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I just got back from Los Angeles for the first time and the coolest part (besides hanging out with Jocelyn) was taking a self-driving car from a company called "Waymo". Waymo currently operates in San Francisco, LA, Phoenix, and Austin, but it's now obvious to me that the tech will be everywhere very soon. If that's the case, we can expect a few results: 1) Driving will become cheaper and easier so demand for driving will go up; 2) Because cars can operate on their own (taking a spouse to their job after dropping you off at yours), demand for owning a car will go down; and 3) Because cars can operate on their own, demand for parking will go down.
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The policy prescription for these expected results are 1) Reduce or eliminate parking minimums for new developments since parking demand will go down; 2) Sell off city owned parking lots to put them to a more productive use; and 3) Figure out how you're going to fund the added street maintenance that will come with increased car usage (especially since electric cars are much heavier than gas powered ones).
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- While we're on the topic of parking, tonight's City Council meeting agenda calls for the Council to vote on a new contract with FYBR, a company that places sensors under parking spots so that citizens can monitor in real time where parking is available and police can monitor who has overstayed their welcome in time-limited spots and write tickets. It' pretty widely understood that this sort of tech is the only real way to do time-limited parking enforcement, so we either need to approve the contract or get rid of the 2hr / 15min time limits, because everything else is kind of a waste of money. A couple of other items:
- Tonight is the public hearing for the 60-unit mixed-use proposal at the former Commerce Bank site. It's a good idea to show up and say something nice about building more housing in Kirkwood, but this thing is essentially fully compliant so there's not much the Council can do to block it anyway
- It's also the public hearing for establishing new property tax rates. A reminder that thanks to Missouri's Hancock Amendment, the only way Kirkwood can take in more inflation-adjusted property taxes this year than they did last year is via new development or significant improvements. Letting people invest in Kirkwood is good for the bottom line!
- I was pleased to hear that the Architectural Review Board seemed to warm to the idea of restoring the original glazed tile facade of 116-122 N. Kirkwood Rd (aka the Multack Building) at Monday's meeting. The item was continued once more to kick a final few tires, but all indications are that we're headed in the right direction. This will be a big win for us history buffs/aesthetes. (The current facade is faux brick)
- A couple of items of note from the minutes of the P&Z meeting all the way back in July (the most recent meeting for which minutes are available):
- The plans for a 6-unit apartment building at 10414 Big Bend Blvd have been withdrawn, with new ones to come (this property still keeps its R-Missing Middle zoning designation, so expect something similar
- The James is reportedly at 95% occupancy. According to Director of Planning Jonathan Raiche, 90-93% is considered full occupancy
- According to Director Raiche, the poorly maintained parking lot at 135 W Washington Ave was recently sold by AT&T to an investor group. At first, I thought: Great news! We'll: 1) get rid of an eye sore, 2) likely get some new housing, 3) add some ground-floor retail, and 4) expand our tax base. Unfortunately, though, this lot is inexplicably zoned not "B-2 General Business" but rather "B-4 Planned Commercial," which explicitly prohibits residential uses of almost any sort. The current Council's guiding principle seems to be to block any further development in Downtown Kirkwood, so I guess we're still stuck with the cracked-up, low-productivity parking lot for now. (Or who knows, maybe the investor group is planning a SkyZone or something!)
- Highlights from last week's Webster Kirkwood Times:
- On pg. 1-A, a great write-up of Kirkwood for Everyone's recent ADU event. Another reminder that if you did not get the chance to attend last week, you can watch a recording of the presentation here.
- On pg. 6-A: A couple of good letters on Representative Ann Wagner, one from a constituent and one from her challenger in next year's Republican primary (and Kirkwood native), Ryan Sheridan. I am more liberal in my disposition than either Wagner or Sheridan, but what I would note is that Wagner is an at-or-below-average congressperson on the issue of housing. The recently enacted Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act (AHCIA), for example, had 79 Republican and 78 Democrat co-sponsors in the US House, and Ann Wagner was not one of them. Sheridan, meanwhile, is more of an unknown quantity, but from what I have heard so far, he is saying all the right stuff on the housing issue and seems to be genuinely intellectually curious. You can check out Sheridan's website here.
- On 13-A in the Calendar section, there's notice of a public meeting with Great Rivers Greenways in Webster tonight on the proposed Shady Creek Greenway. That's exciting, mostly because if you look at GRG's interactive map, a Shady Creek Greenway moves us one step closer to my vision for a Frisco Trail that would connect Downtown Kirkwood (and the Grant's Trail) to Downtown Webster (and the Shady Creek Trail) via Adams/Lockwood. I don't quite get how Kirkwood had to self-fund the Grant's Trail extension while GRG helps fund Webster's though...
- A reminder that registration is still open for bulky item pick-up if you get your trash collected on Wednesdays or Thursdays (tomorrow is the deadline for Wednesday pick-ups). You can register for bulky item pick-up here.
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That's it for this week! The festivities for Greentree Fest kickoff this week with Rotary Ramble 5k/10k on Saturday (register here), followed by a Pickleball tournament (registration details here, today is the last day to register) and finally "Boogie Chyld" will play at the Lion's Amphitheater in Kirkwood Park Saturday evening from 6-9pm; the event will feature food from local restaurants and "fun for all ages"! Have a great weekend, everyone!
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