City Council - Regular Meeting

Start. We're live. So, we're live. I understand.

Good evening everyone. I'd like to call the January 12th, 2026 meeting of the university city council to order at 6:32 p.m. I think I have a little echo. Um, as we move forward, I would also like to introduce acting city manager uh, Brook Sharp, who is filling in for city manager Gregory Rose uh, this evening. Madame Clerk, would you please call the role? Council member Teeman here. Council member McMahon here. Council member Briner here. Council member Fuller here. Council member Smotherson here. Mayor Crow

here. Before you, you have the agenda. I know with the city manager we have one change. Uh Miss Sharp. Yes. Honorable Mayor Ricaro, we request that uh we remove item

front of the city clerk. If you want to be on a non-aggenda, What did I say? Um, if you'd please first put the turn the microphone on by pushing the button at the bottom of the microphone and then give us your name and address and we'll help you any way we can.

All right. Please help me. My name Nothing. going on in University City, whether it is the

University City. But again, this is quite Tom Sullivan 63130 751 Syracuse

to speak on non-aggenda items at this time.

that are still evolving. Um,

again throughout the the entire

If there's something I want to do, I want to humanize. I understand uh where you're coming

from. It it is not a decision that we make lightly in any way uh to identify homes that that may need to be removed in order to construct a project like this. Um but it will the the drop shaft to the tunnel and and it is one of the larger combined sewer overflows that has to be removed uh as part of this project. It is heavy construction and and the the number of homes that is currently identified as commensurate with trying to provide a reasonable buffer that also allows working room for the contractor to perform the work. uh while maintaining a distance from from the other property owners that are there.

I'm taking that to be an answer of no. You cannot do this without destroying these homes. Unfortunately, the the combined sewer the multiple combined sewers on Amherst are surrounded by homes and and to get to it and perform the work that needs to be done will impact those homes. Yes, you will destroy them. It is our intent to purchase those homes and and remove them for the project. Okay, let me continue. Thank you. Uh once these homes are purchased, when will they be leveled?

As soon as we have all of those uh properties, once we've purchased the properties, we will u put out a contract with a demolition firm to remove them. It'll be graded uh and solded and the district will maintain that until such time as a contractor takes over. How long will the block be unsightly? I'm sorry. How long will the block be unsightly? You mean during demolition or during the project construction? All of them.

Uh the demolition task will take maybe a a few months from start to finish. Uh the construction as Jeff had mentioned uh we anticipate between two and three and a half years. That won't be continuous the entire time. There'll be contractors doing some piece of work uh and maybe demobilizing and then there'll be another contractor that has a different specialty doing another piece of work uh on that site. But that is our our estimate at this time. Uh over the course of the nine-year project that they'll be two three and a half years. Will uprooted trees be replaced? Uh my assumption based on what I know at this point is the trees that are there will be removed um

and replaced.

Well, that's something that we want to talk about um as we proceed forward. One of the things that uh that we can't achieve success without, and it's something that we've done many times in the past on on larger projects where we're really in in neighborhoods like this, is some type of of neighborhood aesthetic committee or or something along those lines where there's council member uh for that that council district and and appointed members of the public that help us decide what that looks like both during construction. Uh Jeff mentioned a sound wall, which we think would be important, and then some kind of of landscaping [snorts] or buffering to help soften that for for people so that they're not just looking at a heavy industrial site while while we're there. And then what it looks like when we're done.

Uh there will be there will be things left behind obviously when we're done and we want to make sure that that folks uh have some say in what what that's going to look like. Thank you. Uh, by the way, I should add that these are questions I'm asking not only mine, but they're questions from my neighbors. Uh, well, you mentioned this sound wall. Uh, and I presume there's going to be something akin to a chain link fence around this. How long will we be living with that? Uh, I would anticipate, and I don't know, Jeff, if you have a better idea, but during during construction, that would be one of the first things that the contractor that mobilizes onto that that site will install. And how long do you have any idea how long it'll be there?

I anticipate it will be there the entire time until we're ready to do the final uh whatever we leave behind there. Will there be lights on there 247? No, I wouldn't anticipate lights 24/7. There will be the sound wall will rupt. It's kind of a dual purpose where the sound wall could you speak into the for the record, please? Well, it's not just for the record. This is this is going out. Yeah. Yes. It's also on

understand. Yeah. I mean, the sound wall or the noise barrier is dual purpose. Like, it's it's sight security to keep residents or public out of the construction area. Um, it keeps their stuff safe and um it also takes the place of any kind of sight fencing and stuff like that. So, from an aesthetic standpoint, it's actually it's it's actually better in my opinion. As long as we're talking about noise, uh what kind of construction noise can we expect?

This is a quiet neighborhood. I can hear the down at north and south. I can hear when the light is changing and that little beeping comes on. It's that quiet. So, we will follow St. Louis County noise regulations. That's that's what we're going to achieve. Um, noise a noise model study just like you would do a noise study along a Missouri Department of Transportation network highway system, interstate system is is just now beginning. So, does the sound barrier need to be 10t tall, 12t tall, 15t tall to keep that noise to an acceptable level per St. Louis County standards? That's it hasn't been done yet. Still starting.

And as far as lighting, I don't anticipate that they'll be working outside of of allowable hours. Will MSD commit to conducting preconstruction condition surveys of all the homes adjacent to the project area and to establish a clear written process for residents to file and resolve claims if construction causes damage to foundations, basements, lateral sewers or yards.

Absolutely. That's going to be part of the standard specification package. contractor will perform that work. Uh typically between a 500 I think it's 500 foot radius uh would be standard in this case. Uh so within 500t of of the uh the drop shaft location. Uh they'll be doing external and internal if the property owner allows it. Inspections uh those will all be recorded. A lot of them are are video but that that's up to the property owner what they'll allow. Uh and then the contractor will carry insurance for all claims. How is this going to impact uh the you know uh the value of homes that surround this? I don't know if I have the expertise to uh to explain anything about home value. Um all I can say for sure is um unfortunately folks that live near there, they will notice that we're there. It it's heavy construction. uh it'll be done as respectively and as respectfully and uh neatly and as we can make it. Um the specifications are going to speak to that. We're we're in process of determining what kind of controls we want to see and and honestly you know again I will repeat we're very early in this process on the design. We're here much earlier than we would typically be with a a a project, but I I appreciate the invitation to be here because we want to have this conversation. It's a very large project. Um, but

yeah, this is one of the biggest questions my neighbors ask me. How's this going to impact the value of my home? Simple as that. I I would I [clears throat] would answer that somewhat councilman is is cleaning up all the sanitary waste in streams and ditches throughout the whole community. This is one of the more upstream area upstream most areas of the entire watershed. So it all that sanitary waste that that may reside in our open water bodies is getting cleaned up.

I appreciate that. But yeah, my neighbors are worried about, you know, what if I want to sell my house next year and there's a construction site right in my backyard, literally. Um, well, in the interest of time, let us continue. Uh, will MSD commit to working with University City to implement measures such as landscaping, maintenance, temporary site treatment that prevent negative impacts on the nearby properties? Absolutely. Yeah. You'll you'll be seeing us a lot. We'll be back many times. For parcels where homes are demolished, will MSD commit to doing its work in such a way that uh those sites do not remain fenced, unattractive or blighted for years?

Yes. Yes. Who maintain Okay. Who maintain the site after the project is over? Well, and that's something that we can talk about um as we develop the design more. In in some cases, there's going to be excess space that could be given back to the city for parks. Park improvements could be placed on that. It just depends on how how compact our construction can be at those locations. If we can keep it very compact, uh we'll we'll leave behind some kind of of fencing and and landscaping screening uh in coordination with the with the city.

Am I to construe from this that you don't know? I mean because you didn't answer my question. Who will maintain the site after the project is over? The portions that we retain ownership to will we will take care of that will be our to maintain if the city wants any portion of that property for any reason that that we are unable to use or is excess post construction. Um that would become the city's property. Similar to what we talked about at the Purdue Avenue shaft, it's a large shaft because there's a lot there's a lot more construction going on at Purdue than Amherst, but we don't need all of that space after the project's over

to maintain it after construction will not require all the space that we need. It could be also the case that you could explore a partnership with SEU city and Bloom or the city itself in doing in maintaining this area, you know. Um, but let me ask we're open to offense bars. Can MSD commit to putting these uh projections communication to Can MSD commit to putting these projections communication standards in post-P project land use plans in writing and sharing them with affected residents?

Yeah, I I think we're going to develop those over time. Uh, and what that looks like, I don't know at this point, but once we get into once we have 60% design and then 90% designs, uh, and we sit down with city staff, council members, members of the public, uh, I I think we're all going to get there together as to what any kind of document or anything looks like. I presume from your previous uh comments too that you would be open to making sure it's accessible, making sure it's landscaped uh and designed as a community asset rather than a utility only site. This is your goal, right? We want to leave behind something that is at at a minimum aesthetically unobtrusive as possible. Keeping in mind uh what occurs on those sites. Uh some uh some of that is is you know is concrete as metal. We'll screen it uh to the best of our ability. But that's why I was mentioning the the aesthetic committee, a group of residents and council members, staff uh kind of get a flavor for what everybody would like to see. uh as a leave behind if it's a specific type of, you know, fencing or landscaping. If there's something that we can do to to use plantings or or BMS or whatnot to to screen those from as much public view as possible, they're still going to be um something's going to be visible on these sites when we're done.

Let me supplement it this way, Councilman. Like if in areas where we're not in a regulated flood play or flood plane, what we leave behind is flush with the ground. So you see grass in areas like say the Purdue Avenue shaft where that construction will happen because that's all in a floodway. Even U-Haul's in a floodway, a park is in a floodway. Our structures have to be a couple of feet above the flood plane elevation. So what we don't want to happen is you get this flood that comes down river and it fills the tunnel up with flood water and then it's not available to handle our sanitary waste. So when we're in a flood plane, our structures are going to be elevated. They're going to be concrete structures. we can do things to to make that stuff blend in, but areas where there's no flood, no existing flood plane, you you're just going to see grass.

Thank you. Um I appreciate your cander and um part of what I want to do is and I'm going to repeat something I said earlier is is not only simply show you or or speak to a an engineering project, but speak to the humanity of the people who were involved. Basically, those last couple of rows over there are my neighbors uh right behind you. And uh you know, these are, you know, this that's Ann that plays the flute I talked about, you know, and so on and so on. Uh and I want to put this human face on this. Thank you, honorable mayor. I also have about 20 more questions and I don't want to take up the whole meeting. So, in deference to others and with consideration of the agenda, I would like to give these 20 extra questions, most of which come from my neighbors, to our city clerk, that MSD might uh answer them, get them, answer them, and hopefully answer my neighbors in writing. Would that be acceptable? Thank you. I know there are other people who uh have questions and would like to consider it. I'll get you the questions tomorrow. Uh I would like to uh now defer to my colleague, Dr. Fuller. Mr. Fuller,

thank you, honorable mayor. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you.

This is obviously a project that has to be done. I totally understand that. Just want to do a couple follow-ups. We've got a couple of folks and I I'm concerned about the properties around it. And I would ask you back to the board of directors and talk about we have a couple we have a we have a property there. The gentleman has deceased. His family is now taking over the property. How are they going to sell a property to say, "Gosh, this this a great deal. We have a sewer project going in over here." You know, uh is there any plan or any way that the neighbors could be compensated a bit for on the property values of some of these houses that are surrounding this project? This is not I mean I understand your your discussion is it's improving waterway but it's not going to do a lot for property value and you know some of these folks got their life savings into these homes and not many of us bought a house 5 years ago and five years down the road it's got less than what we purchased it for. All of us have realized appreciation. I don't see how this project is going to appreciate the neighbors property values. That being said and done, I'd like to have some discussion about that somewhere down the road. Not tonight, obviously. Um, given moving on to the other sites, I got just two other questions here. are the large tunnel sites, the Amherst uh site as well as the Allied Purdue site. And then the smaller bore holes are going to be over what you call we call it the dog park down by Pennsylvania.

And then the other one up in Pageale, which is basically above us. Are those all those tunnels going to be the same size? I'm gonna let Jeff get that question.

Yeah, I was trying to go back to my exhibit. So, the main tunnel that runs from Shrewsbury up to the Purdue Avenue shaft is an 18 foot diameter tunnel. The three, I'll call them connecting tunnels that go pick up more permitted CSOS or a 12oot diameter shaft. It's all the same depth. They're very, it's all same deep infrastructure or construction. Um, as it relates to more surface construction impacts, the Purdue Avenue shaft will be a large one because they're going to be pulling material out of that shaft and hauling it away. Correct.

Okay. The Amherst shaft is not it. It's a shaft that's needed to make the tunnel operational. Do do it in terms that a fourth grader can understand. That's where I'm at. Okay. What's the diameter of the shaft at Amherst? 20 foot. What's the diameter of the Amherst or of the shaft at at Holllet? 45 ft. All right. What's the diameter of the shaft going to be at the dog park? Um 20 footish. 25 footish. So, the Purdue one is by far the largest.

All right. Go up to the olive site. And you said that that is going to finish. We have properties up to there. The last presentation you talked about, correct? So, those are how many of those properties are you anticipating? I'm I was the one that asked the question. I didn't want to know what you're settling for. That's that's y'all's business. It's the Purdue The Purdue Apartments basically along Purdue Avenue just west of the park. Yeah, but there's several apartments up there. Are you going to take all 18 of them that are up there? All the way over to Midland? No, just east of River. Just the ones that face Purdue then. Correct. Okay. So, that's the area where it's so that's like

for construction. Yeah. But we're we only need to maintain or keep a fraction of it post construction and the and the diameter of that is not going to infringe into the uh U-Haul no lot or into Heman Park. No, it's just going to be those properties then. Correct. All right. Council member Briner, I would ask my colleagues, we have two two requests to speak from uh folks that at some point I'd like to get to as well. So, I'm not sure how many folks have questions, but it'd be good to because we'll be here for other items, too. So, we're we're here. Some of the folks may not want to stay for the whole thing. Council member Briner.

Thank you, Mayor. Um, just a quick question. the excess property. Will there be restrictions on the excess property on what can be developed on that property? It typically would depend if we do have any infrastructure on it at all. If there's easements for say piping or whatnot, there may be deed restrictions on that property, but uh the surface use is pretty customary park type facilities. It's what we've what we've seen in the past.

I think it's flood plane flood plane dependent too. Correct. you know, along Vernon Avenue there is does the city want to redevelop that or allow redevelopment because it's in a flood plane? I mean, so I think that plays a big part in all these. I mean, most of these areas are flood plane dependent because they're right next to the creek, which was strategic on our behalf and where the tunnel alignment sits as well, but also where the CSOS exist. Correct. In the creek channel.

Council member McMahon. Thank Thank you, mayor. Thank you for the presentation. I'm It's a enormous project and I'm sure you've got questions coming at you left and right and we've got those and our residents have those and and my my question is uh what consideration is is given to the uh tax implications that the city faces because it sounds like we're losing properties off the tax roles. We're losing residents that may spend their money in our stores and sales tax. And then you offer to give us back some property so that we can now maintain property as a park and and put a a playground in it at our cost and maintain it and have more employees that need to fix it when it used to be privately taken care of by residents in their homes that may be their forever homes. So, it's the tumble down effect that you all uh take the property but then leave us with uh a shortfall across a a huge swath of U city. So, what it what are your views on that aspect of how it tumbles down to U city to pick up the pieces after you're you've fixed a problem that you've had for a very long time under the consent decree and find this solution now in 2026. Yeah, I think that's a conversation that we're going to have to have over time as as we develop these plans uh to their their fruition um like more than a year from now. Uh but but we [clears throat] will be back. We will be sitting down with staff, council, uh residents. Um I that's really all I could commit to at this time is that we're we hear you. We're we're here to listen. Um and we want to work through these problems uh and and issues that are being raised. Uh we don't have all the answers right now. Sure.

Council member Smson. Uh thank you, Mayor Crow. Uh just one simple question and this has to do with um continuation of council member McMahon's. Will you have you're going to be moving a group of people out of apartments and the people that live in apartments really will actually need uh to find a place. Will you have some kind of company attached to this project to help relocate those folks?

Yeah, we already do. Um, we have a a consultant that handles our um our uh Uniform Relocation Act work to make sure that we're complying with all rules and regulations, making sure people are whole, that they get into something that's equivalent, decent, safe, and sanitary uh within a radius of where they currently live.

Uh thank you. If we could, we have a couple of requests to speak. So, we'll give you guys just a a break for a second and we'll let council members come back with more questions in a second. We have two requests to speak. The first is a former member of council, now our state representative, Jeff Hails, who has requested uh time to speak. Welcome back. Thank you. It's good to be back. Jeff Hails, 509 Warren Avenue, University City. Um, it is good to be back. It's I think my first time back uh in over a year. Uh, unfortunately uh I am deeply bothered by the circumstances of that. Um, as Yogi Barrow once said, this feels like deja vu all over again. And when I say that, I I reference going back and some of you were here for that. I think it was 2015 when there was this plan sprung on us to have storage tanks in the middle of a neighborhood in the third ward. I want to go on record uh particularly for the folks at MSD. Um, I think it is completely unacceptable that MSD is approaching members of our community offering a buyout for a project that has not been communicated to the two council members in the second ward to me as their state representative. Um, It is not okay. It is just not okay. And of all of the utilities, and I had

this conversation uh with your communications person at MSD, MSD does not communicate regularly with elected officials. And the result of that is we find ourselves here tonight. So I am deeply deeply disappointed in how this is going. I have had a number of questions. Uh Council Member Teeman uh asked many of the questions that I had. The people in our community and and I want to make this perfectly clear too. the people in our community, whether it was July 26th and 28th of of uh 2022 or whether it was 2008 or whether it was any other time where we've experienced flooding, there is a trust deficit that exists and I think that needs to be recognized. I think that needs to be acknowledged and this does not the way this has gone down this is not furthering improvements to eliminate that trust deficit. Uh the other the last thing I want to say and I appreciate you all being here and I know everybody wants to get out of here and there's a lot more on the agenda but it's not just it's not just us it's our neighbors in North County. I can't tell you how many conversations I've had this week with state reps about MSD, about what's going on here, and that trust deficit goes well beyond you city. Um, so that's really all I have to say. I I appreciate um being back. Uh, I should be in Jefferson City right now, but this was too important. So, thank you.

Thank you very much. We have one more request to speak on this matter. I believe that is Michael Reid. Uh, thank you so much, mayor, and uh uh thanks for um giving us this opportunity to to speak tonight. I apologize for being late. I uh teach at WashU. Tonight was uh our first Give your address as well, please. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I was getting to that. Sorry.

Um um I live at 829 uh Barkley Square. It's a little bit of a confusing address because it's actually uh faces Amhurst. So, we're in Amherst House with a Barkley Square address. We are one house uh east of the um uh or two houses east of the last house that seems to be uh on the plan to be removed. Um I wanted to get here as soon as I could after class because um my neighbors and I have a lot of questions. Like many of you, um I want relief from University City's historic flooding. We've lived through uh one major flood since moving in. uh Julie Leighton and my and I and when we moved in in 2019, it was pretty terrifying. Thousands of lives disrupted across our neighborhoods. So, I do want to be absolutely clear, I'm not against solving this problem, and that's what I hear many of us saying, right? There's a problem. We want to get it solved. But [sighs and gasps] like uh Representative uh Hail said, I'm here to ask at what cost and to whom? Let me be honest about something. I don't know all the facts. I apologize. It sounds like many here tonight don't know all the facts. So, what I'm about to say comes from incomplete information, from conversations with neighbors, from research, from fear, from uncertainty. I'm not going to repeat the questions you've already heard, but I do need to add my voice to the chorus. Uh, that is asking for real answers. This is what I understand. MSD expects this project to um, from what I understand, to reduce flood risk. It's costing enormous amounts of money. Nearly a decade, I understand, to complete. Five families so far have been asked or told to sell their homes. One deal is already closed. They are moving out. They are in the process of moving out right now. The other's uncertain. Given those numbers, the money, the time, the displacement, I would hope the impact on the flood risk would be substantial. Yet, in the

YouTube video that I watched from last summer, the expectations seemed um surprisingly modest. I think we could say, so let me share my assumptions and you can tell me if I'm wrong. One, if you want this to happen, given the money already invested, uh the uh the plans already drawn, I'm assuming it's going to happen. That house on Amherst has been sold. This is going to happen. That house has been sold and then the others and then my block is forever changed. Leveling five houses, five houses is going to be noisy. It's going to be dirty. It's going to be disruptive. And here's the one that keeps me up at night. I'm not a real estate expert, but my home value, everyone's on this block, has already fallen. Let's be perfectly clear. I cannot put my house on the market anywhere near the value that I could have put it on the market a year ago because I have to disclose that a massive project, a massive 40 foot in diameter hole is about to be built. We can all claim we're not re we're not real estate experts, but we all know what effect that that's going to have. Let's be honest here. So, here's my question. In all your expectations for successfully completing this project, what's your expectation for the rest of us, for us homeowners? Pat, immediately to our west, longtime owner, he's retired. He's about to have a massive construction site in his backyard for 10 years. Janet at the corner of Amherst, north and south, directly across the street from this. Kim and Jennifer, sisters who've been cornerstones of our block's beauty, who both recently invested large amounts of time and money improving their homes. Jesse, Dave, Kadisha, Everett, me, Julie. I'm guessing your expectations is that we're going to just be okay with this because it's for the better, the greater good.

that we should be okay with what's to come. Trucks rumbling past what at 7:00 a.m. jackhammer shaking, dust settling on everything we own. Empty lot for years. In just a few months, there is going to be an empty lot on our block. We all know what empty lots do to property values. Let's not not hide behind the fact that we're not experts at wondering what that's going to do. Daily noise for 10 years. Julie and I searched for two years to find this house. Two years. It was a battle finding something that fit all of our needs. I teach out of our basement. Julie works from home. We needed a two-car garage. We wanted mid-century appeal. And we found it. And here's what we really fell in love with. It's a treeline block. It's quiet. At night, you can step outside and you can hear cicas in the summer. Almost nothing in the winter. just peace and quiet. Families walk their kids up and down our block every morning under old gross trees. There's shade. There's beauty all along. We moved in thinking this is our forever home. Probably like many residents in this neighborhood thought about their homes. Ranch style homes like that. That's why people move into ranchstyle homes. They're planning their forever homes. So, let me tell you what this actually means for me and for our household. I cobble together my income from various sources. I perform. I teach at WashU. I teach at Webster and privately in my basement. But most significantly, I am a voiceover artist. I've invested thousands of dollars in a professional studio in my basement. Every day, I record out of that basement. I patch into studios in New York, LA, Chicago. I guarantee them a controlled and quiet environment. That guarantee is how I make a good portion of my living for the next 10 years. I don't believe I can make that guarantee or really make any guarantees. Julie works from home. Her company went

virtual during the pandemic and never turned back. Client calls, Zoom meetings, deadlines, her ability to do her job will be compromised. Let's not be ignorant to that. Do you expect us to just figure it out? What's your expectation of how we're supposed to react to this? find somewhere else to work, find another job, absorb the financial hit. I'm going to presume that the gentleman who speak tonight and many of the people from MSD are all homeowners. You have homes in your neighborhoods I assume you like. You have chosen your communities. You have investments that you have protected. So picture your street, your neighbors, the trees that you see from your windows, the quiet home that you come home to. Now imagine tomorrow the city comes in and says, "Oh, by the way, five block uh five houses on your block are being demolished for 10 years. Your street's going to be a construction zone. Your home value, sorry. Your peace, sorry. Your ability to maintain an income compromised. Your ability to sell and start over somewhere else because of some unforeseen life event. Well, that's destroyed. Sorry. How would you feel? Would you think that's reasonable? Would you say, "Well, it's for the greater good. We're going to have better water." Or would you stand up and you say, "This is my home. This is my life. This is my livelihood. If this is truly the only path forward, it will if this will genuinely protect lives and property, then I understand. Public good requires sacrifice. I'm not naive about that. But this is what I'm really asking. If you're going to spend millions on this project, you got to spend money on the people you left behind who it seems like you are asking to make a massive sacrifice to make things better for all. You need to compensate us to look after us not as an

afterthought, not as a gesture, but truly as a moral obligation. You're asking us to sacrifice our livelihoods, our home values, maybe even our sanity for the next 10 years. When we moved in in 2019, we had no guarantees about life. But we certainly didn't expect this to happen to our neighborhood. We deserve answers. We deserve every homeowner on this block who is affected deserves mitigation. And we deserve to be more than collateral damage in your flood control plans. I came here tonight because I'm scared. Clearly, I'm emotional about this and I apologize if I've offended anyone. I'm almost 61. I'm going to be in my 70s when this is done. And I need to work. I want to enjoy my home and my neighborhood. I don't have the money or the time to pay a team of lawyers to fight what's going to be most likely a losing battle against sizable power and resources. So, I've did what all I can do is I've shown up here. I've handed out flyers to my neighbors and I'm here speaking and I'm just asking that you see us understand the human cost of this. Yeah. You're asking people live right across the street from a construction site for 10 years. See the block. See me. See the neighbors. See Dave. See our families. Not as obstacles to the project because apparently we are, but as people whose lives in ability to make a living hang in the balance. [gasps] Sorry if I went over. Thank you. Uh, thank you very much. Um, are there any other questions for members of council? I have my own questions that I have not asked or comments made yet. So,

how many bites of the apple, Mr. Teeman? Uh just two quick questions uh that have uh shall we say arisen uh noise and odor after the uh operation. Did I don't believe MSD discussed noise and odor about the project after it becomes operational. I just have two quick questions. Yes, that's one. Um as far as odor after construction, that will be handled through an odor control system. So it's a carbon type system that will treat any any odorous air that would come back out of the tunnel. So there will be odor or

odor control. Yes, it'll be an improvement as compared to today. Okay. So I'm presuming you're say there will be odor control. Okay. Uh second question, uh will there be pump stations and near surface sewers of any sort? Um, so to finish answering your first question, as far as post construction noise, no, there will be nothing appreciable. It just again it's it's it's like a standard sanitary or storm manhole that will be on site that discharges water down into the tunnel. Okay. Um, to maybe ask your last question one more time to me.

Uh, will there be uh pump stations or near surface sewers of any sort at this right now? No pump stations in University City related to the tunnel project. Near surface sewers, yes. Again, the tunnel only gets so close to all the permitted CSOS. So that's the red, yellow, and green dots on those maps. The near surface sewers. So, one of the handouts, I believe, shows kind of a broad paintbrush of a potential corridor for those near surface sewers. Again, we got to collect all the dots and get them to the tunnel so we can get all that sewage into the tunnel. But no pump stations related to this project. Thank you. Uh, honorable mayor, I thank you and my fellow council members for your indulgence. A rather lengthy question. Thank you, Council Member Smotherson.

Yes, sir. Mayor, thank you very much. Um, but I I'll try to be short and quick with this. Uh, I just simply wanted to say um with the last speaker that actually spoke and I absolutely understand your concern and your feelings because I went through this with the wastewater tanks back in 2017. But what I want to say and I want to make sure that everybody is clear about MSD is not here to to solve the flood control. This is not a flood control and is not part of the project. Meaning they're not here to solve our problems. What MSD has been has been um decreed to do is improve the water quality. So bottom line is this and I it's just a simple way I can say it. MSD is here to solve their problem, but they're not here to solve our problem.

Um, I don't have any questions, so I just have a couple of comments. You're welcome to stand if you'd like or sit down. Um what I what I really would like to say to everybody and as council member Hails uh indicated um you know we know it's a problem for the greater community and I think if any community in University City, any community in St. Louis County gets the fact that we know what's for the greater good. I think the folks in University City get that. We truly truly do get that. However, we've been here before and this plan is different than what you gave us some time ago. So, I want to make sure I do say that to you. I also want to make sure that I say to you that you came into a community that, unless I'm missing it, has to be one of the single most politically engaged communities in St. Louis County. and you didn't expect these residents to have communications with their council members. It just strikes me as I don't get it. But I do put it in the reference of as council member Hail said and as council member Smotherson I don't believe that council member McMahon may have been on but I remember you coming into this chamber 10 years ago or so and the staff of MSD walked in this room sat back at that table and they said you have two choices. You have A or you have B. Please tell us in the month, do you want A or do you want B? There wasn't a conversation. There wasn't any type of dialogue. It was sitting back at that table being told

that we had option A or option B. Neither of those options ever came to fruition, nor was there virtually any communication since then. So we understand the problem that you have but we want to make clear that you understand that we do not feel that you are coming at this with clean hands with our community and that is your issue that you have to resolve. Our community does not intend to take the financial burden of what you plan to put on us. We love our parks, but we have a hard enough time maintaining what we've already got. We like our tax base and we are growing it. But you are taking property off our tax roles. We have folks who love their neighborhood, love their homes, and they are going to take a hit for quite some period of time, not just financially, but emotionally. So, this is not a council that you had 10 years ago when you walked in and said A or B. We appreciate the problem that you have and we want to work with our with the greater community to solve this problem, but we expect you to deal with us with respect and with open communication. Thank you. Unless there's any other questions, we will move on to the next item on our agenda, which I believe uh acting city manager is the cup.

Yes, honorable mayor Crow. This next item is a conditional use permit to allow for a gasoline station and convenience store. Um I would ask that interim planning and zoning director Becky Alvin step forward to present this item and answer any questions you all may have. Good evening, Mayor and Council. Becky Alvin, interim planning and zoning director. As uh as Miss Sharp said, before you is a C is CUP 24-04, a conditional use permit application to allow for a gasoline station and convenience store. This um it is would be located at 7430 Olive Boulevard, the southeast corner of Olive Boulevard and North Hanley Road, previously occupied by Pete's Market until December 31st of 2024. The conditional use permit before you was approved by the planning commission at on September 25th, 2024 with the following conditions. the property at 7430 Olive Boulevard shall be kept up to all the city's property maintenance standards. And number two, the buildings and signage at 7449 Olive Boulevard shall be raised and debris and storage tanks shall be removed prior to issuance of occupancy permit for 7430 Olive Boulevard. Additional public safety conditions are attached to the CUP as outlined in police chief Larry Hampton's memo which is also attached in your report. There any questions for me at this time?

Uh before we have any questions is there I would like to is there a motion on the floor for this item? Motion to approve the CU 24-04. Is there a motion? Motion made by council member Fuller. Is there a second? Seconded by council member Teeman. We now have a motion on the floor. Are there questions of staff regarding the cup? I know we do have one request to speak also just so everyone knows. Council member McMahon. Just I just wanted to be clear. The the conditions included the memo from the chief. Those are conditions.

Correct. And then my question I think probably for Mr. Mulligan, I think a lot of what those what the chief brought forth are some of the reasons why we began to move forward on this topic. And my question from the city attorney would be if they're not complied with, what's our recourse? uh uh mayor, members of the council, uh the city could uh take action uh to revoke the the cup. Uh also there could be uh action taken um to prosecute for violating the conditions of the cup. Uh so those those are options uh available to the city. So, uh, th this is the those conditions are are certainly enforcable.

Are there other questions? Okay. I'm sorry, Council Member Smson. Thank you, Mayor Crow. Um, very quickly, I just simply wanted to know is there what or does the company have any plans once the um the former lot is raised and and we have that cleared, will that go up for sale? And is there any plans on selling that and having anybody looking at that lot? Because again, here we are. We're going to have another empty lot. And I'm just wondering if we if they have any plans to help in um getting that occupied.

That's not um I don't have the answer to that, but I can definitely get an answer for that for you. I do believe that uh their attorney, Elizabeth Lum, is here and had made a request to speak. So maybe either uh Miss Lum or the client can both provide whatever information they'd like to provide and answer that question. If you please give your name and address.

Sure. Thank you. Uh Elizabeth Lum 7711 Coranderlet Sweet 800. Uh the zip code is 63105. I am council for Circle K, which is the applicant. And um you know, it's taken us a bit to get here, but we'd like to thank the city for uh its cooperation and also for Chief Chief Hampton. Um uh Mr. Smotherson, to answer your question, uh there is a broker uh that represents Circle K. I believe they've had a couple of uh calls, emails, uh about the property. So, uh it is currently being marketed and I think they've got some plans to do something with it, although I don't know how imminent those are. Um I do have with me, um make sure I get everybody right. Um Matt Fogerty with Premier Engineering who did the designs that are in your packet. also Preston Amos and Tim Kaufman with AKG Development and Jason Kenning with Circle K, uh, who may be a able to answer any questions you may have. Thank you.

Other questions from members of council? Council member Fuller. Um, thank you, Mr. Mayor. And this is part of the uh and I don't know whether to ask John this or legal counsel from Circle K, but part of the raising of the property also includes removal of the current tank. Is that correct? Thank you.

Uh please let the audience know that the answer was yes, it does include the removal of the tanks. Are there other questions? Uh, I I would like to first off thank the uh police chief for doing the work on this with the crime mitigation. Uh, and I had conversations with several of my colleagues. And I do want to make sure to circle K that the reason our police chief and the city had to put these items in a cup is because you were not a good corporate citizen for the past several years. So please understand that I assume that this will probably pass tonight but it will pass without my support. You have not operated as a good corporate citizen in University City. I look forward to you being a better business across the street. But I will assure you that the members of council tonight, whether they vote for or against it, will be paying attention because we know how the business has been operated for the past several years. If there are no other questions or comments, all those in favor of item number L3, please signify by saying I. All those opposed, please signify by saying nay. Nay. The item has passed. Miss Sharp, we will now move forward with item number four. Yes, honorable mayor Crow, members of the city council. This next item asks you all to consider

um it's essentially a renewal agreement with the farmers market. Um, it's a facility use agreement to allow them continued use of the parking lot at Centennial Commons for the Thursday and Saturday market. It also allows for use of the He-Man Park Community Center um during the winter months uh for special holiday markets and whatnot. A few updates since we last spoke about this. Um the farmers market was able to secure a university city address. So they are eligible for the uh resident rate now which does reduce their cost from I believe it was $800 per month to $400 per month. Um they have also requested a staff member on site from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. uh on Saturday mornings during the nonpool season. During pool season, it's irrelevant. They open at 600. Um, outside of pool season, Centennial Commons does not open until 8:00 a.m. And, uh, usually when they're arriving at 6:00 a.m. They need use of the restroom. Um, so we have agreed to provide a staff member, but they are to cover that cost for the staff member to be on site for those two hours, and that is not to exceed $800 per year. Um that number was calculated using the uh like an average rate for the workers at Centennial Commons um times the number of Saturdays that they would need that. So um this has gone to the park commission. Uh we did make one other adjustment. Instead of the park pavilion rules applying uh to the farmers market, they will go by the special event rules. And the reason for that switch was essentially to allow them to continue with the petting zoo, uh, which is apparently very popular for the farmers

market. Um, and the park pavilion rules did not permit that. So, um, we've all agreed to that. This agreement will be for one year. Um, they are very happy with the location. As you know, we did a trial last year and it worked out well for them at Centennial Commons. They were able to get new customers. um they're in the path of you know grocery stores. So I think that they are doing a great job uh business-wise. So uh with that I can take any questions you all may have.

Is there a motion? Motion made by council member Briner. Second by council member Fuller. Are there questions of Miss Sharp or the staff? Hearing none. All those in favor please signify by saying I. Opposed? The eyes have it. We'll now move forward to uh new bills. Bill number 9578. Who would like to introduce? Council member McMahon. Madame Clerk, may we have the first reading? Bill 9578, an ordinance authorizing the city of University City, Missouri, to issue its taxable industrial revenue bonds, 8021 Olive Boulevard project series 2026 in a principal amount not to exceed $8 million for the purpose of for the purpose of providing funds to pay the cost of acquiring, constructing, and improving a facility for an industrial development project in the city, approving a plan for the project, and authorizing the city to enter into certain agreements and take certain other actions in connection therewith.

Thank you very much. We now have bill number 9579. Who would like to introduce? Council member Smotherson. Madame clerk, may we have the first reading? Bill 9579, an ordinance approving a final plat for a minor subdivision of a track of land to be known as Purdue Avenue lot split.

Thank you very much. We'll now move forward to council reports and business. Are there any council reports from members of the council? Uh the only thing I would like to do is both for uh my colleagues on the council and then to the general public. Uh as you know, our city manager Gregory Rose has announced his retirement effective date as of I believe February the 6th. uh council has retained uh the company called MCT which is the successor to gov HR which did our search that found Gregory Rose several years ago. We've retained Lee Zimorski to do the search who has done a number of the searches in the St. Louis County area. We are working on a timeline to both have uh the consultants come in and meet with senior members of staff and with members of council. And we will also have a public forum for our citizens likely later this month. We will get notices out so that people can come to participate more than likely at the community center so that then the consultants can use that to prepare the dossier on the city to boot move forward excuse me with the search. Uh please note that uh our council, this sitting council does not intend to make the hiring decision for the next city council for excuse me for the next city manager, but will uh wait and have the resumes approved by the next council that will be seated after the April elections. With that being said, any questions that you may have about the process, please direct them to the city clerk or to myself and we will get that information back to you. But we hope to start the interviews in the next couple of weeks with staff and with council members and then with the general public so we can get the dossier out uh nationwide. With that, unless there are anything else regarding council members, do we have any other requests to speak? Madame clerk,

there are none.

Thank you very much. Those are closing comments. So yeah, got that part. Are there anything any no citizen? There's no citization. We are not going into executive session. So, council members, do you have any final closing comments for this session this evening? I can't believe you guys don't have any. This is like almost a first. You must be worn out. I've only got uh three very quick ones for everyone. Uh number one, I think we all recognize that the vast majority of our budget goes to public safety. Public safety is our number one priority, whether it be police or fire. And public safety is brought about in many different fashions to help protect our citizens. And I would like to pass along our condolences to Officer Mans and to the police department and the loss of our K-9 officer Rhino who was with us for 10 years keeping our city safe. I also think most people may remember Ethel Mariam. Ethyl Mariam was 102 years old. We'd like to to uh pass along our sincere condolences to her family. Mrs. Ms. Miam was an avid swimmer. She was known for swimming laps every day at Heman Park and walking a mile every day to stay strong. Her adventurous spirit led her to be one of the first female volunteers in the US Navy during World War II. After enlisting, she transferred to Waves Women accepted for voluntary emergency services, part of the Navy reserves, and served as an accountant in Banebridge, Maryland. She served her country for 38 years, rising to the rank rank of captain. In 2023, World War II Army veteran Captain Ethel Mariam was honored at the rededication of the He-Man Park Memorial Fountain, hosted by the University Parks 100 Commission. We just simply want to pause to remember

Miss Miriam and honor her service to our country. With that being said, the that time has passed. The announcement was made at the very beginning of the meeting. Absolutely. I said, "Was there any requests to speak?" And she said, "There were no requests to speak. The time has passed. Is there a motion to adjourn?" Motion made by council member Team and seconded by council member McMahon. Is there discussion hearing? None. All those in favor, please signify by saying I. I. Thank you very much for coming this evening.