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Happy (almost) Memorial Day Weekend! Congratulations to Aubry Bracco! Let's jump straight into some Quick Hits!
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- I'm glad to hear that Kirkwood City Council has formally requested that MoDOT lower the speed limit on Manchester Road to 30 mph, as it is in Des Peres and Glendale.
- There's a great new Kirkwood blog you all should follow called The Kirkwood Ledger that explores Kirkwood issues from a financial perspective (its author, is a recent transplant to Kirkwood and a former financial banker). The first four stories have been an incredibly deep dive into the financial considerations of selling Kirkwood Water. While I do not know "Taylor", I am very glad to have them aboard (and to not have to write about finance anymore).
- It's very disappointing to see that HB 2384, the bill that would have overridden local building codes to allow single-stair construction, did not pass the senate before the session ended. Most Democrats based their opposition to this bill on the fact that it also would've banned the inclusion of energy efficiency requirements in local building codes. Now that that threat has passed, I look forward to seeing Democrat-run municipalities legalize single stair construction independent of the energy provisions. It is, after all, good for the environment, good for affordability, and good for smaller buildings.
- One exciting item on last night's P&Z agenda: The owners of 422 S. Clay ave have applied to rezone the property from B-4 Planned Commercial to B-2 General Business, the zone that covers all of Downtown. The 0.37-acre lot that sits on the backside of the Woodbine Center is pretty unremarkable, and the owner is just planning on building a home for his growing business here so I'm not expecting this to unlock a bunch of new homes or anything. But the B-2 zone is the best, most walkable zoning district the city has and I'm glad to see it grow. I also think the B-4 zone—which requires structures to be setback 50 feet from the street(!!!!)—is one of the city's worst and I'm glad to see it whittled down further. In fact, just two Summers ago, we saw another property 119 W Woodbine (just around the corner from 422 S. Clay) successfully pursue a rezoning from B-4 to B-2. There can't be more than ten B-4 lots left in the city—all small lots (save for Woodbine Center) clustered around Downtown—and I can't imagine anybody being too upset if they were to be systematically replaced by the beloved B-2 Downtown Kirkwood typology. The Council should explore ditching it.
- Next Tuesday, May 26th, Great Rivers Greenway is hosting an open house regarding the ongoing Meramec Greenway Bridge feasibility study at Fenton City Hall from 5-7pm. This project would be entirely funded by Great Rivers Greenway, so there's no reason not to support it, and if you have some good insights as to how to make it even better, show up and let 'em know!
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That's all for this week! This Saturday, Kirkwood Farmers Market will host its first Tunes at 10 event from 10am to noon; sounds like a blast! Have a great weekend, everyone!
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