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Happy New Year! It was nice to have some time off to spend with friends and family, but now we're back with a vengeance! The next three months could prove to be a pivotal stretch for Kirkwood, capped off with a pivotal City Council election on April 7th. Before we get there, though, the Council will have to navigate two very dicey issues: The looming Stormwater ordinance and the development of the Public Works site. The latter is this week's main event as the rezoning of the site, and Double Eagle's development proposal both have their public hearing at Thursday's Council meeting. You can read the latest details on that proposal in last week's story:
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How Double Eagle Won Over the Council
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On January 8th, Kirkwood City Council will hold a public hearing on Double Eagle Development's proposal for the former public works site. The proposal, the Council's preferred response of the six they received, calls for 203 homes across six all-residential buildings and 303 surface parking spots. In reviewing each of the RFP responses, a picture of the Council's decision-making process …
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Then, this week, I managed to publish a story on all the other proposals the city received for the site but ultimately passed up:
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Public Works Site: The Rejects
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Last week I wrote up how Double Eagle won the Public Works sweepstakes. Ahead of this Thursday's City Council public hearing on the Double Eagle proposal, I wanted to explore the other proposals that the Council passed up. The Public Works RFP process unfolded in two stages. Initial bids were submitted by five applicants —Double Eagle, Keeley, Ridgehouse, Savoy, and …
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Needless to say, I think I would've made a different choice. If you feel similarly, I encourage you to show up to tonight's City Council meeting and offer your comment in person or email City Clerk Laurie Asche (ascheLB@kirkwoodmo.org) and ask her to pass along your public comment to the full Council.
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- Perhaps the biggest news of the week came from Council Member Al Rhinnecker's newsletter, which stated that Kirkwood's credit ratings had been downgraded to Aa3 by Moody's. I agree that that's really bad news; I just disagree with the notion that the current Council is not responsible. They very much are. For example, they rejected $2 million for the development of the Jefferson surface parking lots and are now pushing for a public works site plan that will generate ~$0 in sales tax revenue for the city.
- Monday's Architectural Review Board meeting agenda brought the exciting news that the missing middle project slated for 10414 Big Bend Rd is back with a new design. The latest iteration shows two duplexes (a total of four homes) stacked on the R-MM lot. Plans and renderings of the project can be viewed starting on pg. 249 of the pdf linked above.
- Last week's Webster-Kirkwood Times had a few interesting stories:
- On pg. 1, there's a story on delays to the Essex Rd project and the city's efforts to claw back some money from the developer to serve as compensation. It's important to note that the project was originally only supposed to be completed by October 2025 despite the fact I first wrote about it in April of 2020. The two-month delay is bad, and I'm glad the city is doing something about it, but I also wish we'd take a serious look at reducing the five-year lead time itself. Why do we have to wait a decade to extend Grant's Trail a mile?
- On pg. 4, there's a story on how repairs to a city-owned parking garage in Webster have risen to more than $1.5 million. I don't think people have grappled with the fact that self-driving cars like those Waymo is already operating in several cities throughout the US will be operating in St. Louis within the year and will be the dominant mode of transportation in the next five years. That's going to mean a lot lower demand for parking. I'd put the $1.5 million to better use.
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That's it for this week! Have a great weekend, everyone!
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