2023
The fourth unit is back, and the design has changed as 144 W. Adams finally made its way back before the Architectural Review Board this week!
Original Story
Tonight Kirkwood City Council will hold it’s first public hearing of 2021. Most notably on the agenda is the Council’s incredibly important vote on the Starbucks project that we discussed at length last week, but also of some significance is a public hearing on new multi-family housing in Downtown Kirkwood. I want to take a closer look at that condo proposal and examine what sort of public infrastructure the city is asking of the developer.
144 West Adams
144 W. Adams had sort of a rocky time of it in the Planning and Zoning Committee. First it was not recommended for approval by the subcommittee assigned to it before narrowly gaining recommendation by the full committee on a narrow 5-4 vote. Even this recommendation was made conditional on fully eight revisions to the site plan.
Although the 5-4 vote is a significantly narrower margin than I had expected, and further proof that P&Z serves as little more than a holding pen for our town’s most ardent NIMBY ideologues, I do think it is very likely that the condos eventually get done. This project isn’t perfect (two parking spots per unit, the units are absolutely massive, and the lot’s zoning would allow for it to host up to eight units, to name a few shortcomings) but it is better than what is currently on the lot. The only question is basically how much can Kirkwood get out of it.
Above and Beyond:
The project is taller than the maximum allowable height so some sort of public good that goes above and beyond what is required must be provided in order to gain approval. The developer originally proposed increased landscaping as the public good that would fulfill this requirement but Planning and Zoning asked for more, suggesting that the developer provide raised crosswalks over both Adams and Clay.
Hurdles & Concerns:
While raised crosswalks would be great, it is unclear whether or not they are workable in this circumstance. Because St. Louis County, rather than the city of Kirkwood, maintains Adams (and potentially the entirety of the Clay & Adams intersection according to Rachie), the county would have to approve to any alterations proposed by the developer, alterations that the county has not asked for. Because raised crosswalks, as opposed to say, curb bump-outs, would require Adams itself to be completely closed for a period of time, as well as explicitly slow down traffic after it is finished, and because the County maintains Adams as an arterial road that is essential for emergency vehicles and the like, I’m skeptical they will approve of the project. With that being said, stipulating that the developer improve pedestrian safety at this intersection IS a really good idea.
Improving the pedestrian safety of any intersection in Downtown Kirkwood would be a positive on its own but a couple factors make Clay & Adams an especially prime candidate. First is the fact that St. Peter’s School is located at the southwest corner. St. Peter’s serves preschoolers through eighth graders, almost the prime population for targeted pedestrian improvements: kids who are young enough that they can’t drive themselves and small enough that people driving in cars frequently don’t see them. It’s a dangerous combination and one that makes this location, in addition to the intersection of Clay & Madison, a unique priority.
Secondly, this portion of northern Downtown Kirkwood is likely to see a lot more foot traffic in the coming years. Two blocks away from the Kirkwood Flats, set to pick up three additional units with this project, and surrounded by vacant surface lots, it’s not hard to imagine a scenario where the number of people who traverse this intersection explodes over the course of the next decade. Anything we can do to ensure that these people (who have clearly decided to move to Downtown Kirkwood for a reason) feel comfortable traveling by foot (or bike) rather by car, is a win for Kirkwood.
Consistency Lacking
While improving the Adams & Clay intersection is undoubtedly a good idea, I do have my concerns with the specifics and the process that led to this suggestion. First, two individual raised crosswalks, one traversing Clay and the other, Adams, would mean that people approximately half of pedestrians would still have to cross the intersection at a un-raised crosswalk. While the speedbump-aspect of these sorts of crosswalks probably means that even just one raised crosswalk is enough to significantly slow down traffic, only those on raised crosswalks benefit from the other aspect of safety they provide: increased visibility.
Even of greater source of confusion to me is the simple fact that if this comes to fruition, it will be the third different form of pedestrian improvement to an intersection in Downtown Kirkwood in the last two years. At the intersection of Taylor & Monroe near the new performing arts center, the city funded raising the entire intersection, not just the crosswalks. Further North, part of the The James apartment project (maybe you’ve heard of it!), included a provision that the developer would fund curb bump outs at the intersection of Taylor and Washington in order to improve pedestrian safety between the YMCA and Walker Park. All these improvements are good, even great, but one has to wonder, if there’s not perhaps some sort of best practice we should be following instead of random members of the unelected, unqualified Planning and Zoning Committee shouting out whatever the flavor de jour, only to find out that the city actually doesn’t have control over the road they’re talking about. I don’t want to complain too much, I just think a consistent vision based on best practices might be nice.
If the council could continue to peel off these sort of improvements to our downtown one by one via private funding, the benefit would be undeniable. City Council could essentially name their price for every developer yet to come: Ask for variances and we’ll likely be reasonable, but you have to actually make our town a better, more walkable place too. Let’s just make what we want and need consistent and clear to everyone involved.
Meeting Information
So unfortunately, only the condo project is up for public comment this evening with the Starbucks already set to be voted on. I’m not sure it’s exactly worth your time (I’ll offer updates on twitter when I have the final tally so feel free to just check in there), but if you would like to bear witness, the information for attending the meeting can be found here:
When: Tonight, Thursday January 7, 2021
Agenda: https://www.kirkwoodmo.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=7333
Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82947244275
Thanks for reading and happy new year Swarm!