Housing, Urban Development and Zoning - Regular Meeting

Do I have anybody here for 4644 Gravoy Avenue? Keith Smoke Shop. Ready?

Yes, sir.

Good morning, everybody. My name is Sandra Long, hearing officer for the city of St. Louis conditional use hearings. My colleague Deborah McLemore and I will be conducting today's scheduled hearing on applications for conditional use permits. We are recording these hearings as a permanent record. We ask that you remain on mute if you are not giving testimony. If you're calling by phone, it is star six to mute and unmute. If multiple people are sharing a screen, we ask that only one person speak at a time and please restrain from side conversations during an individual's testimonies. These requests are made so we can accurately record the information and hear from those giving testimony. When each address is called by the hearing secretary, I ask that the applicant or representative indicate you are present. I will then ask you to state your name and your address for the record. After a time of questions with the applicant, I will call for testimony for any persons in favor of the application. Then I will ask for testimony for any persons in opposition to the application. Following today's hearing, our office will make a recommendation to the board of public service, which is a separate department here at the city. They will make the final determination as no decision will be made here today. Therefore, you are welcome to leave or stay on the call and listen. The board of public service will notify the applicant by mail regarding the findings of your conditional use permit. Deborah, will you please call the first case?

AHO-1339 2-26 5935 Floyd Avenue zone A single family dwelling district war 13. Do I have anybody here for Floyd Avenue? Monica. Yes. I was trying to get it off mute. I'm sorry. Okay, there we go. Um, do you want to explain what you're doing with your business? I was trying to make a home daycare. How many children are you going to have? Uh, 10 or less. Do you live here? Yes.

What's the age range of the children you plan to keep? Um, newborn to 12. How big is um area for your daycare approximately? Kind of don't know. Don't know that. Is it like your living room or the front room and the living room? Okay. Do you separate the children by the ages? No. Okay. What types of activities do the children do while at the daycare? probably read, play outside, um play games, learning activities.

What would your days and hours of operation be? Uh 6:00 a.m. to 12 uh a.m. Okay. Do you provide meals? Yes. Do you have just a residential kitchen? Yes. Okay. Do you provide transportation? No. You said you have the kids play outside. Is it fenced in? Yes, it is. Okay. And where are the children dropped off at? The main entrance. The front door. Front door. Okay. And how many exits do you have? Uh, three.

Do you have exit? Well, are you going to post any signs or anything? Signs aren't allowed. So, no. No. So, we have a letter of opposition from your alderman, and she would like for you to meet with her in the neighborhood association. Okay. So, are you up to continuing this till after you meet with the alderman? Yes. Okay. So, we're going to go ahead and continue this. And um if you need her information, you can call me after this meeting, say about 10:00 at 622666. Wait a minute. Hold on. Let me write this down. Okay. Okay. Okay, go ahead. 622 3666

3666. Okay. And then you can ask either whoever answers the phone or you can ask for me. I'm Sandy and give you her information. Okay. Okay. Okay. All righty. You have a good day. You too. Thank you. Byebye. Continue to meet Deborah. Will you please read the next case? AOP13164-26 4644 Gravoid zone F neighborhood commercial district and Bivo Mill special use District Ward once.

Do we have anybody here for 4644 Bravo Uncle Keith Smoke Shop? Okay, we will come back to them. Deborah, will you please read the next case? AOP13386-266706 Arsenal Street, zone A, Single Family Dwelling District, Ward 4. Do I have anybody for 6706 Arsenal? That's me. Can I get your name and a mailing address for the record?

It's an Sternan. The mailing address would be 334 North Harrison, uh, Kirkwood, Missouri 63122. You want to explain what you're doing here today?

Yes. We are next door to the city sewing room, a nonprofit community sewing center. They are expanding. They need more space. I own the building at 6700 which is a commercial building. The 6706 is was zoned as a single family. We'd like to have it zoned so that we can do classes in that house and also offer overnight retreats by invitation only. It will not be an Airbnb or uh anything like that. It's just for people we invite or to stay overnight.

I still suggest you not list it on Airbnb, but register it as a short-term rental with the city. So, it doesn't have to be on any platform, but you need to register it with the city when the city starts regulating it again. Okay. Okay. Um, so you're expanding the the sewing rooms to classes? Yes, ma'am. Okay. What days and hours of operation would the classes be? Well, we'd like to do from 9:00 a.m. to 900 p.m. 7 days a week.

Okay. And how many people will the class will he have in each class? Up to 10. Would there be more than one class going on at the same time? Not in that building. No. Okay. How many rooms do you have for classrooms in there? it. The downstairs is uh 800 square ft and it's a open floor plan. And the upstairs is will be the short-term rental. Yes, ma'am. Okay. Will you have to hire staff for this area? No.

Okay. So, it's just city sewing room staff and volunteers. Mainly volunteers. Okay. Volunteers. Do you have any off- streetet parking? Yes, we have a 18 car parking lot at 6700 which is adjoining. Okay. 6706. Will there be a feed for the classes? Yes. Okay. There will be a I'm sorry. There'll be a scholarship program, too. Okay. I was just going to ask you that. Scholarships. Did they get certifications or anything? No.

Okay. How many exits does the building have? Uh, three. Okay. Are you going to put any new signs up? No. If you do, just make sure you get them permitted through the city. Okay. Do you have access to a commercial dumpster? Yes, we do. From the city sewing room.

Okay. So, I have a letter of support from your alderman and a letter of support from Londonwood Park Neighborhood Association. So, these are questions we ask everybody. Will the use be detrimental to the public health, safety, and moral morals or general welfare? No. Will the use cause serious injury to the neighboring property by hindering use by reducing our impairing property values? No. Is there anything else you'd like to add?

Yes. Uh I came here last November or December to get the conditional use for 6706 rear. So, if I get this reszoning now or conditional use for the house, does that apply to the whole property including that rear? We'll look at it and see the conditions there and you'll probably get close to the same conditions for both of them. Okay? Because we're looking to expand. Mistakenly, I gave you shorter hours last time. Okay? And we just want to extend those hours 9 to9. Okay? seven days a week. So, you want this to cover the rear as well for your class?

Yes, ma'am. Okay. I'll see what we can do. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Thank you for your testimony. Okay. Thank you. Is there anybody here in support of this application that would like to speak? Is there anybody opposed to this application that would like to speak? Okay, we'll call this hearing heard. Thank you. Thank you. Deborah, will you please read the next case?

AOP13 333-26 3850 Gravo Avenue, Ward 6. Is there anybody here for 3850 Gravoy, Frenchtown, Audio? That's us. Okay. Can I get a name and mailing address for you? Uh yes, David Boyin. That's BY Kin. Uh 3850 Gravoy Avenue, St. Louis, Missouri 63116. Do you want to explain what you're doing here?

Yeah, we have a retail uh shop that sells audio equipment and then we have a repair shop that repairs the audio equipment when and if it breaks. Okay. So, you're going to resell the stuff you repair? Yes, we do some uh restorations of the classic uh you know stereo systems from the 1970s. Oh, nice. Okay. Um how big is your space? We're approximately 8,000 square foot. I think it might be 7,800, but it's right in that ballpark.

Okay. three 3,000 of it 3,500 of it be is is retail space and the and the rest is warehouse space.

Okay. Where do you get the item? Excuse me. Where do you get the items you sell? Well, we purchased another company a few years ago called AlphaTech, and they have been in business for 51 years as a repair center. And so, they have a very large clientele uh that they have been essentially working on their equipment for all those 50 years. So, our clients, you know, when they're ready to part with something, they'll bring it to us and we'll buy it. or god forbid if somebody passes away then who will go out and and and purchase their you know their equipment that they've left behind. So it comes to us organically from the community. Do you sell any new electronics?

Yes, we do sell new electronics as well. We're about 60% vintage and 40% new electronics. Okay. And uh our we're essentially the new Radio Shack since Radio Shack doesn't exist anymore. Every time someone in the community needs a power cord or a weird connector or something crazy, they come see us. Let's see. How long have you been doing this business?

I've been doing it for approximately four years. We have a record store that's near Sulard called Frenchtown Records. And this audio business grew out of that. We had a small room in the back where we had sold a few pieces of equipment and it just kind of exploded. And we went from there to uh Sulard where we had rented a space for two years. And then when we purchased Alpha Techch, that's when we uh purchased this building so that we can merge the two together to make it just more seamless. Okay. What days and hours will you operate?

We operate Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Saturday, it's only retail on Saturday. Our our service department is closed and that is from 11 to 4 and Sunday we're closed. Okay. How many employees will you have? Right now we have four full-time employees that work in the building plus myself. Okay. Do you have any off- streetet parking? Uh we do. We have uh 15 roughly 15 spaces. Okay. How many exits does the building have? Uh two.

Do you have any uh area for shipping? Technically three if you consider the garage door. Okay, that would be Do you have a um area for shipping and receiving? I assume through the garage door. We do. Yes. Okay. Do you have access to a commercial dumpster? We do. We have a large commercial dumpster on the side of the building that we utilize. And how do you dispose of electronics that you're you can't fix or whatever? We have recyclers who come and pick up the electronics and they take it and they recycle it. Okay?

We we strive to throw nothing away. And we also hope at some point to to, you know, increase the recycling efforts because everybody calls us almost on a weekly basis, you know, where do I recycle these electronics? Nobody wants to throw them into into the, you know, the trash bin. Yeah. Will you will you display anything outside the store front? is is mean as merchandise or yes any merchandise. Okay. Have nothing outside the storefront. Are you going to post signs?

Uh we will not be posting any additional signs. There is a current sign that's been there since the 1960s. We just had a you know spruced that up a little bit and then there's an awning that's been there for probably 20 or 30 years and it was dilapidated and then we refreshed that as well. Okay. If you post signs you just need to get a permit. Okay. Okay. Understood. Have you reached out to your alderman or your neighborhood association? Until yesterday, we weren't aware there was a neighborhood association that was active. We'd never heard from them, but I did we got an email from from the alderman from the alderman's assistant. Uh so, no, we did not talk to them, but we did talk to our alderman and um we have had support.

Yeah, full support. We just got the email and we have You want to send me a copy of that email so we can make sure we have it? Sure. You can send it to zoning at stuis-m.gov.

And we also have this letter which I I forwarded to the alderman uh and I can we can forward to you as well. That's fine. You can send them both to me. What what that's our next door that's our next door neighbor. Uh and he's in full support as well. What is their email address again? It's zoning at s t l o u i s dash m o.gov. I'm going to type it into the chat. Okay, there you go. There's the alderman's letter and I'll send you this one, too. Okay.

Okay. So these are questions we ask everybody. Will the use be detrimental to the public health, safety, morals, or general welfare? It will not. Will the use cause serious injury to the neighboring property by hindering use or reducing our impairing property values? It will not. Is there anything else you'd like to add? Um, nothing other than uh we're excited to be there and uh all of our, you know, neighbors over the last few months have reached out and they're excited that that intersection's been refreshed and looks good now. Okay, good. Thank you for your testimony. Thank you.

Is there anybody here in support of this application that would like to speak? Is there anybody opposed to this application that would like to speak? Okay, we'll call this hearing heard. Thank you. Thank you. Deborah, will you please read the next case? AOP13379-264346 Natural Bridge Avenue, zone F, Neighborhood Commercial District, Ward 12. Do I have anybody here for 4346 Natural Bridge? Yes, ma'am.

Can I get your name and a mailing address for the record? Lucain Mosen, 4346 Natural Bridge Avenue, St. Louis, Missouri 63115. Do you want to explain what you're doing here?

Yes. Uh, I'm opening a business, uh, Tech Martin Moore LLC. Uh, this has been a cellular technology store for 25 years. We want to continue that, but we also want to add in minimal portions just to keep upoot traffic and give the community what they need based on what is going on has happened in this neighborhood. It was ravaged by the tornado and this store has been closed for the last nine months. So, we're trying to get it back up and running and make sure we're stay open for the community.

What are you going to sell besides cell phones? Besides cell phones, we're we're trying to put a little bit of convenience store aspect to it. Okay. This is going to be less than I want to say 20%. And then it tobacco would be less than 5% of it. So it's a very small portion of the sales, but we just every little bit will help at this point. Understand? Um, are you going to sell any liquor? No, ma'am. that will never be sold from here. Liquor, wine, beer, no. Okay. Are you going to do any cooking?

Yes, there there'll be some food aspect. And of course, we'll go through all the guidelines and rules of the city and state health inspectors. Okay. Well, on your application, it says no cooking. What kind of food are you going to be cooking? We're We're going to do like a like food like cooking as in like frying and stuff. No, we're not going to do that. We're going to do like 7-Eleven where they have like a conventional oven and they make pizzas, burgers, whatever, and sell them like that. Okay. Did you get inspected as did you get a kitchen inspection with the Not yet inspectors?

Not yet. We will not open food until we have everything approved by the city, of course.

Okay. So, we may have to revise your application. We'll see when we're done here. Okay. I'm going to read this um condition to you. It's a drug paraphernalia condition. If there's anything on here that you want to do, now's the time to talk about it, such as tobacco. Okay. So, let me read this to you first. There shall be no sale of items that can be used are are intended for use as drug paraphernalia as defined in ordinance 68404. Art successor ordinances included but not limited to food scales, glass tubes, disposable lighters with pop off stops, steel scrubbing pads and screens, rolling papers, ephedrain or pseudoephedin, diet supplements, sleep aids, bath salts or other substitutes for illegal drugs. In addition, there shall be no sale of cigars or cigarellas commonly used or adapted for use involving a controlled substance. Examples of which include but are not limited to the following. Phillies, Dutch matchers, white, Swisser, sweets, splitters, backwoods, optima, Garcia, Vega or game. So, is there any of that things that you would like to sell?

Oh, like cigar like cigars ma'am. That's a part of tobacco. So, okay. Yeah, cigars are tobacco, but like Yeah, but glassear like in that stuff. No, anything used for that stuff. No, I'd have no interest in selling that stuff. Hookas, possibly. Hookas, you know, but that's tobacco use only. Uh, just glassware considering for tobacco use. Are you going to sell any THC products?

No, ma'am. No interest. Yeah, I'm I'm I'm what my business is is going to be by the law and whatever is legal within the state of the Missouri. That's that's what I plan on doing. Okay. What are your hours of operation? Uh right now we're suggesting 7 to 7. We want to keep the times limited and good for the neighborhood. So, it'll be closed by the time people start settling down and going to bed. Is that seven days a week? Uh, we're going to go six originally. We might expand that to seven days a week depending on how business is doing.

Okay. We'll leave it at seven then so you don't have to come back. Okay. I appreciate how many employees How many employees do you anticipate have? It's it's owner only two. Okay. Do you have exterior lighting or surveillance cameras installed? Yes, ma'am. Will you make them available for um law enforcement if needed? If if needed. Yes, ma'am. Okay. Do we have anything stored outside? No, ma'am.

Do you have any off streetet parking? There is a couple spaces I believe, but we have a parking lot of our own that fits 10 to 12 cars. Oh, 10 to 12. Okay. Are you going to install any signage? Signage? Uh, we have awnings. We have our own signage on our store as well. We might put some signage in the beginning outside to show that we're back open again for the community. Okay. So, you're going to need to get permits for any signs you install. Okay. We'll do. Do you have access to a commercial dumpsters? Yes, ma'am. Okay.

We have a sixyard dumpster outside. Have you reached out to your alderman or neighborhood association? I called. I left a a voicemail to the alderman. I did talk to uh representative uh Kimberly Collins. I have talked to her. Uh and other than that I I was not able to speak to the older lady, the older woman. She did not call me back. I don't know. She might be busy. Okay. All right. These are questions we ask everybody. Will the use be detrimental to the public health, safety, morals, or general welfare? No, ma'am. Will the use cause serious injury to the neighboring properties by hindering use or reducing our impairing property values? No.

Is there anything else you'd like to add? No, ma'am. We're just excited to open up and get out there and serve our community and make some money. That's about it. Okay. Well, thank you very much. Thank you very much, ma'am. Is there anybody in support of this application that would like to speak? Is there anybody opposed to this application that would like to speak? Okay, we'll call this hearing heard. Thank you, sir. Thank you, ma'am.

Deborah, will you please read the next case? AB 58943-26 4202 North Grand Boulevard zone G local commercial and office district ward 14. Do I have anybody here for 4202 North Grand Pastor Andy?

Hello. You just muted. You're unmuted now. Pastor Andy, are you there? He's muted himself. There you go. Pastor Andy, he's obviously having issues. He probably thinks he's unmuted now. You're muted now, Pastor Andy. There you go. You're unmuted. say something so we can see if you're unmuted.

Can you hear me now? I sure can. Yes, sir. Okay. I'm not sure what all was going on there, but we can hear each other now. I can hear you, but you couldn't hear me. I'm sorry. That's okay. Do you want Can I get a name and mailing address for you, the record? Sure. Uh, Pastor Andyr Kumsig, uh, Jubilee Community Church, 4231 North Grand. Do you want to explain where you're Missouri? Oops. Go ahead.

Sure. Sure. Um, the old economy and motel, we shut that down a couple years ago and we've been working on all the pre-development uh, pieces to that. Um, and we are going to have a this will be our second stage housing eventually after we're done with Jubilee Wellness Center, which we've already gotten a conditional use done for that.

So, what does second stage housing mean? Uh after uh people have been through um detox and medically assisted treatment and have uh been stable in our first stage housing, then they'll go to second stage housing where where they will share a room um with uh a roommate and continue on in their recovery. Okay. They'll and each of the people will be employed that are staying in this place uh doing community service work and all part of the whole Jubilee mix what we're doing. Okay. How many rooms will you have?

Uh there will be I think there's going to be 19 room. No, there's going to be 18 rooms for 36 residents max. And then we will also have a staff apartment there that will house two staff. Okay. So, will you have um 24-hour staff? Uh yes, ma'am. Okay. And these clients will come from your program? Yes, ma'am.

Okay. What are the requirements to be a tenant in this program? Uh to have gone through uh detox um and then be involved in the medically assisted treatment and um the various employment and uh recreational and other activities that Jubilee provides. Those are obviously volunteer but uh to be successful uh people will will stay in those things and it'll be part of the holistic approach. Okay. Will you charge for the tenants to stay there?

Uh no, they will be reimbursed through uh recovery support services and eventually Medicaid reimbursements. Okay. Do you have cooking facilities on site? Uh there will be there will be a a kitchen. Yes. Okay. We'll we'll do group food preparation. There will not be food prep in any of the individual rooms.

Okay. That was my next question. Um well, what types of security measures will you have? Uh the uh there'll be security cameras. Uh the the property will be fenced in. Uh there'll be a ser a walking gate and a drive-in gate and u proper lighting and uh security cameras and all that. Will you make the cameras available for law enforcement if needed? Absolutely. We've been able to do that over at Jubilee across the street many times.

Okay. Let's see. Unfortunately, many times, may I say, what kind of common areas do you have? Uh, there will be a common eating area, a common recreation area, and common outside recreation area. Okay. Do you have off- streetet parking? Guess a parking lot? Yes. Okay. Yes, small parking lot. Are you going to post any signs? Uh, there'll probably be one basic sign out front replacing the one that's already there. Okay. Make sure you get a permit for that. Okay.

Do you have a commercial dumpster? Yes, we will. Okay. See, and I have a letter of support from your alderman, Laura Keys. You should have Alderman Keys and Alderman Aldridge. We're right, you know. Are you right there on the should? Yeah, we're right on the border. That's right. And I got something from Brickline. Yes. Uhhuh. I got your thing saying your platin petition was approved. Okay. Yes. That was a lot of work and we got it done.

That is a lot of work. I agree. Okay. These are questions we ask everybody. Will the use be detrimental to the public health, safety, morals, or general welfare? I'm sorry, I didn't hear the beginning part of the question. Will the use be detrimental to the public health, safety, morals, or general welfare? Absolutely. The opposite to the benefit of everybody. Good. Will the use cause serious injury to the neighboring property by hindering use or reducing our parent property values? Absolutely not.

Is there anything else you'd like to add? No, we're just looking forward to getting started on this and be able to help our unhoused neighbors on the street get off of the drugs and the fentanyl fits and dying on our streets. We need to get this move forward and we are so grateful for being able to get this far and appreciate your work and everything that you do there.

We appreciate you, Pastor Andy. Okay, thank you. Is there anybody here in support of this one? Is there anybody in support of this application that would like to speak? Is there anybody opposed to this application that would like to speak? We'll call this hearing heard. Thank you, Deborah. Will you read the case? Byebye. Thank you, pastor. Will you read the case we skipped? What was that?

Uncle Keith. AOP13164-26 4644 Graard Avenue, Ward One, Zone F, Neighborhood Commercial District, Bivo Mill, Special Use District. Do we have anybody here for Uncle Keith's Smoke Shop?

Okay, we'll call this hearing her. Everybody have a great day.