Development, Housing

202 Homes Proposed for Former Public Works Site

Well folks, after nearly a year of waiting, the results of the Request for Proposals on the former Public Works site have finally surfaced via this week's Planning & Zoning agenda. The selected proposal comes from St. Louis-based Double Eagle Development and calls for 202 homes across six four-story buildings, accompanied by 247 parking spots.… Continue reading 202 Homes Proposed for Former Public Works Site

Transportation

Tired of the Speeders? Turn on the Cameras.

Kirkwood has poured a tremendous amount of sweat and treasure across multiple administrations into becoming a more walkable community. And while I have nits to pick here and there, overall these efforts have been worthwhile and successful. But no amount of curb bump-outs or bike lanes has convinced the blatant rule-breakers to stop blatantly breaking… Continue reading Tired of the Speeders? Turn on the Cameras.

Transportation

The $3.5 Million Sidewalk: How Kirkwoodโ€™s SS4A Grant Lost the Plot

For a grant designed to make our streets safer for all, Kirkwoodโ€™s SS4A application focuses an awful lot on just one. Kirkwood is finalizing its application for a $6.8 million federal Safer Streets for All (SS4A) grant โ€” funding that could support traffic calming, sidewalk infill, and pedestrian upgrades across the city. But a closer… Continue reading The $3.5 Million Sidewalk: How Kirkwoodโ€™s SS4A Grant Lost the Plot

Policy Analysis, Transportation

Argonne Drive: Spitting Distance from Perfection

Update: 03/22/2025: East-West Gateway's public comment period is now open for the Argonne grant application. You can navigate directly to Kirkwood's application by clicking here. By commenting on your support of the project as well as ways it might be improved, you can help ensure that Kirkwood secures the funding and that the project will… Continue reading Argonne Drive: Spitting Distance from Perfection

Transportation

Argonne Deserves a Bike Lane

At tonight's meeting, Kirkwood City Council will approve a grant application to overhaul Downtown Kirkwood's most iconic street. If East-West Gateway approves the city's STP grant application, the federal government would foot $2,089,600 โ€”80%โ€” of the $2,612,000 of the total estimated cost to redesign and repave Argonne between Geyer and Taylor, with the City covering… Continue reading Argonne Deserves a Bike Lane

Policy Analysis, Transportation

Southeast Kirkwood Connect

Update 04/24/2025: The city revealed its preliminary plans for bridging the physical divide between Meacham Park at its April 15th open house, the second of the ongoing Southeast Kirkwood Connectivity Study. Those preliminary plans can be found here and I encourage you to review them and offer your feedback to the city as to how… Continue reading Southeast Kirkwood Connect

Housing, Policy Analysis, Transportation

Foregoing Sidewalks Won’t Make Kirkwood Affordable

Update 02/07/2025: At last night's meeting, City Council passed a modified version of the sidewalk infill zoning text amendment. Instead of ditching the requirement that homeowners building large additions be required to add sidewalks wholesale, the Council decided instead to expand Director of Public Services Chris Krueger's discretion in deciding whether or not sidewalk infill… Continue reading Foregoing Sidewalks Won’t Make Kirkwood Affordable

Policy Analysis, Transportation

Three Alternatives To New Transportation Tax

Last Friday, I wrote a piece explaining Prop T and why I don't think it's the right solution for improving Kirkwood's roads. In the week since, I've got a lot of responses folks stating that, while they agree that a Transportation Development District might not be the ideal solution, they weren't sure what the alternatives… Continue reading Three Alternatives To New Transportation Tax

Development, Housing, Parking

Public Works Site RFP Issued:
Kirkwood Seeks to Recoup $12.5M

Kirkwood has issued a Request For Proposals for mixed-use development on 6 city-owned acres in the heart of Downtown. The city hopes the responses will yield a multi-faceted windfall for the community, but the stipulations listed in the RFP and the โ€”$12.5 million the city has already sunk into facilitating such developmentโ€” may mean that… Continue reading Public Works Site RFP Issued: Kirkwood Seeks to Recoup $12.5M

Parking, St. Louis County, Transportation

Micro-Transit: A Better Use for TDD

A couple of weeks back, Patrick Richmond wrote a mailbag letter in the Webster-Kirkwood Times that I think made some great points: First, I think he's spot on that the only real way of combatting congestion and a perceived shortage of parking in a growing Kirkwood is to get some people to switch from driving… Continue reading Micro-Transit: A Better Use for TDD