Kirkwood has issued a request for proposal (RFP) for two prominent city-owned lots in Downtown Kirkwood according to a newsletter from Council member Liz Gibbons. The two lots, 107-115 W Jefferson, and 125 E Jefferson are both zoned for B-2 General Business, the city's most intensive use. The eastern lot sits right next to the… Continue reading Lots Leveraged: RFP Issued for Downtown
Early this summer, Kirkwood released the fruits of a multi-year effort to study the extent of our attainable housing crisis and propose some solutions for how to fix it. That effort, known formally as the Attainable Housing Study , was developed by PGAV and URBRNRX, presented to the Council for comment and review, and ultimately… Continue reading Attainable Housing Study: 19 Solutions Examined
This piece is part two of a series on workable policy solutions to address the shortage of attainable housing in Kirkwood. Part one, on reforming our minimum lot size regulations, can be found here. I've been working on Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) policy a lot for my day job recently and the more I've delved… Continue reading Attainable Housing Part 2: ADUs
This is Part 1 of a series on politically-workable ways to add housing in Kirkwood and make living here more attainable. This piece covers the topic of minimum lot sizes and lot splitting, while Part 2 covers ADUs (Accessory Dwelling Units). Last August, Webster voters killed the two-family zoning provision that their elected representatives on… Continue reading Attainable Kirkwood Part 1: Minimum Lot Sizes
Update: 03/03/2023 New renderings have been made available for 60 apartments coming to 300 N. Kirkwood Rd. Of greatest note is the inclusion of balconies for the first time, a change that Kirkwood's City Council encouraged the developers to explore during the hearing. We also have gotten our first rendering of the building's pool deck:… Continue reading Kirkwood Apartments Coming to Downtown
Update: The rezoning of 250 Commerce failed its first reading before city council last week and seems to have little hope of moving forward in the near term. There's more work to do. Original Story On Thursday night, Kirkwood's newest zoning distinction began its first real test. The R-MM zone (Residential-Missing Middle) created last year,… Continue reading 250 Commerce Ave: A Test for R-MM
On Saturday, June 6th, I participated in the Kirkwood Teachers of Color-organized, Black Lives Matter Peace Walk. Early in the week leading up to the event, it seemed like the walk would be a somewhat controversial and divisive event for a pretty quiet, wealthy suburb; one likely attended by no more than a couple hundred… Continue reading Our Zoning is Racist: a multi-family housing story
Update 08/19/2021 After receiving first reading approval on a 5-2 vote, Altus used up almost all of their year-long window to submit their final plans. That wait is finally over. At tonight's Planning & Zoning meeting, they will present the fruits of that process, and pending a pro-forma second reading approval by City Council, begin… Continue reading The James (formerly the Kirkwood Flats)
This is part one of a three part series on housing. In this post I seek to quantify and contextualize the extent of Kirkwood housing situation, and explain its importance. In the accompanying companion pieces I will first examine the current politics of the issue within Kirkwood and offer suggestions for reform. In the third… Continue reading Housing in Kirkwood Explained
