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Lots of big stories advancing this week, and I still haven't published stories on any of 'em. So let's talk all through here instead!
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- Last week's highly anticipated Council vote on the rezoning of the three corners of Kirkwood & Sarah was ultimately delayed until the Council's next meeting on September 17th. The rezoning effort appeared to be short of a majority, with Jaksetic, Sears, Arnold, and McLean opposed, and Lavender, Burkett, and Mayor Gibbons in support. The opposing contingent worried that what would get built would not match what the developer has suggested they would build. The supportive Council members have asked city staff to draft an amendment that would grant the Council discretionary siteplan review of multifamily sites in the hopes that this additional control would be able to sway the swing council members (McLean and, to a lesser degree based on his statements last week, Arnold). I believe this question of site-plan control is all based on a big misunderstanding. The R-5 district only allows residential uses and it allows it at a maximum of 14 homes per acre, which is what the developer has proposed doing here. R-5 also has: maximum height (the lesser of 35 feet or three stories), maximum lot coverage (40%), and minimum setback (front yard - 35 ft, side yard - 12 ft, rear yard - 30 ft) and minimum parking (2 spots per home) requirements. They can't make this thing any bigger under this zoning and would have to come back to the Council for approval if they wanted some more permissive zoning! The only thing the Council does not control is what the building looks like, and there the Architectural Review Board has full discretion to approve/reject the plan. While I would accept discretionary council approval of site plans as a necessary compromise over blocking these homes, I do not think it makes for good policy. It would introduce additional uncertainty—builders are less willing to take projects on if there's a chance the council could decide they don't like apartments and block it thus leaving them with nothing to show for the time/effort they invested in the project. This uncertainty leads to fewer homes being built and thus higher costs overall. Please email you council members, especially McLean and Arnold, and ask them to support this thing!
- Congratulations to Peter Jordan, who was named Kirkwood's new Fire Marshal earlier this week! Mr. Jordan, if you're reading this, I'd love to talk to you about single-stair reform...
- A couple of big items on tonight's Council Work Session agenda:
- First up, the Council has again shifted the threshold for the proposed new stormwater rule that would cap impervious surfaces on multifamily lots. The new maximum was first proposed at 85%, was subsequently lowered to 70%, and has now been raised to 85% again. It's important to consider where that this rule would apply to a very narrow set of properties. Because the R-5 multifamily zoning district already caps total lot coverage at 40%, this rule would not be binding in developments like the condos proposed for Kirkwood & Sarah. It also does not apply to properties with any sort of retail component, which are considered "commercial" instead of multifamily, so The James, Pitman Place, and The Aria would all be exempt as well. That leaves just the small apartments and condos located in Downtown Kirkwood without any ground-floor retail. The only building I can find that would not be allowed under the new threshold is The Madison (110 W Madison, across from City Hall)... which is I think maybe the single most popular development Kirkwood has added since I started doing this and, as far as I know has no stormwater issues? MSD already regulates multifamily and commercial properties! Why are we smaking it harder to specifically build missing middle homes in Downtown Kirkwood for no good reason? It defies all logic. Can we please stop?
- There is also an item on the agenda labeled simply "Water Department Appraisal Discussion." I'm no detective, but appraisals often precede sales. Which I would be fine with, as long as we get a fair price. Glad we're going about this the right way and excited to see how the numbers compare to those that Taylor estimated over at The Kirkwood Ledger substack.
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That's all for this week! The ribbon-cutting for the Kirkwood Train Station is this Tuesday, September 15th, at 11am. Congratulations to all involved, it looks amazing! Hope you can make it! Have a great weekend everyone!
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