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Kirkwood for Everyone's ADU info session on Monday night was absolutely incredible (Steve Hoard should run for Congress). If you weren't able to attend, I highly encourage you to watch the recording of the presentation on YouTube! And if you're interested in further exploring whether an ADU could be right for your property, you should contact Kirkwood City Planner Amy Lowery (lowryag@kirkwoodmo.org or 314-822-5815) to find out more!
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Kirkwood for Everyone's next event (this time on Community Land Trusts on Tuesday, September 23rd at 7pm Kirkwood UMC) is less than a month away, so make sure to mark your calendar and RSVP to the event on Facebook!
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- Page 4-A of last week's Webster-Kirkwood Times was filled with relevant stories:
- Des Peres approved the construction of a new 14-home subdivision at 760 Des Peres Rd, which currently exists as a small wooded area. I wish the Kirkwood tree people would realize that by blocking new construction in Downtown Kirkwood, we're pushing folks to cut down forests and build homes there instead. The housing issue is a lot like air in a half-inflated balloon; you can't actually block housing, you just push it around to somewhere else. In this case, that means a lot fewer trees and a lot bigger carbon impact.
- There's also a story on Webster inching forward on the approval of a new comprehensive plan. I don't want to say the plan is bad per se; there's some genuinely good stuff in there (a form-based code, the legalization of ADUs and other missing middle typologies, streamlining approvals, etc). But the plan also makes me worry that Webster may fall into the classic liberal trap of thinking you can regulate housing into being affordable (for example, by requiring that a certain number of units be set at below market-rate rents, a requirement that would essentially serve as a tax on the construction of new housing). Even more so, I just worry that this is too little too late, broaching policy changes that Kirkwood has had in place for five years or more. These comprehensive plans stick around for ten years or more. If your 2025 plan simply tells you to study the issue more, you're going to wind up with an awfully big headache on your hands by 2035.
- Finally, at the bottom of the page, there's a good article on the Fybr parking sensor contract that's headed for a vote at next week's Council meeting. If anything, though, the article undersells the uphill battle the legislation faces due to concerns about the cost. The thing about parking time limit enforcement though, is that it is infamously difficult (so much so that it is summarily dismissed as a viable policy in the recent seminal book on parking, Paved Paradise). The Fybr sensor tech —that can tell police which cars have remained parked in the 2-Hour zone all damn day— seems like one of very few ways of consistently enforcing such a regime. And ensuring that people can find a place to park in Downtown Kirkwood (partially by directing them to open spots and partially by enforcing limits to open up spots) has the potential to generate economic returns far and above the $24k a year the tech costs (and the installation fee)
- Speaking of next week's Council meeting, that's also the date of the public hearings on 1) the Commerce Bank site 60-unit mixed-use condo proposal and 2) the city's new property tax rates. If you're going to go to a meeting, next week's is a great one to attend, say something nice about new housing, the importance of parking enforcement, etc.
- It's also important to remember that in addition to offering feedback on these proposals themselves, you can also offer feedback on the folks making them at the ballot box. So far, I've been made aware of two really great candidates who are running and worthy of your support (donating a few bucks, signing up for email lists, or putting a sign in your yard takes very little effort and yet can make a very real difference in local elections); here are their websites:
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That's it for this week! David Coffman is performing at the Farmer's Market this Saturday at 10am. Have a great (looooong) weekend, everyone!
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