Historic Preservation Commission - Regular Meeting

We've all been waiting for this beautiful weather. Oh, okay. All right. We've all been waiting for this beautiful weather for our outdoor gardening hikes and our wonderful Wow Parks and for our ribbon cutting se ceremony this weekend for our long-awaited Village Green. Yes, finally the village green area is ready to be shared with the citizens of Wildwood. What a great accomplishment. This week, we interviewed multiple potential youth commissioners. They all impressed us with how smart and enthusiastic they all were and the way they presented themselves during their interviews. Uh myself, our vice president, Steve and Robin and Melanie were there interviewing them and it was very dis difficult to decide on one of these bright teenagers to be our youth commissioner. However, I believe our choice was made and we will discuss that later at our meeting. As usual, we have many items on tonight's agenda. We always do our best to finalize our old business and get the wheels turning on our new business. So, with that being said, let's start with our pledge of allegiance uh led tonight by uh Commissioner Diane Schafield. I aliance to the flag the United States of America. One day she

Thank you, Diane. All right, Robin, if you'd like to do roll call. Uh, yes. Secretary Hunzik, Vice Chair Larson, present. Chair Cordick, present. Uh, Commissioner Bertollo, present. Commissioner Showen, present. Commissioner Burmel, present. Alternate Leav is not with us. Alternate sher is not with us. Uh, council member liaison Mabry

present. Council member liaison Rambo is not with us. HBC advisor Scott present. Uh, youth commissioner Raguyu Ramen is not with us currently, but I do believe he'll be here just a little late. and uh Commissioner Bour here and our Wildwood Historical Society leaison Von Gubin here. All right, Madam Chair, we do have quorum.

All right, very good. Um if uh there's no objection or comment on the minutes from last month, uh we will go ahead and approve those minutes. And do we have any public comment online or in the audience? Uh, Madame Chair, I do have one individual online. If that individual would like to make comment, please use the raised hand feature and I know we do have a couple individuals in the audience. All right, Madam Chair, I don't believe we have comment.

All right. Uh, we'd like to move on to the, uh, news and updates from the Wildwood Historical Society. Bill.

Hi everyone. Uh but lots of very quick things because it's been a very exciting month. Uh first is just kind of a light a piece of fun but with a a philosophy statement built in. In a couple of weeks I will have known my husband for 56 years. By Memorial Day, I would have met on that Sunday, met the entire town of Grover in the field between the Bon Rubins and the Kelps. That was an experience that I will never live down because I was the city girl from Glendale and a college student and I just wasn't part of Grover. I'm still considered a newbie. It doesn't matter how long you're here, unless you're here for a really long time, you're a newbie. Uh so, as a historian, one of the interesting things is to really explore the families that are here now. And then it's intriguing to look at how many families have been here for longer than 50 years, longer than 100 years, longer than 150 years. There some family traces to over 200 years here. And so that is just intriguing to me of the people who have had the grit and the guts to be here under unbelievable odds and to stay here and their descendants are here and here and here and here. Now economies change, things change, descendants do move away. is in the last generation, but they all a lot of those families, they didn't move very far. They may not be in the city limits of Wildwood, but they're in Ellisville, they're in Baldwin, they're

Chesterfield, maybe as far away as Benton, but that's not that far away or Eureka. They have a tendency to stay here. Those families have a connection to the land and the stories. And we need as a city to really respect even if somebody doesn't live here anymore within the city boundaries that they have value. And there are stories as long as I've been part of the Von Gubin family. There are stories that my in-laws contemporaries know that each keep coming up every time we get together. There's a new story about somebody. So we need to really keep that in mind as we make decisions and as we make that these these families here and stayed for a reason and we need to respect that with our with everything. So and this go falls into the oh by the way Jill lost track of administrative things. Um my husband's been very ill so it it that was always my priority. We do. The historical society does have an official president. Uh several months after Linda Camp uh died, Sandy Becker stepped up to the plate um to take that presidency. And uh she's willing to have somebody else take her place, but no one else has volunteered yet. Uh but she is incredible at discovering speakers, and our lineup last year was incredible, and this year is even better. Uh This week's presentation was by Ken Camper who is 92 years young and he spoke on Daniel Boone in Missouri. He's studied Daniel Boone for the last 50 years and is considered one of the top

the nation's top experts on all things Boone. Uh one of his themes is is that Boone spent 21 years in Missouri longer than in any other state during his life including the bottoms. He went through the bottoms. his children lived in the bottoms for a while. Married into the Lewis family of like Lewis Memorial Chapel and Crescent. Um he lived here in Missouri longer than any other place that he lived in. So his question, Mr. Camper's question is why doesn't the state of Missouri capitalize on its Daniel Boon history for tourism dollars if for nothing else? um Kentucky has made a massive business out of boon sites and he relatively speaking he lived there only a short time in his life. So it was a very interesting talk. Uh next month, Ellen Riker, who is an uh a researcher uh of ours, is going to provide an overview of what she's learned about the men from the US color troops, but also her main part is going she's learned so many stories about the enslaved and the enslavers. And that those stories are what she's going to share next month on May 19th. Um 2027 is the 175th anniversary of the Hanken House of the original portion of the house. So we're working on some celebratory events for that. The 2027 calendar has been a focus on the Hanken family and we're going to have a Hanken memorial wall in the museum that regional history event in June. the his our histories his historical society will have a table and Martha Bunch and Lyn Link will be representing us. Uh the 2026

uh Route 66 calendar for the first time in several years we are out. It was a phenomenal success. So, I'm glad that we were able to share that information with you all and that we share it in the we reshare it in the newsletter every month with a new picture of the month. Um, we had a large tour yesterday and the lead came from PR about Route 66. Uh, the Route 66 magazine. Thank you for ordering more and that we the historical society gets there for the uh at our presentation on Tuesday night. I kind of did an intro about us and memberships and and showed the importance of you know interlinking and uh had people kind of like pretend fighting me for this one copy. So, we really appreciate having more and just the fun personal thing uh the HPC uh page and the gazette that came out that were mailed to people's homes. David and I have gotten a lot of texts and phone calls and and positive remarks about our picture and the article that was written, I think. Thank you.

Hi. Thank you, Joe. All right, we're going to move on to old business. We have um some public hearings to go over tonight. So, I'd like to read a little something about that before we start. Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to welcome you to tonight's public hearings being held by the city of Wildwood's Historic Preservation Commission on requests submitted by Tim Shockley and Radney Oki, which are to consider the placement of certain historic assets, a horseman log cabin, and Rosenbomb Barn on the city's historic register. We are committed to a transparent process and encouragement of public comment during our meetings. We will be accepting public comments in person with the completed speakers cards handed to planner Keefe or online using the raised hand feature. You can raise your hand at any time and we will recognize you as we get to the public participation portion of the agenda for this case. Planner Robin Keefe will be moderating the hybrid meeting and will be asked to provide names of those individuals that wish to speak either by speaker cord card or hands that are raised. The commission members appreciate your attendance tonight and look forward to your participation in these hearings. My name is Debbie Cordig. I am the chair of the commission and will conduct the hearings tonight. I would like to introduce the other members of the historic preservation commission who are present. These members are Steve Larson, Vice Chair, Kurt Henik, Secretary Jeannie Burmel, Diana Sherfield, Angela Burllo, Aishi uh comm who is our youth commissioner. Uh oh, Ramen, you are here. our other youth commissioner

Donald uh Lavat Commission Alternate Bob Mabry commission member leazison uh Rem Rob Rambo is not currently here uh he is also a member leazison Steve Scott commission advisor Jill von Gubin Wildwood Historic Society lison I would like to now go over the procedures for tonight's hearings the intent of tonight's hearings is to obtain information and comments on the placements of the historic assets, the Horseman Log Cabin and Rosenbomb Barn on the city of Wildwood's historic registry. To achieve this end, the following procedures will be followed for each application. Number one, the representative for the Department of Planning will be called forward to provide an opening comment remarks about the petition. Number two, commission members may provide comments to or ask questions of the department personnel at the conclusion of the presentation. Number three, petitioner will be called forward to present the request. And number four, commission members may provide comments to or ask questions of petitioner at the conclusion of the presentation. Number five, comments are solicited from public in attendance, both in favor or with concern. Again, please raise your hand or use the speaker card and give that to Planner Keefe in person or as I said, raise your hand on the online. Each speaker is limited to no more than five minutes. The time limit is intended to ensure all speakers have time to participate. Number six, commission members may provide comments to or ask questions of each speaker at the collision of their statements. And number seven, concluding remarks may be made by the chair, myself, and a hearing is then closed. The Historic Preservation Commission

appreciates your cooperation in this process. It is important to note the commission will not make any decisions tonight. Reports will be developed by the Department of Planning for the commission's review at next meeting. Notification will be mailed by the city to all interested parties regarding the date action of these reports. If there are no questions, the Department of Planning will now read the first request into the record and begin the hearing. Thank you. Uh, Madame Chair, it does not appear that the uh the applicant for our first public hearing case tonight is present. Uh, therefore, uh, the department would respectfully request to postpone to a future meeting uh, the first item on the public hearing agenda. All right. about our second applicant.

Could you ask for a motion to postpone the matter to a future meeting? Obtain a second. We can do that by voice vote. Right. Is this for Shockley? Correct. The HR126. All right. So, item HR1-26, Tim Shockley, TP Investments, address 4981 Fox Creek Road, Wwood, Missouri. Well, with his uh non-appearance, we'd like to take a general election or general vote on postponing it. Yes, ma'am. We have a motion to postpone with a second and then a voice vote. Thank you. Would anybody like to motion?

All right. All right. Madam Chair with a voice vote. All in favor? All right. Everyone in favor of that the motion? I I All right. We will what? Postpone that till next month or uh to a future meeting. Okay. So, we don't know for sure exactly when. All right. And what about uh HR226?

Madam Chair, our first public hearing tonight is HR2-26 Randy McCauley, 3602 Allent Road, Wild, Missouri 63069. A request to place a dogtrot style log building known as Rosenbomb Barn located upon the property at 3602 Allenton Road, located number 26X630121 on the city's historic register. The owner estimates the age of the Rosenbomb Barn, most likely utilized as a crib barn, as being over 175 years. The original portion of the historic dwelling on the same property was built circa 1912 by John Rosenbomb. According to the Wildwood Historic Building Survey, the owner intends to restore the subject barn for private use. This particular historic asset is located in W six. Thank you, ma'am.

So, are there any comments about Are we asking for comments from the commissioners? Madame Chair, the department has prepared a presentation uh and with this present after the presentation, I believe um through the procedures that you read, uh we'll open for public comment after uh the commission has an opportunity to ask questions of the department. Uh so, Madame Chair, members of the commission, our uh first and only uh public hearing item tonight uh concerns a property that is located um just uh south of Highway 100 and Melro Melrose Road at 3602 Allenton Road. Uh the Rosen Bomb Bomb Barn is located on a historic property that has been inventoried uh by the city uh due to the age of the dwelling uh that is upon it which is estimated to be circa uh 1912. The Rosenbomb Barn, a dog trot log structure, uh, dates to the early settlement of the Rosenbomb family who established a7 acre farm along Allenton Road beginning in 1878. A dog building is a traditional 19th century form consisting of two enclosed log sections separated by an open central passage which allowed for air flow and provided a shaded workspace. on the Rosenbomb property. The structure was likely used for agricultural purposes such as storage, sheltering animals, or as a transitional work area. By around 1912, a newer frame house replaced an earlier residence destroyed by fire, while older outbuildings like the barn remained part of the homestead.

Uh so the subject of this evening's um public hearing is the Rosen Bomb Barn, which is an out building to the historic dwelling on the property. uh to give you a little history of the Rosenbomb Farm. Um and I do want to give credit to the Wildwood Historical Society and specifically Jill von Grubin uh historian and archavist for putting together a lovely report for us. Um and most of this is taken from that report. Um, but here you can see pictured uh the historic dwelling uh not the barn in question and uh members uh of the Rosenbomb family. And you can probably uh see on this slide many names that you recognize including the von Grubins um the Essence uh Wardenberg. Um so many very historical um or many families with very long roots in in this area uh were a part of this estate. Uh Christian Rosenbomb who is a livery man for St. Louis uh for a St. Louis based lumber company uh married Anna Marie Salt House on April 24th of 1856 and in 1878 moved his family to this uh location where he uh which he had purchased uh from an individual. Um there have been many many owners of record uh for this property again starting with uh Mr. Chris Christian Rosenbomb in uh the 1909 plat map uh John H. Rosenbomb had taken possession and at that time the property was 117.52 acres on the 194748 plat map. Uh Hubert and Louise Wrathburn

um had purchased the property and again it was still that same size. In 1972, the land was subdivided by them and inherited by a niece and after that um it looks like it was difficult to obtain um the information but the property ultimately was subdivided um which brings it to its current size today. Um one big uh event in the estate's history uh was a house fire on Sunday morning. Emily was baking pies from freshly picked cherries and the fire in the in the old wood burning range had the oven nice and hot. Suddenly, it was discovered that the roof was on fire. Sparks had landed in the wooden shingled roof. There was no fire department to fight the blaze, and the house was pretty much destroyed. Emily and John and their two very young daughters uh lived in a tent until another house was built on the existing foundation in 1909 or 1910. Um and some part of this house was likely built in 1912 when John Brosenbomb received a permit to construct a $500 frame dwelling on his property in this section. The stonefaced southern section was added between 2006 and 2008. Um, another interesting tidbit of Rosenbomb um history and potentially it could have involved this structure though that there were a couple structures on the property just east of the dwelling. Uh but it turns out that one of those structures was used as a little store by Hugo Rosenbomb and uh apparently he was quite the character. So you can read about Hugo in your reports.

Um so the subject of our uh discussion this evening um involves this barn structure. Uh the department of planning did have a chance to visit the property and visit this site on December 15th, 2021. And these are pictures from that site visit. Um, and right now we're standing inside the barn structure. Um, at the time the owner was contemplating restoring it, um, I think into a pool house, which was a dream. Um, at the moment I think the the main objective is just to restore the structure and prevent it from deteriorating further. Um, so as noted, the owner does intend to restore this structure and has sought consultation from Sheret Creek Excavating, who's doing the Essen Long Cabin Reconstruction, and also Jesse Francis of St. Louis County. um by designating the asset to the Wildwood Historic Register, the owner can utilize the building code for historic buildings in order in his restoration project. Um which would certainly help and as we know from doing the Essen Law Cabin Reconstruction. Uh no incentives are requested at this time by the owner. Uh the purpose of tonight's public hearing is to hear from the public. Um, so the department's uh main objective was just to share information about the property, about the barn structure, and some of the history. Um, however, um, next month on May 28th, uh, we'll provide an information and recommendation report to you at which time this commission will be asked to take action. And then uh that action will be developed into the commission's recommendation report uh which will be

presented at the June 25th meeting and then uh forwarded in letter format to city council at its July 13th meeting. Uh thereafter if city council is to authorize authoriz uh legislation for it um that legislation will be read um at the August and September meetings. Um now as this commission is aware uh placing a historic structure on the Wildwood historic register uh does place a protective ordinance upon it and it does uh provide this uh commission an additional layer of authority concerning its review when alterations are proposed or future uh demolitions. Um so that is one element of placing it on the register. The other is to recognize it as an asset that's important to Wildwood's history, uh, which is done via a plaque, a historic plaque. And, um, generally we we do some sort of ceremony and celebration if the owner is, uh, open to it as well. Uh, because we want to these structures give life um, to the very history that we're promoting in this area um, and represent different aspects of it. Um so uh at this time I'll turn it over to the petitioner um who will give a a presentation uh to you and then uh following that um we can go into the public hearing portion. Thank you.

Really I really hadn't really hadn't planned on saying anything. Um, I will say there's a couple of things that are maybe a little wrong. The cemetery dates back into the 1860s. A daughter is buried there. Uh, born in 1862 and died in 1867. So, um, the Rosen Bombs, I believe, were maybe there prior to that. Um, the picture you saw of the house, uh, is actually the house that is still there. the roof burned off of the house, not the house didn't burn down. And so they rebuilt the house as a story and a half as opposed to a twotory as it were. Um I've been contemplating doing this for years and uh finally in the financial position to try to do that before it deteriorates. It's in really good shape now. Um, it doesn't look so so good in some of those pictures because it's surrounded by uh lumber that was later used to protect it. So, I only ask for approval so that I can move forward with trying to save it uh without having to go through St. those counties building codes and which is a kind of a nightmare. So, I'm I'm open to any questions. I don't know what else to say about it.

Um I did see that it said that it would the property had been subdivided the 117 acres. So, is that all still one area? No. So, so initially the Wrathman's subdivided the west side of Allon Road into Wrathman Hills and I think that consisted of well I bought 54 acres with a friend of mine um in 1994 and we subdivided that into uh three lots. I built a house for him Moss Hill Lane and um another house to the south of me. So presently the lot size is 258 with the house and the barn.

With the house and the barn, right? Right. Well, the barn is probably 100 yards behind the house. It's visible from Allen Road. For sure. Anybody else? Sounds good.

Chair, I have a question. Um yeah, capturing the the month by month by month by month cadence of the actions of the commission and the staff. Do those suit your plans of timing for procurement and weather uh having having things stretching out up to what I heard August. Um, does that uh does that meet with your uh timing?

Um, I was in the contracting business for 40 years and uh the barn became a refuge for all the leftover items that I had from jobs. And so, uh, I've been spending the last month trying to figure out what to do with 500 lb of hand drive nails. and I'm just trying to get it cleaned out. So, to answer your question, uh that's not an issue. No. Uh I'm I'm perfectly comfortable with um that that time frame. Now, more important than all that, did you work for any be GC's in St. Louis? I was a GC. You was?

I was a general contractor. Yeah. Okay. Who? Well, the name of my company was Black Rose Contracting. Black Row. Yeah. And we never competed again. So, you were okay. It was okay. Yeah, it was okay. Yeah, I did uh high-end restorations in Town and Country Front and Act, built a few new houses. Uh try to keep it small and manageable. Yeah. Thank you. You're welcome. Anybody else?

So, Mr. Moly, I understand that what you're asking this commissioner commission for is permission to for you to restore historic asset for your personal use, for your family use, and for just future prosperity, and you are satisfied with the time to clean out the barn. Your grandchildren, I'm sure, will thank you in the future. I wish I had a grandchild, but family in general. So I I actually see no reason why anyone would oppose your request. Well, thank you. Yeah, thank you. Thank you.

I've been keeping an eye on the Essen cabinet to see how that's going along. And we have some comments on the

Great. I I think I I am so pleased with this opportunity because there are numerous historic barns in Wildwood that should be saved and if we can do this and get the word out. I'm thinking of well there's just one uh that at the the other Hanken farm on Hanken Road that old barn is and these barns unlike their house or our house that have some insides that's been covered up. These barns are pretty much the way they were built. They they they're great to to keep them that way. So, I think this is a great opportunity for us and I think we should really be encouraging other people to do this. So, I I just am so pleased that this has come up. I'm all for it.

Yeah. There's no online comments, Robin. Uh, Madame Chair, I do have one attendee online. Uh if that attendee would like to participate in the public hearing, they may use the raise hand feature.

I do not see a raised hand. All right. Thank you. Any other comments? I just have a question to clarify. Um so we're being asked for the request to put on the store credit, not the request and repair.

No. No. So the the whole issue is that um being in the industry, I know what building codes are and I know that restoring a barn is not really in line with present building codes. And so to make that process easier, being designated on the historic reserv preservation uh will will enable me to do things that I wouldn't normally have to do in a building process. Okay, thank you very much. Yeah, thank you. Thank you.

Where are we at? Sabrina,

let's make a motion to close. Yep. Uh, madame chair, uh, the department would respectfully request a a motion to close the public hearing hearing followed by a second and a voice vote. Thank you. Who would like to propose a motion? Make a motion that we closer of the U public hearing. All right. Second. All right. Angela second. Anybody in favor? I I Thank you ma'am.

We're going to move on to ready for or ready for action. Madame chair with your permission I'll begin.

Yes. Thank you. Madame Chair and members of the commission, as you know, at our last meeting, a milestone was reached when the commission voted unanimously to endorsed the final draft of the plan, the historic preservation plan that had been in preparation for approximately one year. Before I go into the timeline in association with its next steps, I do want to thank several people. First, MIG and their team. Obviously, I think MIG did a wonderful job, not only on the front end getting public input and bringing the community together, but I think the final document really is representative of what the commission had requested and endorsed. Secondly, I'd like to extend my appreciation to Miss Keefe. Obviously, the Department of Planning is very busy at times, but Miss Keef stayed on course and got us to the point where we'll be able to obtain our grant funding through Shipo because we met time frames. And then finally, to each of you for participating in terms of the process from this point, the department has identified it in the memorandum prepared for this agenda item. A public hearing will be held before the planning and zoning commission on June 1st. That is the first step in adopting the plan. A letter of recommendation will be prepared for the planning and zoning commission for its July 6 meeting right after the 4th of July holiday. The department is going to respectfully request the planning and zoning commission forgo its intermediary step which is the information report from the department with recommendation. So we can go right to the final action. Typically that is not something we do but in this particular case the planning and zoning commission has been kept aware of the process and certainly will

be provided the plan well in advance of that hearing date on June 1st and when we request action on July 6th. Thereafter it goes to city council for a public hearing. If all goes well at the public hearing, which we anticipate on July 13th, their policy is to prepare legislation the same night as the public hearing. So the bill will be introduced for the action and then all should be settled by August 3rd and our task will be completed. If there are any questions regarding the process, Miss Ke and I'd be glad to answer them at this time.

No, thank you for all your efforts. As I say, I'm ancillary to it all, but I do appreciate the efforts on all of your parts.

All right, Robin, I believe we're moving on to the historic Route 66 revitalization initiative updates. Madame Chair, members of this commission, uh it is the 100th anniversary of Route 66 and it is April. So it is also uh the birth month of Route 66 and therefore I have a full itinerary of updates to share with you this evening. Um, as you may be aware, uh, the city has been engaging with the help of, uh, this commission, uh, the Wildwood business, uh, community as well as some of its, um, institutional, um, representatives as well, um, and representatives from various organizations crucial to Wildwood. Uh, we've also had u many citizen volunteers um, involved in our Route 66 roundt lunchons as well. Um the idea behind these Route 66 roundt events uh were to organize efforts around um celebrating the 100th anniversary of Route 66 and cross-promoting all of the various events, activities, specials um that are going on as well as to plan a signature event for Wildwood which I'll talk to you about here in a moment. Um, but first I am excited to report uh that the city of Wildwood along with the cities of Eureka and Pacific have um h has agreed to go in on a reprint of Route 66 magazine for our area. Uh this is very exciting because this magazine sold out within months um just a couple months and uh we've had people clamoring for it ever since. I do get regular phone calls and people get turned away from city hall requesting this magazine. Uh this is our opportunity also to

update um the Wildwood events page and include all of our um more recently organized events um from both the um cities and as well as some of our community events as well. Um, so we're very excited to get this page updated and uh the leader is looking to um to reprint the magazine towards the end of next week. So we think we'll get it out in circulation pretty quickly. Um each of the city will re each of the cities will receive 1,000 copies um to distribute however they like. Um the leader publications is also willing to help us distribute um if we would like a wider wider reach. Um, so that's what's going on with Route 66 magazine. Very exciting. Um, any questions about that?

Can anybody buy multiple copies of this magazine? Well, it's a it's free. It's a free magazine. So, uh, anyone can come by and pick up multiple copies of the magazine if they would like. Thank you. Yep. Question. Just wondering, um, you said you were getting requests for the magazine. Are those from local residents or are they from near and far? Near and far. We've had people travel in to pick one up from Wildwood City Hall.

Okay. Just wondering. Thank you. I will say from Tuesday night's experience, I wasn't kidding about people saying, "Where can we get it?" I said, "There there aren't any more. We want your copy." No. Yes. I'm taking this home so it doesn't disappear. So, it it's a real thing. I mean, people and given the fact that some sources show are the little substrate that goes that ends behind historical society at the bridge abutman. So it goes past stool and comes back up by us. Um some sources say that's part of Route 66. We know it was originally part of the the 1820s mother road so to speak from St. Louis to Jeff to the new Jeff new city of Jefferson City. We know that for sure. Um, and so people will drop by, you know, not contacting us or anything because they want a picture of themselves next to the bridge abutman. So, um, uh, it it's a for people who are really into Route 66, they will go near and far and crazy. So Dave's cousin in Germany several years ago brought his friend over. They went and flew into Chicago, bought two motorcycles and motorcycles, stopped here, spent a couple days looking at things that were on Gruben in Wildwood, and then went on to Arizona. So, these people are really devoted. We could use other adjectives, but devoted would be passionate might be another word for it. So, it's a good thing. and is that we've been able to have the opportunity to uh

uh have more printed is is a stupendous opportunity for everybody. I think I'd like to just add that I'm in a couple um Route 66 groups online and I can't tell you there's probably dozens or hundreds of people that have all talking about their um trip this year for the 100th anniversary to go from, you know, Chicago to LA. And um it seems like every other post I see in some of these groups is somebody getting ready to go or just got back. So, yeah, I think it's a it's a big thing. It's it's huge. I mean, there's a lot of devoted people out there.

And Commissioner Larson, I would thank you also for all the promotion that you're doing to those groups because I see you on on social media. I can see where you're sharing things. I've done a Yeah, I did share the stuff. Right. Right. I appreciate that. Sure.

Uh so, yeah. So, Commissioner Larson's been sharing uh the Wildwoods events um event web page and uh information uh to these groups. So, uh so word's getting out. So, thank you. Yeah, I think most of the folks that do that are familiar with Route 66, not most, maybe some or a lot, don't realize that the original configuration went through here because if they come through the primary where it was for most of the years, it would go down through Watson Road and out through 44 and they wouldn't even get near Wildwood. So, um, trying to I always try to emphasize that whenever I'm talking with somebody that, hey, come this way because we are part of the original route, right? We have a question here.

Yes, sir.

Because I came to the far as people driving down because they just going and getting their passports. doesn't have the task force with that.

We are we are remote.

Would it be okay to share the new batch of magazines as far as the availability on there or you want to keep that a little more local? I I think we I think we want to distribute. Okay, good.

Uh so uh we'll go right into our Route 66 events for the year because our first one has launched and that is our Route 66 scavenger hunt. I checked today. We have 65 registered for the hunt and I'm just now finding space in my schedule now that uh I'm getting past the HPC meeting. So, I'm hoping if not tomorrow, on Monday morning, I'll make sure to advertise our hunt on some of the more regional uh calendars as well. So, I'm hoping to broaden our reach with our scavenger hunt. Um, but I'm very pleased to already have 65 registered because we've only had it out uh going for one weekend. Um, so that's pretty good. I've also gotten emails from people who have done it um and they were very complimentary. They said it was a lot of fun um and they enjoyed it. Uh we have had a little bit of issues I think more with the Androids. Um the app has has some glitches with Android phones. Um so we're you know we're directing to uh them to our uh administrative assistant Dawn who is generally very good at troubleshooting those things with people. Um so so if you do hear that the app's not working, they probably have an Android phone and there's ways to resolve it. it just involves, you know, shutting down the phone and restarting the app, that kind of thing. Um, within the app, uh, we have, uh, linked the community's Route 66 anniversary website with all the business specials and the events, and we've encouraged people to take advantage of those specials as part of the hunt as well in order to finally earn that that free t-shirt. Um, so we've had a few people come in to redeem and um, our t-shirts are going fast, so we're probably going to reorder some.

Any questions about the scavenger hunt? Okay, next, uh, we have finally settled on our big July event. We're calling it Route 66, Cruise, Tunes, and Taste Wildwood. We have a fun logo. um the second Route 66 roundt settled on those dates at our last uh last meeting and part of that was the city already had a music on Main uh popup concert uh devoted to Route 66 planned for Friday July 17th. So we thought that concert would be a great way to kick off a weekend of festivities. Um that concert will have Route 66 themed food, music, and entertainment. It'll be a chance for some tenting. um possibly the history tent. On Saturday, we're planning a corridorwide celebration, so several nodes of activity, car shows um at each of those nodes, tenting, live music, activities from different businesses, specials, um just you name it. We're we're looking for communitywide participation on that day. And then on Sunday, we'll wind things down. Uh we're hoping to have our historic marker by then. Um, it sounds like it's still doable. And so we may have a historic marker unveiling at Big Chief Roadhouse followed by a presentation by Joe Sderman, radio show personality and editor for Show Me Route 66 magazine. Um, he's done some talks for us in the past which were very, very well done. And then also it gets our opportunity for our uh Wildwood restaurants to do some fun uh events and specials um targeted to the weekend uh because they're usually busy Friday and Saturday, but they said Sunday would be a great time for them to get involved as well. Um so that might be also an opportunity to incorporate some doggy parades that was brought up um in the

discussions. Um but again just to just to get our local restaurants involved. Unfortunately we will be competing with Cruz and Lindberg. Um you know we are going to probably compete with an event somewhere. Unfortunately was Cruz and Lindberg. Uh their event is taking place Saturday July 18th from 6:00 to 9. So it's only a threehour uh event. So, we're hoping that, you know, potentially we can attract people who might be interested in a bigger experience or just a different one maybe um because that'll be the third such event um for the year for for cruise and Lindberg. Robin, what time is our cruise schedule?

We're looking to do a full day event. So, a full day affair. Uh we're hoping to also broaden the scope of our event. Reach out to some of the biker uh communities, biker crowds, and also make our event very familyfriendly. Um you know, get the word out in the schools and uh get families involved. I we've done all this engagement with our youth. Let's take advantage of that and get people excited about Route 66. So, we'll do a lot of familyfriendly activities. Uh we've developed this fun flyer. um for our full itinerary for the year. Um the flyer really sells um the whole support local uh component. Um in fact, it we've got cruise the past, experience the present, support local. We have a QR code to our uh website for our community Route 66 specials and events. Um and we we're advertising a a full slate of events. So, not all of these are being put on by the city. For example, Cars and Cones at Senior's Ice Cream, that's that's being done through Seniors and Cars and Cones. Um, but we're having it on our slate um of events so that we can really show that Wildwood has a lot of Route 66 activities going on. Um on May 24th, Parkside Grill is doing a Route 66 celebratory um or anniversary celebration and they have several bands playing and we'll have a souvenir uh cup to to put out. Um on August 14th to 16th, uh Pond Athletic Association's getting in on the fun and they're looking to do a Wildwood business uh focused uh co-ed softball tournament. Um so you know really playing up the community, building community through um through softball. Um and the rest of these I think uh will be

more um on us outdoor movie night with cars too. We'll be partnering with the cities of Eureka and Pacific to do a series of cars movie nights and ours will be hosted at the back to school party in August. And then on October, we're planning on um our usual October fun. I think we're going to have another haunted mini train, uh the Shivering Shadows 7 uh K run at night um on Zombie Road. And we're also looking at um exploring maybe having Zombie Road open after dark on some of those nights so we can get the par paranormal groups out here um and involved. And I did speak, and I'll speak to this in a minute, but I spoke to the State Historical Society of Missouri, and they may be interested in doing a haunted Route 66 feature um for Wildwood to air in October um on Zombie Road. And so they'll they'll be circling back to do uh some of that video and promotion at a later date. Um so so word is getting out. We have a lot happening here in Wildwood and uh we now have this flyer. You know who else has this flyer? You do. I put it up. Um I gave several flyers to each of you. I ran out over here. So if you only got one flyer, that's why there's more flyers on that back table. The reason I gave you several flyers is because I'm asking you to help promote Route 66 Events in Wildwood. Please give these out to people who wouldn't normally see them. Um, give them out to your neighbors, give them out to your uh uh to your church um church members um wherever. Just please spread the word um and help us help us get it out there. Okay. So, I already hinted at it u but the State Historical Society of

Missouri is doing an exciting promotional tour this Sunday. And in fact, Steve Scott did some advertisement for it uh earlier this week. He sent out the email and guess what? We are involved in that. Wildwood's kicking off their tour actually. Um so uh the state historical society is coming to Wildwood on Sunday, April 26th, uh from 5 to 8. Uh we're going to meet them at city hall. We've got two long time long-term uh Wildwood residents with uh classic cars from actually Wildwood's Route 66 area era. So we're talking about 1920s vehicles um that are going to take them uh from Wildwood Route 66 landmark to Route 66 Landmark. Um, so we're very excited to have Tom Kelp and Rich Hart involved and their 22 Model T and 26 Chevrolet Coupe, respectively, depending on weather. And I, last time I checked, the weather looked okay on Sunday. Um, so we're going to take the group to dinner at Big Chief Roadhouse, of course, and we'll take them into the speak easy. We've already coordinated that. Uh, we'll take them down to Stoville's Grove. um have some fun there and then we'll end the tour at the Wildwood Historical Society and we'll do some interviews with uh both uh longtime local residents as well as Jill and myself about the uh Route 66 revitalization efforts. So, it should be a great night. Um and hopefully it will result in some good promotion of our area. Um, I would invite you to participate, but these older vehicles only have space for one passenger each. So, we're already uh some of us are already going to be following them around and taking photos and, um, being being more of that fly on the wall. Um, so I will share share uh an update or

debrief at your next meeting on that. Okay. Next, I have something to discuss with you that wasn't in the packet, but I did put um I did put a little write up for you um at the dis. Uh but Commissioner Showfeld had a wonderful idea. Uh assistant director Melanie Ripto came up with this this logo for Wildwoods historic Route 66. And it's a license plate. It says Missouri historic Wildwood. It's got the Route 66 66 sign incorporated. And she said, "Well, why not just blow it up real big and then Wildwood can have a photo op feature um that people can take pictures with and you know um it would be super cool." Um I approached a company who does exactly those types of things. Um just to get a sense of is this doable? what does it cost, etc. And they got back to me today. They said it would cost a little over uh 6,000 uh for a 5- foot tall, 10 ft wide license plate with a custom design wrap of your choice and legs for securing it to the ground. Uh the main thing that they were worried about was wind. Wind can really uh be a challenge with something like this. Um, so they did say it would be better if it were, you know, lower to the ground rather than raised up high. They didn't suggest, uh, they can do a bigger size, a larger size than the 5 foot by 10 foot wide. Um, but again, the larger you blow it up, the more wind. And it also takes more um um sheets of metal to accomplish it. So it it's just more more involved because they'll have to weld them together. So,

it is going to be made of metal. Uh, that was Yeah, it it would be like a license plate. So, the department received that today and we just figured we would bring it to the commission and see what you all thought about having such a photo op feature. Our immediate thought is we could potentially have it at the Route 66 roadside park site and, you know, at least get some activity going on in that area. Um but um either way it would give us it would give us a photo op for the corridor for the uh 100th anniversary year as people are coming through.

So what about have you looked into possibly doing this in a like a like a vinyl fabric? I mean that sounds like a lot of money for photo op sign to me. um you know the boards you have that you bring to our celebrate huah with events some kind of fabric like that is that a possibility I mean I don't know that you're going to be able to tell through a picture that it's actually a metal sign and then what about storage for something that size where where would you store it and is it something that you could store that's that large

I mean those are all very good questions um at this at this point we're in the fuzzy idea stage So, the these are exactly the comments that we're hoping to get from you tonight so that we can uh think about it further. Uh we're definitely not looking for a decision on this tonight. Question two. Um it says here on the bottom that they recommend permanent placement. Is that something you're already considering or is that we're getting ahead of ourselves? Um is it still planned to be temporary for the time being? Uh, I mean it would be it would be a permanent feature, but it can be it can still be removed and installed somewhere else if the day comes that we want to put something else there.

I think a permanent one would be great and that's a great idea. Um, not just this year, but in the future um especially once the park sort of gets underway. So, our neighbor back in the back has a question or comment. People stop going the traffic everywhere around it hallway.

That's a great suggestion really because that roadside park doesn't have a whole lot of parking. There's some on the street, right? Um but that may be about it. Um there's a little subdivision or street right behind there. So that that should be something that we have to be concerned with. I don't know if this has a Oh, I'm sorry.

I'm going to ask ask you, sir. When you went on your journeys and you made the compliment to the Wildwood that this is the most natural setting, if we had a sign out there, yes, it would attract people, but would it detract from the way you inter you appreciate our stretch? Auto. Hello. Ready. Are you holding

I was just going to comment on I on on the location and to me it seemed like you could pick the most what you think will be the most popular place that people will go to. Um, but parking is really I think also it can be an issue if I mean the thing about Winslow is that everybody knows about it,

you know, but in in Wildwood it's going to be kind of a surprise I think to a lot of people. So it may not be as congested as a real popular uh location like Winslow. Um, but I don't know if uh you know Big Chief or any places like that would want that. I mean, it would definitely bring in the people, so that's a good thing. Um, I don't know if there's any other location besides the park that you were thinking of or even um back here. No, in the Village Green.

Yeah, but that would be very I would think would be very local that people would go to that and we could always move it on the park that got created down here.

Yeah. My other comment is that from experience, the people who are going to be doing this are like passionate about following the road. So the people who really know Route 66 will understand that St. Louis probably has the most multiple routes. and but the real real Route 66ers are going to find that original original path which will take right through Wildwood. So we need to if if the commission the city chooses to put up a sign which is great. Hey safety is a big deal. So thank you for bringing that up. But we also need to have it. It would have to bring people to it. It would have to be on the original route. Uh, so the village green wouldn't work because it they want the picture on the route. They don't want the picture a block away. That's not authentic. So, and we and we put up security cameras at external uh wild historical society because we know we're going to get unexpected visitors and we just kind of want to keep track of things. So, it's it's uh there's a security issue, but there's also where are people going to go and really appreciate it and make use of the sign, but then we have to get the message out. Hey, we're the original road guys, not there or there or wherever. So, that there's a couple different things there that I think we all as a community of Wildwood need to address. chair if I may. I think

the question in the bag every time we stop people asked us where we were from. Every person said they were so whatever the magazines are, I didn't go online at all. Person told me I could do it on my app mistake. We shouldn't have tried to do it on an app. We finally at the second place bought a book to get us uh you know because we wanted to stay on the road as much as we could but every single person that said they planned it the motorcycle group. Oh my god they have everything other 16 in one group and the other from other countries predator motorcycle. So

very good. All right. Thank you, Joe. Thank you, Madam Chair. I think Miss Keith and I just trying to obtain tonight a decision if this was an idea we should pursue or not. There are multiple details. First and foremost, how will we fund it? But if you think it's a good idea and you'd like us to pursue it, that's what we're seeking tonight. And I would ask, Madam Chair, if one speaks, could they come to the podium? We are on Zoom and when you're not at the podium, anybody on Zoom can't hear and it doesn't get recorded. Thank you. Thank you for that.

All right. Any other comments about our anticipation of uh making this this display? Madam Chair, I would add one comment. I do like the suggestion and the idea of possibly in lie of a sign painting it on the side of a building if that would be possible.

Yeah. In uh 1976 my mother painted the side of our barn as an American flag and hundreds of people stopped and took pictures of that barn. So that I do like that. If you can find somewhere that someone would contribute that to their building on the route, you know, like you say, it needs to be on the route if you're going to do something like that. But I do like the idea in general if that's what you're looking for. Yes, please. if you're looking to direct us. I

I love the idea and I would recommend that we um support their efforts to pursue this project because it it's it's great visibility and it's it's just it's it's a great idea. So, I would I would make a motion that we support their efforts and I'm sure Diane wants to second. Second. All in favor? Anyone? I I Anyone opposed? All right. Thank you.

Thank you. All right. Uh finally, uh we have our discussion on the Route 66 historic marker. Uh the department is working with Arch Engraving to make some of those updates uh to it that were discussed at a prior meeting uh before ordering it uh in time uh for our July event. uh Arch Engraving has uh assured me that they can get it to us um earlier in July uh with the current timeline. Uh however uh they had a technical glitch this evening that uh affected their ability to give us some final drawings to look at. So the department is going to continue uh working with them to finalize uh the details um and in order to move ahead because city council has given its consent. this commission is endorsed. Uh once we have that final version, uh we could certainly send it out to you via email, but we aren't um we may need to move forward on it before bringing it back to another meeting. Um so, uh if that com if the commission is okay with that, um please let us know and we'll we'll continue forward. Need

a motion. Uh yes, please. Well, I'd make a motion that we um approve the Has the design been approved? I guess I should ask the question first.

The design has been improved with a few tweaks. Okay. The department's working on refining those tweaks. that was namely adding uh a map key to the to the more localized map of Route 66 so you could see where it was in Wildwood. Um so it's a the map key is in the shape of Wildwood and it shows our main arterials in Highway 109 and Highway 100 and then where our historic Route 66 is on that. Um the other edit was to add historic Route 66 as a heading above the text so that it stood out what the marker was about. Um, and so those are the the fine details that we're tweaking. The map key was a little bit more um involved, you know, than just simply, you know, moving text around. So, that's what's taking a little longer, but we think we're close.

Okay. And that's going to be a big chief, right? Correct. which this sign here might be the ideal place at at Wildwood Middle because of the proximity to the historical marker. It kind of makes sense. Then we've got a parking issue solved um at least during the summer. Rockwood may not mind um if the school year is still going on, they might. But um no, I I think everybody here was already in support uh before. I don't know if it was at the last meeting that I missed. I was out of town, but I would make a motion that we um support your efforts to continue with final finalization of the final proposal. Yes. All right. Anybody second?

Steve is motion second. Anyone want to anyone post? All right. Motion's passed. Keep on. All right. We're going to move on to our updates of Madam Chair. Did you take the affirmative vote? Huh? Did you take the affirmative vote? Do what? A voice vote. We need a voice vote. Oh, you want a voice vote? All right. I'm going to start with you. A voice a voice vote is everybody. It's just you as you only asked if they were opposed. Um, so we're just looking if if they're in favor. All right. Everyone in favor? I I All right. Thank you.

And that brings us to the end of the Route 66 update. All right. Thank you. All right, Madame Chair, members of this commission, uh our youth commissioners are both in their second terms and last fall uh they presented project updates to you um with uh in the case of Commissioner Boore, she presented us with a a short video of Old Pond School, which was very nicely done and is now up on the city website and being promoted. um various uh through various mediums. And then we also had uh Commissioner Raggi Ramen uh develop a an app uh for our historic uh preservation efforts. Uh so both of them are back this evening to present further updates to us as well as any other life updates they might like to announce at this time. Thank you. Hello. So, for my project update, I'm still working on my second video. It's about Route 66. I'm about like halfway through. So, hopefully it'll be done before the next meeting and I can show it to everyone. And I feel like since it's Route 66, it's really fitted for like everything going on right now. So, I'm really excited about it. And then a life update. I committed to college. Um, I'm going to Carnegie Melon. Um, and I'm majoring in history and public policy. And I don't think I would have majored in history if it wasn't for this position and like everything I was exposed to. So, I'm very thankful to that and all the opportunities it provided. And yeah, that's up to

you. We're going to lose you next year.

She's got bigger and better things.

I have a visual demonstration. Okay, I made some updates to the app and now it doubles as an app and a website And uh this is the homepage here, City Wild Historic Preservation Commission. And all these buttons are functional. So you can actually like if you click on them, you can go to all the historic markers. And so like we have centaur, Fox Creek, Gleno to all these markers and their pictures. And if you click on them, you can get some more summaries and information about it. And I wanted to keep all the summaries pretty brief so that like anybody who's viewing it could just have like a brief idea of like what they're what they're seeing and just like read about it and really get to know it. And on top of the home home screen here, there's also uh some the heritage trivia which I'll get to later. And there's also a full agenda. And here's the separate tab for the agenda. So you can see we have a meeting, hearings, and they're all scheduled with dates. And you can see separate like categories which are meetings, which are hearings, actions, and programs. And you have a full members listing here. And once we get some pictures, we can also put them up right here.

And here's just all the historic markers that I shared. And there's also the Madison Valley marker which still needs to come up the picture of it. But other than that, there's all the pictures and their descriptions here. Nice job.

And there's the projects and programs tab. And there are some of our programs. The Essen Law Cabin. I can get some pictures in here later. and the revitalization initiative, the heritage African-American heritage project, roadside park. So, here's just all of our projects and you can see which are ongoing, in progress, completed. And I can add more of these and also I can bring in some of our Route 66 activities that are coming up. And so, you have the whole Route 66 experience here. So, you can play this trivia and I'll get to that right here. So, you actually have two modes, a beginner and challenge mode. So, we'll actually we can go through both of them. They're only 10 questions each. So, there's what is plan for the Route 66 roadside park? So, if anybody wants to try to answer that, we can just do it. It's only like 10 questions. See?

Yep. Oh, it's actually B can across the corner. Yeah.

See? Yep. It's perfect because it's 100 years now. This is also a really like close accurate question

A or B probably I think it's 70s. Yeah. And this question too, that would be B. Oh, it's Yeah, I forgot this one. It's Monarch. Yeah,

I think I might have Gleno. I can. Yeah, I can fix the question. Hey. Yeah. See, see. I guess B see

not again. My glasses are bad. We get certificates for it and everything. At least we caught y. Oh, this is probably stolen. Yep. See, Thanksgiving weekend, right? Oh, yeah. This question was brought up already. Skip past it. This a really accurate question. I didn't know this before. I'm going to say C.

It's actually B. B. No.

So, you can actually do two modes of this. So, there's some more questions. And easy. The easy mode is not actually that easy either. Yeah. And this is some of the media here. So there's a video that I need to put in, but the embedding wasn't working correctly. So I need to put in the virtual openhouse. And there's some of the images that you can see completely. So the history Wildwood book, the heritage map, and there's a virtual openhouse. Oh, the link's working good now. So you can actually view this too inside of the app. And there's some of these other pictures here. celebrate Wildwood and you have the historic register here. So, just some information about it and I probably need to like add some more information about this and some pictures. And yeah, so you also have the preservation plan. So, after this is completely done, I can probably add the plan in here. So, you can view that through the app as well. And you have some of this key dates, milestones, and there's also the public engagement aspect. So, I have a get involved tab where like people can attend a meeting, view virtually, apply as a youth member. I I'm pretty sure I still need to link some of these. I need to I can I can link some of these to like the website. And yeah, and there's also like an interactive map here. So you can actually So if you click on some of these marks you can say like it'll say pond here monarch. So you have the communities here the direct. Yeah. And you can scroll in and see like a whole view of our community. And lastly there's the contact us. So you can see the city website and plan the department all the numbers.

Yeah. So that's pretty much it. Wow. Impressive. They're impressive. Hope you're gonna get some hope you're going to get some credit school for doing all that work, too. Oh, I also wanted to share something interesting. So, I was in like our local Walgreens here and I know we brought up Mr. Stunderman before and I actually saw one of his one of his books like uh Route 66 in St. Louis. So, I saw a picture of like Eureka High School in that book and it was from like 1934 or something. So, it was pretty interesting. Just wanted to share that. Thank you. Hi. Thank you. That's impressive.

The one thing I would suggest, if you wouldn't mind, is maybe also linking up with the historic society and perhaps including a link to their website and on the get involved page. I can definitely do that.

Very good. Very good job. I like the way you think in bullet points. Very organized. Thank you so much. All right, Madame Chair, members of the commission. Uh, speaking of youth members, I think Chair Cordonick did a very nice job explaining our uh earlier task uh this week on Monday. Um, as she said, we had four interview committee members, uh, Chair Cordick, Vice Chair Larson, myself, and our assistant director of planning and parks, Melanie Ripto, um, to interview, uh, six lovely candidates uh, for the youth member position. Uh, these six were selected via a scoring um, criteria uh, from 11 total applications that we received for just this one position. And so it was a very it was a very tough and competitive process and we did meet quite a few uh very talented um and interesting uh candidates. I thought um and I would say the top um you know e all six really that we interviewed were um were solid um in terms of they would have brought a lot of value to the commission if they had been selected. But sadly, we could only choose one and we did. And so the interview committee does recommend Colin Knight for the open youth member position. Uh Colin will be entering the 12th grade at Eureka High School. He is originally

from Albuquerque, New York or New Mexico, but he moved to Wildwood in the fifth grade. Colin loves Spanish politics and history and participates in Model UN and Spanish Club. Colin has a particular passion for local government given its decisions most directly affect people's lives. And when asked about his ideas for community outreach and engagement, and I think this really sold us, uh Colin proposed having the city host a Minecraft server and challenged the community um to build um or to reconstruct historic buildings and learn about their stories along the way. Um, so I don't know if you're familiar with Minecraft. Um, but it's a pretty uh I I personally haven't used it, but I've heard of it a lot as a planner. Um, because there's a lot you can do with it. You can rec reconstruct whole worlds with it. Um, so I thought that was kind of fun. Um, he also uh he was also thinking about our merchandise and he specifically said that we should market um Chromebook stickers. He said that nearly every student um in the district had a Chromebook and uh that they were hugely popular. Um so maybe we should be marketing our Wildwood um historic community stickers as Chromebook stickers. Uh finally, he proposed a social media campaign with Tik Tok videos and appeared ready to dance in them for us as well. Um so a very engaging character. In his application, Colin writes, "Although the city of Wildwood wasn't officially created until fall of 1995, it's important to consider the enduring and long history of the city. Having attended Wildwood Middle School, I took the school bus to school every day. On those sleepy mornings, I knew I was nearing the school when I saw we turned left at the intersection between Manchester and Pond Road. I was always intrigued by the buildings along the

short road right before I started my school day, like Sebau's furniture store and the cozy barn-like structures litter near the road. I came to appreciate the calm, rural, and rustic nature of the strip. Um, so he really seems to understand that historic preservation gives a lot of character to communities. So we're very excited to have Colin on board. They'll be with us for a short one year, but we did get the feeling that he was ready to hit the ground running, and that will allow us then to conduct a recruitment process for two open positions um the following year. Um at this time, the interview committee is respectfully requesting an endorsement from this commission for our recommendation. And if this endorsement is obtained, um, the department will forward it to Wildwood City Council at its June meeting, uh, where Mayor Gerotano will make the appointment. Thank you.

And just, um, for information, the other applicants who scored fairly high, but didn't actually get proposed to be the commission member, uh, we are going to ask them to come back and interview again next year when the two positions are open. So they'll be that they'll have another opportunity if they so desire. Yeah. So if we want to take a motion to uh accept this nomination of this new youth commissioner. Anybody want to nominate? I will so move that we accept the recommendation for the youth commissioner. Second. I'll second. Can you second?

All in favor? I guess for appearance's sake, maybe someone else should second. I Diana second the motion. All in favor? I. Anyone opposed? All right. Good idea. Yeah. Somebody's questions it.

All right. Madame Chair, uh members of this commission, uh next on the agenda is our St. Louis showcase um history showcase. Uh that is taking place on June 6th from 10 to 4. Uh my volunteer times uh add an hour to each end of that. So for setup and takeown. Um but as you know, I've been sending out a sign up and I'm actually pretty pleased at this point um with my shifts. However, I am still looking for an additional volunteer for my second shift uh which is 11 to 1 and I'm also looking for an additional uh additional volunteers for the end of the day um as well for takedown. Uh so if you are interested in helping us out, we'd certainly love to have you. Uh you still have a little bit of time to sign up. Um, we wouldn't mind having some youth participation if our youth commissioners might be interested. Let me know. Um, I'll I'll keep sending my my sign up around on a weekly basis until we're all full. But generally, I'm not too worried about it. We're still far out and uh we're looking pretty pretty healthy here. So, thank you all for for signing up and for being game. Um it's an extra event, one that we don't normally take on, but it's going to have probably a wider reach than some of the events that we've um that we've done the history tent at. So I'm very excited to be able to uh talk Wildwood history to the regional um to the region. So thank you.

We're going to move on to the work program update. All awards.

Okay. Madame Chair, members of the commission, uh given uh the busy um busy nature of the department's workload at the moment, I actually have a ton of updates to highlight in our work program. Um so first I'd like to note that at the Wildwoods master plan uh group the citizens oversight group um is continuing to meet and right now uh they're um particularly considering uh land use cases so changes in land use in the city. uh it still has one more case to review and then uh at its next meeting it will also be considering um uh some revisions to the transportation element as well. Uh tenatively this meeting is scheduled for April 28th um but again that's tenative. Uh we're still finalizing those details. Uh next I'd like to note that uh while progress with the Essen log cabin is uh certainly uh going very well. I think everyone's been very complimentary of what we've seen in the craftsmanship. Um I I just wanted to do a quick update that the contractor did propose using uh cedar shingles instead of the synthetic that were selected. And at the April 13th Wildwood City Council meeting work session, members did vote to uh continue with the synthetic. And the reason being uh was the maintenance long-term maintenance cost of um trying to use uh the cedar versus the synthetic material. Um so uh so at this time they're going to move forward with what was originally um part of the bid package and and do the synthetic Uh number four on the work program. Uh this is exciting news, but the city is

pleased to announce that the second site uh for the network to freedom um was uh in fact accepted by the National Park Service and is now officially designated to the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom. This site was the Mount Pleasant Church and Cemetery site where eight um eight local men uh escaped to enlist in the United States Colored Troops and earned their freedom from slavery. Uh so we're very excited to have this uh second designation and we are very thankful to Ellen Riker uh for her tremendous work because she's been working for us I think it's been what has it been three years now Joe that she's been working on this research project. Um so I can tell you she is just over the moon um that it has come to this final final outcome and we're very thrilled. Uh we are not yet making this announcement public. We need to wait for the official press release from the National Park Service and um and we'll want to be strategic about announcing uh both the designations as we move into our African-American Heritage Trail project because we're sure that will add a lot of momentum and interest to it. So, congratulations. All right. Next, uh, the department has submitted, as you know, a pre-application for a historic preservation fund grant in association with the African-American Heritage Trail Project. And we're happy to announce we've received uh lots of lovely letters of support uh from our partnering organizations, including Great Rivers Greenway, United Baptist Church, Wildwood Historical Society, um, and Doris Keven Frankie. Uh we've also reached out to the city of Chesterfield and we're looking for a letter from them

as well. Um and uh our youth commissioners have also uh said that they will write letters um to represent the youth component that we hope to um incorporate into the project as a whole. Um so we're we're hopeful that we will be uh granted uh the funding for our project and that we'll be able to kick it off this fall. Um, speaking of which, uh, we see this letter from, uh, United Baptist Church as also checking a box in pursuing partnership and involvement in the preservation of Westland Acres. Um in the letter uh they stated, "We welcome the opportunity to serve as a partner in this effort and stand ready to collaborate with the city, the commission, and area descendants to help bring this vision to life, whether through historical contributions, community engagement, or program support. We are committed to assisting in any way that advances the success of this project. So, we're very excited to now have a very solid partnership with our Westland Acres community through its church. Okay. And then lastly, um we are make certainly making progress this year towards adding additional properties to the Wildwood Historic Register. As you know, we had one public hearing tonight. We still have another to conduct. Uh we actually are anticipating um a few a few more um possibly three additional nominations um are currently either under consideration or the department has received applications for their nomination. So we're going to be going through quite a few public hearings this year for Wildwood Historic Register uh nominations. Um so we're we're very excited that word is getting out and that people want to place their historic properties on the

register. At this time, uh, the director is available for your questions if you should have them on any item on this work program. All right. Does have any. Yeah. Madame chair with your permission I'll provide a presentation relative to the moratorum and the current status.

Please proceed. Madame Chair and members of the commission, as you know, in January of this year, the city council endorsed a recommendation from the commission to place a temporary moratorum on the demolition of any historic asset listed on the city survey. As part of that ordinance that approved the temporary moratorum, there was a waiver process. Key amongst that waiver process was an action by city council via resolution based upon a recommendation from this commission. Four waiver requests were received within the time frame associated with the moratorum ordinance. Three of those were recommended for demolition by the commission. And at its last meeting, city council by resolution authorized the department of planning to issue the authorizations for the demolitions to proceed. Again, all three of those have been visited by the Historic Preservation Commission. A formal action authorized the removal and ultimately a letter was prepared for each of them from the commission acknowledging such. Those again are um Center Avenue, Wild Horse Creek Road and Maple Avenue. The fourth application uh deals with the JP Connell House and the department presented that to city council as an item that is in negotiation and ultimately we hope we will be able to preserve it. So if there are any questions regarding the action of city council relative to those three properties, the department be glad to answer them at this time. Doesn't look like we have any comments.

Madam Chair, with your permission, I'll kind of jump into the next item if you don't mind. Please do.

Madame Chair and members of the commission, the next item relates to the JP Connell House. And as you know, this has been a subject of many discussions since the start of the new year. In those discussions, we've heard from the current property owner, Mr. Gruie, who is in attendance tonight. We've also heard from the Department of Planning relative to suggested incentive packages to bring for to fruition the preservation of the asset. The incentive packages have been the key element in our discussions over the last couple of months. Suffice to say that incentive packages are difficult and often times are counterintuitive to what many of us think the land use pattern should be in a particular area. At the last meeting, Advisor Scott requested a joint session with the planning and zoning commission, which ultimately will act upon the incentive package in terms of a recommendation that would be forwarded to city council for legislation. The department is still trying to pull together that joint session. Obviously with our master plan update and the busy schedules of the eight citizen volunteers as well as the city council member that acts as leazison and the mayor. It's difficult to pull together extra meetings at times but we'll continue to try to it was introduced to the planning and zoning commission at their April meeting and certainly they were willing to try as long as a reason agreeable date could be reached. However, time is not on our side. As witnessed by your site visit, the

property continues to suffer from the elements and those elements are continuing to be involved. And so tonight, the department is prep has prepared the memorandum with two action items for your consideration. The first action item comes from an email received from Mr. grew a few weeks ago relative to the JP Connell House. That particular email suggested that the city enter into a short-term lease relative to the property and the asset, the JP Coml House, so as the city could assume the liability and provide indemnification relative to the asset. Secondly, the property owner noted that with the lease in place that he, Mr. Guey, would not object to us stabilizing the house as we work through the incentive package and the process that follows it if a favorable recommendation is granted. That would mean that the city would for all intents and purposes ensure that the asset, the house doesn't leak and is not easily accessible to vandals. How that's achieved, we've done this before. There's a property on Ridge Road that used to be a skilled care nursing facility. It was abandoned by the owners became a very attractive nuisance over the years to a number of different groups of people. We continue to maintain that structure and ensure that it does not become a place where problems um escalate to the point where someone is hurt or killed. So we know how to do it and we've done it in the

past. That is action one. Tonight, the department is requesting a favorable recommendation to take to city council at its May meeting to prepare a lease agreement that would for at least 6 months allow the city to assume responsibility for the asset. and the second part of action one to do the necessary steps to secure it while the discussion proceeds forward relative to a favorable incentive package to the property owner. The second action item is a repeat so to speak of the presentation from the department at the March meeting and that includes the incentive package. At the last meeting in March, the commission members wanted two additional items added to the incentive package. One of those changed a component of the incentive package and that was on the 4 plus acre portion of the property. That portion of the property abuing St. Albins's Road and north of the creek and tree line that the JP Connell house be placed on a minimum 3acre lot and the remainder of the property be suitable for an additional single family dwelling. So two on that portion of the property versus four. And the second request was that the architecture of any buildings or structures regardless of location on the 14 acres be complementaryary to JP Connell House in terms of materials, colors, designs and massing. Those have been added to the incentive package. So now the incentive package if residential and solely residential would

be the JP Connell House on a 3acre lot, an additional 1acre lot in the area north of the dividing line, the Creek Tree line, and on the remaining portion of the property, a suitable residential type of development utilizing the R1 halfacre resident district. In total, both portions of the 14.5 acre site would yield up to 22 single family dwellings on lots. If not residential, the second part of the incentive package would be some type of commercial or light industrial use with certain restrictions on how the land is utilized relative to sale and protections relative to architecture. Again, universal to the residential or commercial light industrial incentive package would be waiver of fees for historic preservation commission processes, waiver of fees relative to the reszoning process, a credit, a full credit to the traffic generation assessment fee, and an estimate is somewhere in the range of $75,000 at least. East and then finally the architectural component. So tonight you have two actions before you. One is the triage of the building while the second action item works its way from this commission to the planning and zoning commission and city council. And then the other is actually the incentive package that we hope that the owners of property would find acceptable.

Obviously a lot to chew on, but again, if at the very least the department would respectfully request tonight that there be action on number one so as we can buy some time, relieve the concerns of the property owner and allow us to digest the incentive package and get it moving forward as quickly as possible to the other deciding entities. And with that, the department will conclude its presentation and wait for any questions or comments relative to the two steps or two actions being requested tonight. Thank you.

So, you're on the uh proposal for where the house sits. When you say you're assuming liability, you're not we're not assuming ownership, but it's a liability of whatever might happen on that property so that he's not incurring huge insurance expense or whatnot. Right. Yes, madam chair. As part of the lease agreement, we would assume liability if someone were to break in, be hurt, and then sue the owner of property. Obviously, as the lease, we would have responsibility um as the lease would be written

and we're doing that in in a timely manner while he is preparing to update the home. Is that right?

Again, it's all contingent on a incentive package that's suitable to the property owner. And if the incentive package is in place, there's the steps set forth in the master plan. The first being before any incentive package can be utilized, property has to be placed on the city's local register. And so it's a timeconsuming process. I would say it's intentional because obviously zoning's critical to our residents. There wouldn't be a Wildwood if there wasn't a land use issue with St. Louis County. So we have to be cautious. I've tried to explain that to Mr. agree and I think he understands that but he also understands the asset isn't getting any better as it sits vacant and secondly there are risks to him and to his family. So they the it would be reszoned away from the threeacre minimums to do this development and your and the proposal one of the incentives is to whatever development occurs is going to be in similar in appearance as the JP Kel house.

I I wouldn't go that far. I would defer to Mr. Scott who's our expert so to speak on melding an existing very important historic asset with new development. Um there are different camps out there. Some say it we should try to replicate the new with the old. Others say it should be completely different. So I would defer to the our adviser to give advice at that stage and tonight. Mr. Scott, what is your opinion on that?

No. As to the appearances, I think we should seek the vernacular of other businesses along uh 60 old 66 such as well such as the pond school which is the same type of construction or the Kern filling station or the uh even uh Seabol's uh store there. It just these are some of the images but I do think it could be kept in the the same sort of images as that or using the same uh type of construction even though or be like a you know the stucco construction that uh you see on the uh the Kyle house. So I do think it it's hard to become a a judge of well I like this I don't like that but I think a certain image could be uh developed. I know there are cities that do that such as uh Santa Fe, New Mexico to build in there. You've got it's got to be the PBLO style. But I I I think it'll take some work, but I think we could come up with a some design guideline for those houses or buildings along there. I think that's a key point, a wonderful suggestion from Mr. Scott. Create a set of design guidelines that Mr. can provide with any potential um developer or buyer so that they know from the onset of the negotiations with the property or what their expectation would be of the city.

I could see where it would be uh an interesting concept to a new home buyer to buy into an area that resembles other historic homes in its own little village, you know. So, just something to think about. Yes,

certainly. And based upon what we heard tonight about Route 66, any smart broker or agent would basically say, "You're going to live on historic Route 66, the mother road, and here's what we're doing to capitalize on that." So, sure, there's enough people for 22 home sites to basically say, "I'd love to live on the original location and be part of Wildwood." Yeah, I agree. Any other feedback? Bob?

Yes. Thanks, chair. Uh, first just a a really high elevation comment is that in a short two sides of a piece of paper, there's more, but uh the current status with actions one and action two very briefly written, but a great deal more added by the director in just this meeting. Um, it shows me that this is nearly two separate potentially victorious projects, but they're completely separable by the four plus on the north side which contains the valuable asset to the city. And by the way, one acre left over to build a house on provide some return. But there you have not um you have not so much violated the sank or sanct uh the master plan uh which I'm really concerned about uh violating u so to me it's a it's a no-brainer to make a um a motion for the first uh half of the project and that would be the city seizes is control by a lease and I don't understand the limitations of a six-month compared to another time period. It would be more of what's accomplished in that time and what progress is made in that time. So, um, fibbing in the city to a six-month limitation, um, to accomplish its needs and both, uh, securing the asset, um, protecting the asset, paying for all of that, which this I

think I'm pretty sure the city is taking it, uh, putting skin in the game. Is that correct? It's that city is not only can taking and assuming of the costs but also the execution the management of this using its city contractors. We're not we're not encumbering the owner with uh going out and buying this restoration and this protection and this safety. We're assuming all of that in our lease. Is am I understanding that correctly?

Yes. Again, the key element of action one is it's a triage process. We want to stabilize and secure so that we don't feel so pressured at these meetings at 8 or 8:30 at night to make decisions because we know the asset is is is not going to basically um heal itself. Um, yeah, it's losing ground quick.

Once once the incentive package is granted, the lease would terminate and then it'd be up to the property owner knowing now that he has instead of a four lot subdivision with each of the lots being approximately 3 acres or greater in size. He has either a 22 lot subdivision or some type of commercial or light industrial activity on a portion of it. And then I understand what you're saying. I think I get it even clearer now. Uh the two dovetail and work together. So for the the action one, getting that element of it lined out helps to u nail the lid on the deal for uh the action two which is the southern 11 acre. It sounds like if I'm carving that up correctly that the thing that I'd like to offer as perspective is that um I keep forgetting and then remembering that it's this magic historic um preservation asset which are like diamonds now. There's only one handful of them left in the entire 68 square miles of our city. um that allow what's either called a a special circumstances overlay district or the other equal um

PRD

planned PRD thank you planned residential district and that's that's the out that the city has to be able to show its face in public for having violated the master plan in this instance by um even talking about anything other than NU um much less R1A, R6A, R or anything spaghetti. Um, so that now lining out the the the qualifications and the agreements and the costs and the management and the durations of the northern 4 acres allows the owner to uh realize the potential for a return which is what anybody buys anything for. Uh, so while I give up the floor eventually tonight, it would be that I don't care what they put, what zoning they get on the southern 11 acres. I just don't think that the residents that surround that property who who relied on the master plan in their purchase and in their deciding to live with the quality of life that that master plan's provided for them uh they have a right to deserve continuation of that. So just one errant flighty idea is provide that R1A all day long because the historic aspect of this asset uh permits that and for only three or four or five more places in the whole city and then we're done with that. But I don't want to see it. I don't want to know that it exists. I seriously don't want any resident surrounding that property to ever drive by and know what's in there in that 11

acres. It would either be bringing in 18in caliber conifers, planting them up in a row. It would be either using the existing vegetation that's already there. It's already providing a very effective mask around that that perimeter of Old Manchester down to the wedge at 100 and then following 100 back up again to St. Albins's. Um it's a vision of how to make a raving success out of this property. Um both the the action one portion and the action two portion. So if we if we get that amount of cooperation from the owner um and we are allowed to seize control of that building not through ownership but through management and safety and protection. I got a winning deal that I'm not going to try and speak for the the members of the uh council because three of them are going to be brand new uh coming into the new two-year term. But uh it's going to make a a business deal that uh squashes some of the other uh qualifier resistance that uh that that that I think exists. It's going to make a stronger business case for the city to protect that asset and uh reduce the risk that it takes to undertake it. So I relent the floor. Thank you very much. Madam Chair, if I could just respond very quickly. Um, Mr. Gruie early on in this process described a project that his company had done down in Shrezberry, Missouri, where a Walmart and some other large footprint users were approved and they did a living fence and he provided information on that and I'll forward that all to you

tomorrow. Um so he understands that that nexus between this type of use and that type of use and how best maybe to address it. Secondly, if you really want to go back in history and that between 1948 and 1965 in this area of St. Louis County, the minimum lot area was 1 acre. It wasn't until 1965 that the 3acre minimum came into play. So an acre lot is that a historic lot? Uh, finally, we are not violating the master plan. I'll repeat it. We are not violating the master plan. In 2002, the historic land use category was adopted as part of the master plan. In 2006 and in 2016 and now in 2026, volunteer groups have had the opportunity to say it doesn't work. Pull it out. neither have. So we have a mechanism, a process specifically created to basically preserve those assets of a historic nature that are deserving of an allowance. So if somebody says you just messed with the master plan, we didn't. We're using it.

Exactly. Thank you. All right. Any other comments?

I've got comment. Um I've always supported the preservation. Um and I think that's our role here. That's what we do. There are other factors um that we don't decide. That's the zoning board, city council. Um you know, it's it's great to keep those in mind, but um I think we need to focus on the preservation. I for one love the creativity of the proposal. Um, I love our neighbors cooperation with the city of Wildwood, willing to talk and negotiate. So, um, the only question I had is, is there any has Wildwood ever entered into a lease agreement like this before with a property owner?

Not to my knowledge, Mr. Larson, and certainly there's probably 100 hurdles before we get to that point,

but it's an opportunity to to basically stabilize. Um, we have lease agreements on certain things. We do temporary easements for construction purposes, so it's not out of the realm of possibility. Certainly convincing 15 other city council members that it's a good idea. That'll be up to Mr. Mabber and um the department of planning and Mr. Ruy and his sister Christina. So, um, but I think we're I think we've done something similar or close to, but hopefully that's enough.

Yeah. No, I I like it. And the lease doesn't concern me. I mean, you can add all kinds of terms in there about a part renewing the lease if it takes more than six months. Either party could, you know, negotiate. Um, obviously, there's going to be stuff in there about who can if you're violating the lease agreement, things like that. So, a lot of words can go in there and and the parties will be happy. And so I think it's a great creative way to preserve the asset. Well, again, Mr. Guru offered it as an option and certainly when I think Miss Keith and I saw it, we jumped on it. Yeah. Well, I think we should support it. That's that's my two cents. Yeah. Yes.

Real quick, as director knows from working with Oldtown School, as the Von Gubin family knows, even though we they didn't own the tavern when it came down, the owners at that time, it didn't matter almost what was happening on the inside. If the roof goes, building's gone. And the owners of that cavern building never replaced, never fixed the roof. They put the shingles up there and let them melt into the roof, but that didn't solve the problem and the building had down. And it can happen really that that turn of structure stability happens really fast sometimes if the weather ex accelerates the process. So, um, me is a non voting person here, but has watched a a family treasurer and a area treasurer get knocked down with a high lift. Um, yeah, if we can as a group and somehow make this work, it it would be a good thing.

Thank you, ma'am. Madam chair, there was some questions when we did the site visit whether or not the structure can't be saved and there was some uh discussion whether or not we needed to have structural engineer. Is that still the consensus of the commission that we need to take that step? Madam Chair, with your permission, if there is at least direction on action one to proceed to the next step, which would be city council, the department has approximately two plus week two two weeks to basically see if we can arrange that. I would assume Mr. Guey wouldn't object to it because he probably wants to know too. Is this really all worth all of our times, including his sisters and his. So, um, the department would be glad to attempt that in in that twoe period. Obviously, if the structural engineer comes back with a report and says it's not, it wouldn't be on the May meeting, and you certainly would be advised.

I do appreciate that. I asked that question because I'm wondering if we can't just skip step one and go right to two. I mean, I would certainly be prepared to do that this evening if we thought that the house could be saved. We are the historic preservation commission and I have had a significant change of heart about this since the review of the property or walking the site. Um I did some very deep dives on the history of this this entire process. Uh this is not just a question of Mr. Gruie coming before this commission since January. This entire issue has been plaguing the historic preservation commission going back to 2021. It needs to come to a close. This house is not going to stand there forever waiting for us to make a decision. And I think both proposals are very good. I actually, believe it or not, am in favor of more of the light commercial. Believe it or not, I don't necessarily think that we can make a recommendation to the city council, but I don't think dense housing is going to get past the city council, but I think if city council themselves are offered the opportunity to walk the property, it's suitable for light commercial. It's well shielded. Even with to the people who built the million half dollar homes right directly across the street, it would be completely shielded. And if they are good neighbors like the Kelps, I see no problem with that. And I say that as a neighbor down the street. So, um I I'm sorry if some of you feel feel differently. I know that some don't necessarily want this either residential or commercial in that area. But there if your decision is not to approve either then you've made the decision that the house should not be preserved and we just need to be frank about that. I couldn't agree more commissioner Burme

regardless of it's if you believe in what's being said by the department and what's in memorandum I appreciate that. If you don't and you feel it's just too far to go, then I think we owe the guruies that action as well, then then they know the next steps in the process and certainly we can get to those next steps as soon as possible. Again, I think from the department's perspective, the incentive package, it's a tough it's a tough nut and but at least tonight at the very least, let Mr. Guru, Miss Keef and I work on that lease agreement uh on the stabilization of the house on the structural engineers visit. Let us get to that stage and that's action one.

Yeah, chair. Um quite a remarkable uh statement. It's not like you went to the dark side, Commissioner. uh just looking for uh any opportunity no matter how crazy it sounds um that meets the two together that saves that house which it's u it's being encouraged to deteriorate to the point where it can't survive. We have to stem that and lift it quickly as you said. The other is u just the point that the the financial return has to be there in order to have the owner put up with anything we're devising or proposing. Um like commercial wonderful I just think the residents have a right a legal right even by what they've seen in the documentation that the city's developed over 30 years. They've got a right not to see it, not to know that it's there. It can either be an attractive 11 houses. No, it can't. It has to be 11 divided by three. It can either be 11 divided by three houses that they can see, or it can be 22 they can't see, or it can be a Walgreens they can't see. It can be anything they just can't see. Guaranteed they can never see it. not as much worried about 100, but from old Manchester roadside, that's two of the three sides of that 11 acre trying. They just they just can't ever know that it's there. Has to be completely 100% screened. Even if you have to pay to have trees planted there and Mr. Mayberry, I think that's the goal of Mr. Grooie. As I mentioned, he provided information early on about this living fence that was done in Shrezberry

and very effective. I'll send you that information tomorrow on what I have on that. And I think the goal of the department as well as this commission would be if we are going to kind of break pattern, we should only do it if we can provide a high level of assurance that what they see isn't necessarily something that um would be would cause them to regret being in Wildwood. And so from the department's perspective, we would do everything we can and I believe Mr. agree with as well to ensure that whatever is there um is well hidden um architecturally appropriate for the purpose and certainly an asset to the community at the end of the day.

Right. Joe Mr. Hensik has a comment and then Mr. Gur would like to take the microphone for a moment. Okay. I think look again tonight. I apologize. Um I did not attend the meeting. We had another meeting of our development and zoning review committee on a project in town center. I've completely forgot about the structural engineer visit. So if at the very least again tonight the motion could be proceed forward with action one which would start now with the structural engineers visit to the property. Okay.

Be included in the motion. That would be a form of the motion. if you wanted to wait on action two. Again, um Mr. Gury will be at the microphone here in a second, but I believe he as well as us want to know, can it be saved? I think it can. Knowing what we were what we had at Old Pond School when we started that project back in 2004, 2005, there was a gaping hole on the southeast corner of that of of the school. A gaping hole. And we made it work. tell

if you don't mind Mr. Grew and Tasimo and if you can make it brief because we are running late.

I didn't plan on speaking. I would have never dressed this way. Um this is disrespectful and I would apologize for that. I did say to Joe um that I've come today out of respect, you know, because when people don't show up as an action item, it affects them. I think that's disrespectful. So, I was fishing

hooked myself in the ear. Uh I ask for you to vote on both of the items. And for this reason, time is very, very precious. I'm retired. When I got involved in this property, I didn't plan on opening my career up again, but that's what this has done. So, I'm giving my word and it's on record. My family is going to be in the city of Wildwood forever because the 60 acres that we have on Pond Road has been funded into perpetuity. If my six children screw that up, then that's going to be a problem for them. I asked you guys to call me your neighbor, not a developer. So, when the project is done, you'll be able to call me your neighbor, and some of you will be able to call me your friend. I also mentioned to Joe on different occasions, the language is key when you approve something like this. And as you're mentioning about not be able to see it, I've developed all over this country and the cities never put this in. I don't know why they don't, but they should install and maintain. The maintain is the critical part. You can go to Graaway Blush right now. the largest thing I ever developed and I still own it. You go to drive, look at all that landscaping. Is it still the way that it was when it was put in? No, it wasn't. And it's not. Why is that? Because I was honest with the city of Fenton and I said, "This is rock. It's all rock. All these beautiful trees that council people wanted planted there, they're not going to live." But I put him in anyway because some people were so hard, this

is a bad word, I apologize, hellbent on having a particular tree which was never going to live there whether you irrigate it or not because if you irrigate the tree still has to have a root structure still have and it was going to solid rock. I suggested open and honestly the city of Fenton think Arizona, okay? Because that's what you have. You have rock. It's a desert. once that heat's there. So, my point is, and even in tonight's motion, when it's the landscaping or whatever is put in to install and maintain because with 100% full disclosure, nobody will be able to look at Terry Grrew and ever say, "You deceived me." Okay? Because I am going to spell it out in a manner I never did before when I went to cities. I played by the rules that they established and I got approval. I developed and I moved on. The same thing as far as moving on. If approved, it's giving me something to market to somebody else. So, if the language isn't inside of the what's approved, then you can't hold their feet to the fire. So, it's very important when the language is in this motion or any other motion that the city council makes that it's installed and maintained. Whatever the buffer is, I'm not a licensed engineer, but I've developed a lot. If you go with what I believe is the right way to go is the light industrial commercial, the way that that's gonna have to be graded, you won't even be able to see it because of the topographical change which is going to be necessary to attract anybody's interest off of Highway 100. So the the and I'm mindful as a neighbor, the people that built our houses behind that on old Route 66, what they may or may not be able to see, but even at you can

use Google Maps or whatever, even in the heart of the wintertime, when you look at those houses across, it's there's there's all cedars, there's all kind of invasive species. But if the city decides, which I was able to convince the city of Shrewsbury on a portion of it, don't have us go in there and tear that all out and then wait 30 years for these all these invasive species. No, they put in the living fence, which basically is a fence which allows the stuff to grow through it and you can weave it through existing vegetation. That's the approach. not come in with some ornamental tree that has no chance of growing in that environment that's there. They should approve the boundary, the setback and what's existing and let us weave the uh living fence. And it's been a huge success there in other parts of the country. So, in closing, my ask tonight is let you approve both because both of them need to be done. and the idea of the the lease on the property and then the city of Wildwood being able to just roll that over as far as more of what they're going to demify, that's a nothing. That's 20 minutes and just uh naming me and my sister and whatever LLC we have it in as additionally insured. We currently, when I mentioned to you guys in the past, we have a proposal for $27,000 to uh do all the roofs, okay? But it's an asphalt shingle. I think that the city, if they are interested in saving money, could probably only do 20% of the roof and the one corner and be done with it. It would be watertight. I mentioned to Joe today in our meeting that I'm more than happy to have one of our I do own a construction company. Whenever our union carpenters come out, if it's going to be a volunteer situation to have people in this the community that are interested in boarding it up, great. I'll be more than happy to participate in it. I could have

cared less about this house when I bought it. Didn't think about it too at all. But since other people care about it, then that's why I care. That's the only reason why I care is cuz somebody else cares. Cuz I'm never going to live there. But since somebody else really cares about it, that's why I care. So, I promise you that you'll never be embarrassed being associated with me on this project as long as the city works in good faith and they keep the ball moving. I did make this statement to Joe and it's true. I had a project in the city of Wildwood which was 100% in compliant with every ordinance on the books. It took 16 months to get it approved. So, this particular project doesn't have that time frame. This project has you guys are interested in it. Great. The idea is this gonna get done in six months. No way. There's no way that this is going to happen in six months. So inside the language has to be by no fault of the city, it gets extended by this many months. But if but if the council or even tonight when you have the ability to approve two things, they're both necessary. But not to do that just prolongs it by 30 more days for the next meeting. I don't think I'm being egregious in any way by saying what Joe and Robin did. That's they know exactly what needs to happen to make this a success. So voting on one of the two, it's that's that's crazy. that's doing exactly what I said to Joe about, you know, we have to have time frames in this if if the city council, you know, is prepared at the time because I know they'll be prepared because they'll do the I know I'll be prepared. I know that I uh after this meeting, if you guys vote for it, the people who vote for it, I'm personally going to reach out to you and say be at the council meeting to

show that you approve this because they're residents just like you guys are. And that's the same thing I'll do with the people, the parishioners of my parish or my neighbors are around. My my permanent homes in Chesterfield, but as everybody knows, my farm of 26 years is in the city of Wildwood. I will be an advocate for making sure that this is a success. So, please question as the speaker wraps up. Sorry to have interrupted.

A question for the speaker. Um, I derailed perhaps what it sounds like happened with my discussion trying to describe the the uh the triage that uh director Vunich has mentioned because I agree with it. Um if the if the agreement of the owner is that the northern uh 4 acres of the project is is financially returnably viably u and that that is set in stone, set in contract, set in concrete, whatever way it gets set that the northern four acres shall be here to forever nothing more than and a threeacre lot with that house on it and another 1acre lot stuck off the side with a with a house of some kind on it. As long as that is in the can and we got the bigger fish to fry the 11 acres and it's applicability to that project, then that's what approving both of the projects tonight is. And it it it always was. It was never, well, let's do this one up here in the north for 4 acres this month and then think about doing that one next month. I I I'm sorry if that's the way it was sounding cuz it wasn't supposed to be. But as long as we've got that northern 4 acres in the can and it's the done deal and it's waiting to go to press, then we can uh approve too and further explore that between the owner and the director of the department. So did that de confuseify things that we are in fact making a motion to proceed with the two things. Okay, not just the one of anything.

If this was if I was in my professional career, I'd say yes and I'd sit down. But because it's so important to me that there's it that there is no hide the potato and this is 100% transparent. I'm going to address since you said them something on the record which I think is very important. The city hamstringing themselves to having the house and 3 acres I think is not in the best use of the city for this reason because what if there's another house or piece of historic uh asset that you want to move here to this and it ends up being you know this the JP house this person's house all on this compound which you have. Does that make sense what I'm saying? Instead of it saying that that the that we're going to go forward with the house and three acres and that's it, I think the city should, you know, keep their flexibility and say a minimum of three acres is going to uh transfer with this house. What the city decides to do with it is their business. Does that make sense? The the goal of the city of Wildwood is not to build another miniature F park on your property. I don't think anybody's idea is to go and cart a bunch of old structures because there's only four of them left in the city from what I understand. If we wanted more than that many structures, we'd have to go to some other surrounding municipality and steal their old buildings. So, I don't know. I'm not understanding what what that is miring down what we're talking about tonight. if we want to hold more old buildings over to that 3 acre.

I just use that as an example. Another example would be the greenway, a bike uh place for a watering station with, you know, a place where you can park and picnic and whatever. But when the terms are and I'm hearing because I was always held to what my words I said in any type of a public meeting, I was held to those. So, if I'm just sitting here saying, "Okay, a house in, you know, uh, the three acres and that's it, great." But I know that in the just the evolution of the city, you know, my I had the property before the city was incorporated and how the city has grown and changed and whatever, I never would have thought that the bike trails would be as popular as they are today. But if there's a possibility for this property to benefit the trail network in some way, I would think that the city would want to have that flexibility and put it in side of the language which they're talking about. So if if it's if it was me, it would be anything that the city deems necessary to benefit the community at all instead of it just being rigid to the house and the threeacre set aside. That's all I'm saying because I'm going to be very specific about what I'm saying you know throughout this whole process. So I just whenever it's uh beneficial for the city like I said with the and maintain I'm saying the same thing flexibility the city should have to do something you know that may be for the whole city's benefit down the road which we can't even imagine today the city will in order for uh in order for me to either make or second a motion and to support this project it will be that the Connell house will sit on a threeacre lot which conforms a non- urban zoning and that whatever the city does with that 3acre lot and that Okonnell house, which I've repeatedly heard is going to

be eventually turned over um to the city by the owner. Um that's that's the part of the deal that's in the can. We can make a watering station off to the side, retrieve a parking space or whatever it's going to take, that's not really even supposed to be clouding up uh tonight's meeting. So the non-urbanzoned property of three acres that the Okonnell house is sitting on will be a threeacre non non-urbanzoned lot that the Okonnell house sits on. what the city does with it in a 100 years, whether they make a what whatever they do with that 3acre non-over zone property with the Okonnell house sitting on it, not up for discussion or argument or or anything. It isn't. So, we can we can increase the confusion. We can we can cause more triaging than what's even on the plate. Um, I don't see the I don't see the sense in any of that exercise. They're not taking any flexibility or control away from the city either tomorrow or or down the road by providing a non-urban zone 3 acre lot that the Okonnell House sits on. maintains the slightest least vestage of the non- urban zoning that the master plan calls for just in that one little threeacre plot with that one old house on it.

So, Commissioner Mabry, may I ask a quick question? Yeah. Excuse me, Madam Chair. So, what you're suggesting, if I understand you correctly, that we vote this evening or there be a motion, uh, to approve the 3acre lot for the house and then allow the Mr. Beunis and Miss Keefe to continue the discussions with Mr. Guru about the remaining 11 acres. Is that is that correct? It's that simple. And then also at this point approve pursuit of the lease to maintain the property.

Well, the pursuit of the lease is is is is already pre-approved by our motion and a second and a vote that yes, we're going to go after the the not only the 4 acre parcel with the narth. It'll it'll be so ordained to get a structural engineer in there in in a minute if they can. Now, that'll be part of the approval of by what I think we're envisioning. It'll it'll have a real simple formula of one non-urban 3 acre zone parcel that the old house sits on. It'll have one acre leftover that they can build a nice house on, sell it in R1 zoning. Then the along with the rest of the motion, uh it's that now you can go to town trying to figure out what to do with the 11 acres to the south in the wedge by certain constraints that the motion will carry which are basically that the owner and Mr. Munich um rrestle down the detail based on what the heritage preservation uh aspects of having that asset on those 14 plus acres as a total parcel. Um I wish I could make it sound less convoluted and entailing but everything plays off everything else but we have to start with a couple of anchors not to have everything flexible. uh it it doesn't strike me as taking any control or any flexibility or any options away from the city by uh casting at least the little piece of the part of it in stone that involves the four acres to the narc that has that old house on it which is the most important thing that we can be talking about tonight. I so what I'm concerned about is a motion on action one would be the structural engineer deciding if the house could be saved. So I think that you have to make that

decision before you make any other decisions because if it can't be saved then now the whole whole pie has changed. The motion can be made that here to for we got to go get ourself a structural engineer tomorrow if we can get that thing inspected and in the event that it can be saved which I think it can if we do something in the next month but not if we wait around and allow it to be encouraged to fall down even more than it has. But if we if we if we contain all of the conditions as chronological uh sequences to one one one main action and that is a the motion will be to that it's got six parts to it and uh the six parts are a go get an engineer b get a decision c um if the thing can be saved then it's already been decided by the motion tonight that yep, we're going to have a 3acre lot that the old house is going to sit on and we're going to have a 1acre lot sitting off to the side you can build a nice house on. And then that that puts number that puts the four acres we're done talking about that one forever. All we're going to do now is go about cost of what it takes to run it, restore and save and that that that property along with the motion tonight is then now that we've got those things settled then in two weeks or whatever it takes to find out if the structural engineer came back with an approving uh plan that kicks in the thing that we already approved tonight which is the very next part which is all right Director Bunich and the owner of the property can go to town trying to figure out how to conform with the requirements of the historic preservation

aspect of that asset on it and devise whether it's commercial um or residential of the type that's uh meets an R1A zoning category um that's being sanctioned by the fact that we've got a historic preservation asset on it. Um but but the only thing left over to Kabutz and argue over is all right is it objectionable and sight for all to see it or do we have to mask it uh with the brush and the coverage that's already there? Uh, so it it just seems like a sequential chronological plan that we're fleshing out to make one big motion tonight that I think both the owner and the director have a real clear picture of because they're they're already ahead of us by miles. They've been talking about this amongst themselves and and all we get is the the the the recap or else we'd be here for three night three days and three nights solid because I think that's about how many manh hours you guys have put into this already talking amongst yourselves. So

So may I ask a question please? Um would it be appropriate to make a motion that has several steps one being condition on the other? With the permission of the chair, I would like to offer as follows. The department would respectfully request a motion and second to engage a structural engineer to visit the property and assess its save if it can be saved or not. Um, before Ramen has a comment as well before we move on. Oh, uh, I'm really sorry. Uh, so I have like I have a few AP exams coming up in a week, so I would really appreciate it if I could leave a little bit early. Really sorry. Yeah, sorry. Yes, go ahead.

Thank you so much. So again, the the request the first request of the department is to authorize the engagement of a structural engineer to determine the stability of the the asset. So I will move that you seek or you engage a structural engineer to uh assess the viability of restoring the JS. Second. All right. Is everybody all in favor? I.

No one opposed. Madam chair, the second component would be to authorize action number one if the structural engineers report is favorable. Can I ask you a quick quick question about what we're being asked to approve with number one? We're being asked to support the city's efforts to um engage and enter into a contract with the owner or are we being asked to approve specific terms of

No. Okay. Action one is to authorize the department to engage the city attorney along with the attorney representing the Guey family or Mr. Gruie to prepare a lease for the purposes of stabilizing the building and allowing time for the rest of the process to move forward without specific terms of the lease itself. That's not our role. And also in the second step, the incentive package. We're authorizing you to engage and discuss the owner, but not are we doing specific terms of the incentive package, too? I would suggest not, but I'll get to that as part of a set of

So, the second requested motion tonight is to authorize action one to proceed as described. And again that is to negotiate a lease if the structural engineer finds the asset is um stable. All right. So we have a motion on the table for if the structural engineers pass then we move on to the next step.

Commissioner Mayberry do you have a question or did you want to make the motion? Well, yes. Just I'll make that motion and what Director Gunich is doing is found a magical way to simplify what I was getting at. We're going to make nine or 10 motions in a row that'll add up to the one I thought I hadn't even thought of being able to do it that way. That's a much simpler, more streamlined manner. Sorry, I didn't think of it myself. Make that motion for what I think is going to be the second of five or six more of these motions. So I I assume we need to verbalize that. If you could put that in a um a sentence.

No, I can never put anything in a sentence like this. The director did though. The director, let's let Joe put it in a sentence. to restate. The department would respectfully request a motion and second which I believe on the floor to proceed forward with action number one premised on a favorable report from the structural engineer. I think we already I'll make that motion. Yeah. All right. No one else. Is there a second? But that's fine. We had a second. I'll make a second. Okay. Any everyone? Anyone opposed? No. All right, that's passed. Oh, well,

next motion. We're voting approval, not of just the structural part. Yeah, this is one part. Now, who's going to do another part? Actually, the structural engineer component was a separate motion that's been approved. This is for action one. Okay. Assuming a positive report from Exactly. Right. Yes. That motion's on the table. I think we've got that. You have a second as well. Yes. Yes. Second. So, we just need a voice vote now. I. All in favor? All in favor? I I I Okay. I. Next.

Next. The third motion the department would respectfully request is to proceed forward with incentive defined as if residential the 4 acre or so portion of the property be designated a new non-urban resident district and R1 1 acre resident district to accommodate a threeare lot for the JP Connell house and the remaining portion of 1acre lot for future residents. You glad to motion? All right. No. Mr. May's motion. Second. I'll second. I All in favor? I I

The fourth motion is to address the overall components first. And those are the waiver to fees as well as the traffic generation assessment and the architectural requirements now that we've approved a new 1acre lot, so to speak, with the new residence. So, the department will respectfully request that items F, G, H, I, and J of overall components be approved by the commission. So, I make a motion. I don't want to hog the floor, but I'll make the motion. All right, I'll second. I'll approve. I I

and the last motion the department would respectfully request is on the remaining 10acre portion of the 14 acre site that authorization be given to negotiate with the property owner some type of commercial or light industrial use that would ultimately return to the commission this commission for final action. A clarification question only is that I thought I heard only the components of commercial or industrial, but that lines the owner out of the option for a residential of acceptable um quality or quantity. Well, um I'm I'm not at as much as I want to say to JP Connell House, I'm I'm looking at the tank an acre portion and I think it's time for the property owner to tell us what she prefers. I don't want to give residential. I don't want to give like industrial. I don't want to give commercial. Basically, I don't know. I think we need you to narrow it down and that's the negotiation part. and it could include residential certainly. So, let me rephrase motion five to authorize the department to negotiate with the property owner relative to the 10acre site and the potential use of either residential like commercial or industrial.

That's perfect. It includes all all opportunities for exploration of of solution. Sure. That's what I was after. That's motion file. I'll make them. All right. Second. Oh, second. All right. All in favor? I passed. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, M.

May I May I say something here? I I just want to address the commission. Uh when I said light commercial, one of the reasons why I said that is because I monitor the responses every time there's a new development and and density is just an is just such a major issue even within town center. It's just more and more opposition. And if you think people are opposing density subdivisions within a dense area, one that's zoned for that, what do you think they're going to do when you starting out 100? Actually, I think that property is more suitable for light industrial because you're also um likely to have less traffic. Imagine the traffic.

Are you talking more like you're saying a gas station or a Walgreens or something? What are you saying? Light industrial could mean uh it could mean a small office park. It could mean the extension of kelp across the street needing more property to it could be a small storage facility. Again, the topography lens for having that all screened in, but it's certainly a lot less traffic than having 22 homes. And I I like the discussion, but that's not for us to decide. It's going to be an argument or a discussion with the zoning board and the city council.

Per motion five, Miss Keef and I will meet M with Mr. Ruy and whoever um other representatives he would like to have in the discussion and we'll figure out what maybe there's a hierarchy of uses. This is first. If that doesn't work, this is second. But I concur. That's why my misstatement was commercial like like industrial or some type of commercial activity. I think that's easier to tolerate given the conditions of the property. three frontages, one of which is Route 100 and the other being across from Kelp Contracting, which under our master plan process is actually probably going to be memorialized as is versus a variance from our board of adjustment giving them the status quo.

And to also echo Mayor Garitano, the city does not really benefit adding more and more houses. It's nice to have more neighbors yet. Well, in some areas, I suppose, but um certainly you need more revenue and we don't necessarily get that revenue from homes. We get it from commercial. So, it has to go somewhere. Yes. With our capital improvement sales tax, commercial works better for us. We do. We're a poolled city, so residents help, but it all goes into the pool and gets redistributed. So,

and and you are correct. That is not our decision. But I wanted you to be aware that those were some of the factors that I considered in the time that I had to reflect on this since having seen the house and knowing that we needed to come to a decision that this cannot go on for another five years. That's a good discussion. Correct. Okay. All right. Any other matters of consideration? We are going to uh ask about the reprint of the Bwood. Yeah,

Chair Cordick, I was going to ask Miss Von Gubin if she wants to give this update. I I'll give it if you want me to.

Yes, I been a long night. Um we just wanted to give this commission a heads up that Ms. Von Gruben was contacted not so long ago uh by a lady who is publishing her own book and she writes, "Dear Jill von Grubin, thank you for your work on the book Celebrate the History of Wildwood, Missouri, which was introduced to me by Ellen Riker. Through your research and writing, I have gained a much clearer and deeper understanding of my ancestors. I am the daughter of William P. West, the granddaughter of Georgia Madison West and the great granddaughter of Elijah Madison Jr. For several years, I have been researching my family history, and the information I found in your book has been extremely helpful and deeply meaningful to me. The care and dedication you put into preserving this history is highly appreciated. I would like to request permission to reprint the following material from your book. And she cites um the pages specifically having to do with her ancestors. I would like to include this material in my forthcoming book, Wings of Resilience on the Four Roads to Freedom. The book is expected to be published in June 2026 and distributed in ebook and print formats with an audio book edition to follow. Uh this approval uh was given by Wildwood City Council at its last meeting. Um so uh so we have agreed for the reprint to occur along with the citation that's included in your memorandum. Um she is deeply grateful for our generosity and she says your scholarly con contribution particularly your documentation of my greatgrandfather Elijah Madison along with Stapleton

Madison and others adds a powerful and authentic dimension to my family's story. Your research helps illuminate a history that is both deeply personal and historically significant and it will undoubtedly enrich the narrative in a meaningful way. With heartfelt appreciation, Marian Graham Olrich. So, I just thought I would uh share that news along with her words which I thought were very lovely and tell you that the Wildwood History Book continues to make an impact and um the word continues to spread. Great. Thank you. Nice.

All right. So, our next meeting is uh on May 28th, our normal meeting date. We have any other closing remarks? And I would like to call us a journ at 9:21.