City Council - Regular Meeting

We're live. Good evening everyone. I'd like to call the study session of the University City City Council to order at 5:30. Before you uh to my colleagues, you have the agenda for the regular meeting at this time. Does anyone have any changes to that agenda? Hearing none, Miss Sharp.

Honorable Mayor Crow, members of the city council, tonight we have with us the project team for the Great Rivers Greenway Centennial Greenway project, which will extend from I70 to Heman Park. Um and with that I would ask that the team step up to uh give you all the presentation and then they will take um probably have questions for the council and then you can ask questions for them of them as well. If you'll hit the button at the bottom the green light will come on and you'll probably have to stay relatively close to the microphone just so you know. Okay. Okay.

Thank you so much. Uh my name is Gabby Danbeck. I'm a civic engagement manager for Great Rivers Greenway. Along here with me I have Mara Perry. She's the project manager for this project. Um up on the screen here, I don't know if you guys want me to flip it. Okay. Um I can show you guys just a couple slides of what we've got going today. So I wanted first to show you guys our project team for this project. Like Brooke said that this will go from Hean Park to I170. So you have me and Mara who are representing Great Rivers Greenway. We also have an engagement team that I am working with to help us with um public involvement, getting community feedback with Shocki Consulting. We have Laura Kurtie and Beth Quindry. We also have Confluence Inc. We are working with Andrew Holtzman, Hank Meyers, and Chris Klene. And then also at Horner and Shiffron, we have some engineers, um, Ramen, Jervis, and Brady as well. Next, I just have a few things to go over with you. We just have a very short presentation today. Nothing too um tasking for us to go over today, but basically, we're going to give you a project understanding and a couple tasks. um an overview of the project and then we'll have some questions and time available for that as well. Um so if you flip to the next slide in your packet, you'll see an overview of who GRG is. I'm not so sure if everybody here knows who we are, but I always give a brief presentation about who we are as an agency. We are the regional multi-county public agency for parks, um greenways, and trails in St. Louis City, St. Louis County, and St. Charles County. We are actively building over 20 greenways in our 3count region and currently have over 140 miles of planned, designed and built greenways so far. Um we also have over 250 successful working partnerships with agencies like you, nonprofits, organizations, municipalities, all kinds of people we work with. Um and then our whole goal here is to create a lasting

legacy of greenways for people to enjoy. Um, you can see in the tiny circle there in our region is where we're working on today. And then I'm going to zoom in just a little bit. Oh, before I do that, I'm going to describe what a greenway is. Sorry, I got a little bit ahead of myself. Um, a greenway is more than just a linear trail. It is more like a linear park. We are doing conservation. There's a lot that goes into creating a trail from design to planning to engineering. Um, we are also working with um neighborhood connections. We want to make sure that people who are going to be using the greenway have input on what they are going to be seeing in their community. Um, we also have trail heads. We have amenities and we have the public give input on what that looks like. Um, the last thing we have is a sustain a sustained team. They help with maintenance on the greenways when municipalities can't do it all themselves. They help with conservation projects. They help with programming the greenways, whether it be bird watching or um slushies on um in Hean Park or whatever it could be, anything like that. So, it's more than just the bicycle and pedestrian trail that you see physically. Um it is a whole linear park space. So, now we're going to zoom in a little bit. This is our whole um Centennial Greenway segment that you can see within uh St. Louis County. and I'm going to pass it over to Mara to talk a little bit about more about what that looks like.

So, thank you. Um, Centennial Greenway for a lot of people, each of our greenways has a name. Um, and those greenways are means of making connections to different areas. Our Centennial Greenway is intended to go from Forest Park all the way out to Crecore Park and actually to make your connection to St. Charles County. So, at some point in time, once we make all of these connections, you will be able to bike from Forest Park all the way out to St. Charles County, we also have other greenways that'll take you from Forest Park all the way to the arch grounds is what we're working on now. So, making all those connections, providing these amenities for these various communities. You can see here, anything that's solid green is already a built greenway. Everything that's in a dash line is something that we are currently working on. Um and we highlighted in red this next section, this segment that we would like to work on with your community in partnership. Um so what we are looking at um for those that know it we do have already within your community Acur Walkway which makes that connection from Forest Park um in and connects a little bit through in Washington University. Um from Akrit Walkway to Heman Park, we're currently partnering with St. Louis County on a project on Vernon. Um that particular project has matching federal funds to replace the roadway as well as to put in a 10- foot wide shared use path. Um we were able to partner with them. So we put down 25%, county put down 25% and the remaining 50% for that project is covered by federal funds. Then when you get to the other side, this is the project that we're um asking to work on within your community. We're working on trying to find a connection from He-Man Park all the way to 170 because at 170 we have an existing greenway that's already built that takes you all the way down into Clayton to Shaw Park. It also takes you up north and connects you under I70 along Olive.

And so making those connections are very important to us. Then just to let you know some of the sections that continue further. Um the section just past that that's Dealman to Olive. It took us seven years of working with a railroad, but we finally have the ability to work and make that connection. It's in design to make the connection from Olive all the way up to Dealman. We just over the last summer did a ribbon cutting for the section that goes from Dealman all the way to Five Oaks at Warson within the city of Olivet. We then have funding and are in design for the next section that takes you up um through one of the industrial park areas and onto Bower. Bowerer then takes you to um US67 which is also is Lindberg Boulevard. Um that section we have received federal funding to do design for a bridge to get bikes and pedestrians over Lindberg which is you know one of those ones that's very difficult for people to cross. Once you get to that next section after you get over Lindberg we are also partnering with St. county and did the same sort of funding like Vernon on Chutes Road. That's going to take you all the way down to a larger Amarind corridor with the one last section that we are not currently working on. Um but we're getting close to and then as you get further, we're working on some other connections that are going to get you all the way to Crecore Park. Um the importance of all of these happening right now is that typically some of our projects can take four to five years from the point where we start in the early planning working with the community finding out what they want finding out what the city wants to have or can sustain. Um and then by the time we get into construction it can be four or five years down the road. So the fact that all of these sections are in the stage that they are is really important because it is something that could happen quite soon for this uh particular area and community. Um the process that we are uh suggesting to do with your community is that we would like to um start meeting with stakeholders talking with various stakeholder groups within

the community about this particular location. About 10 years ago um 10 to 12 years ago in about 2014 we did work with residents and uh the uh council within U city about this particular connection. At that time, the route that was being discussed was something that the residents were not very interested in. Um, a resident came and reached out to us a few years later and had suggested that maybe there might be another route that he had biked that we could look at. Um, so we looked at that. We put it onto some of our maps. Um, and we are wanting to revisit it again to see if maybe this would be a better route or a better connection. Um so I idea would be to after we meet with stakeholders and start um doing some analysis of the area to potentially have an openhouse in March of this year. After that we would go back to stakeholders um your various boards and commissions, meet with them to talk more about some of the ideas that have come out of those meetings. Um then we would try to in with our consultant team work out some alternate various uh routes that could potentially be uh used and get the feedback from the community, from the council, from your various boards and commissions, other stakeholders. Um and then we would have another openhouse to talk through those alternates, what's been found and determine whether there might be a potential route. We then go to the point where we do a report so that we can kind of get a sense of is this something we would pre present to the council that you want to move forward with and if so we would then move into design. Um when we get into the sections of moving into things like design that would take us through 2026 into 2027. The earliest we would probably do some sort of construction would be 2028 or 2029. Do know that the section on Vernon with St. Louis County is supposed to start construction in like 2027. So thinking about all those connections and how you would make those things

work. So we just felt that it was important to talk with you and just get get a sense of whether this is something that we should continue to move forward with. Um the red dashed line is the study area we would be looking at. Um do note that our team is very understanding that there is flood plane and floodway and there's many things that we need to take into consideration. That is why we do have an engineering team that um is familiar with regulations related to flood plane and floodway. Um we also would want to work with University City School District um and other groups to make sure that we're taking everything into account. Um again, you can kind of see on the map some of the connections that we're trying to make to existing greenways and potential future greenways. Um, and we just wanted to make sure that as we came in to talk to you, um, that we would open it up to see if you had any questions about our process, any concerns about us moving forward with this process with the community. Um, and just to say that we we'd love to come and continue to work with the city of University City in making these kinds of connections uh, both for walking, biking, commuting, um, and for some getting to school. So, any questions?

Are there questions from members of council for our colleagues from Great Rivers Greenway? Council member Fuller.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you for your presentation. Um, when the initial project came through, I was in one of the subdivisions and remember all this discussion. When this is all said and done, who's responsible for the maintenance of this project as it we we uh previously attended the county's presentation where they're going to change Vernon over and then the maintenance of the of the trail and I I wouldn't say policing necessarily, but just making sure that it's maintains a public way. Who's who's going to take care of that afterwards? That's my question.

So, when we work on these projects, we always start very early with talking with the cities about operations and maintenance. We typically turn over operations and maintenance once we have completed the construction of the greenway to the community or the entity that is uh responsible for that area. So, um, if it's within a county right ofway, if we end up having the route going down north and south, if I'm remembering that's county rightway, um, that would be something that they would we would have an operations and maintenance agreement with them for that section of what they would maintain. anything else that's within the city of University City, we would have that conversation before we get into design in this early planning stage about what you can maintain, what you want to maintain, and um and how it could be maintained by the staff that you currently have within whether it's your parks department or your public works department.

Yes, Council Member Clay. Uh thank you, Mayor Crow, and thank you for the presentation. I um I am not a cgrapher. So I I think I need some assistance with understanding where exactly this goes up Vernon. So is it is it just is it Vernon? Does it go where um transitioned to Balsson? Like how?

So the the Vernon section which is a completely separate process than this one that Vernon section um is going from where Acert Walkway comes up right at the fire station. Um they're going to enhance the crossing across Vernon there. It's going to be on the north side of the street the entire way until it gets to He-Man Park. When it gets to He-Man Park, there is a a section currently when you get just a little bit past uh the eastern edge of the park. Um there is currently a wider path that you can go on. Mhm.

They're going to make a connection into that wider path and then the remainder of the sidewalk for the rem the the last section of Heman Park is going to be replaced in kind in lo in the same location. But the remainder of the section going from the fire station all the way to the connection into Heman Park. That will all be a 10- foot wide shared use path that will have a little bit of a buffer between the roadway and the 10 foot wide shared use path. Um St. Louisis County. We held a couple public meetings back in Gabby. It's been a year now, hasn't it? January of five.

Okay. So, January of 2025 is when we January of 25. Gosh, that feels like a long long time ago. Um, we held uh meetings with the public and met with other groups with St. Louis County for that section. Um and they are currently um starting into um talking with various uh property owners about replacement of like if they if they're going past a driveway, how to replace the driveway and making agreements for temporary construction easements if they are needed. But essentially they're trying to work within the existing right ofway. So they are narrowing the um the actual roadway. It's not going to be two lanes of traffic in each direction. County is doing one lane of traffic in each direction and a center turn lane. Um they're also enhancing some of the pedestrian to make it safer to cross Vernon at some of the key intersections along that section.

Okay. And uh my my next question was um we had a and this may be outside of your your province, but um we had a uh a process here uh with the third ward task force. Um there's some dollars coming from the markets at olive, the Costco and and it's to be used in the third ward which is olive basically olive to page. Um and out of that process there were a lot of um one of the things that emerged a lot of people seem interested in in the third ward was walkability. Um it actually was a little surprising to me how how high it was in the in the priority list. Um I I I don't know if you have seen that. Um I don't know if there could I don't know any collaboration or or any work understanding some of the dynamics around Olive in particular um and making that more walkable in the work that you are are doing. But I just offer that as maybe something that in your planning you could consider um as we attempt to move forward with our third war task force plan. We are definitely aware aware of that area. Um, and right now because our greenway already goes up, we don't necessarily want to make any other like par like connections. We're trying to connect down to Heman Park and so the question might be would someone already take our existing greenway, but there are potential connections to connect to our greenway in other ways. So that can be definitely a part of the study and the conversation. um we don't do just updated um sidewalks. We really do our shared use paths. So, at a minimum, we want it to be 10 to 12 feet. Um which doesn't always work. It can't be something that can be in in every area of the community, but we try to see how

we can make the proper connections on accessible sidewalks and connections to get into our greenway at some point to make that like sort of larger commuting area. But do know, we're very aware of that. we have that on our list to uh get more information about that whole area of the redevelopment. Um and in talking with St. Louis County about other projects, they had told us also to be very aware because they've been hearing about making um better pedestrian connections from that from Olive in that development.

Um a couple of things. I think the last time that when you were taking us back down memory lane that probably had more of a of a challenge because I think at that time the route was going through some private neighborhoods and now we're doing all public unless I am as I as I see that. And then the second thing I would ask is along Vernon the we have a number of residents who I I believe either have more cars than they have driveways for or simply we have folks we park on. So, I'm assuming we're going to be asked the question, is parking going to be similar to what it currently is?

Yes. So, um in the design study, we did meet with uh representatives from your fire department, police department, public works, uh parks. I think also planning was at our meetings. Um there is on street parking remaining in particular in areas where people don't have um or where depending on where their driveways are and other things like that. Many times we like to keep um if we're going to have on street parking we make sure the on street parking is actually adjacent to the greenway makes it safer for people walking. They don't have cars racing past them. They have parked cars next to them. So, I do know that county specifically ensured that areas that had um that needed to have more parking were still going to have parking on the street.

And then is there one primary point of contact for the city to you or do you are you having multiples? So, we typically use um Gabby um because she's our community engagement um uh staff member to this particular project goes through Gabby um but then I'm available for all kinds of questions and and any concerns and then the flip side uh Brooke the who's is there one main for for us to them or or do we have a foration of people? Uh so Mela is the primary contact, the director of public works, and then they'll be making outreach to the parks commission and the traffic commission or that may have already occurred.

So they did present to the parks commission last week. Um and I think we did discuss the traffic commission, but we put them before parks before they came to you just in case parks had any recommendations. Thank you, Council Member Smotherson. Thank you, Mayor Crow. Um just a quick question on the panel just before well if you go back two panels and one more I think right here yes you have project area but then when you go ahead to the next panel you've reduced that project area so that's I'm trying to understand are you eliminating olive from this project I mean because again you have it marked here

but

so we're looking at the overall project area of the larger one for when we're talking to the community of how can we make connections within the entire area but we are trying to focus a little bit down because for 12 years ago um there were some areas that were recommended by residents so we're sort of using that as a starting point um we're also very particular we do not have the ability to use eminent domain or condemn property so when we look at where our greenways are going to go. We look at right ofway that's wide enough for us to get a greenway in. We also look at utility corridors and we look at old paper streets. Um so for us it's very important. So that's why it's narrowed down a little bit because we're trying to focus on what streets can we potentially look at, but we're still looking at multiple routes within those areas. And that map is more for our consultant team to start figuring out what sections do they need to um map out. And then if we when we when we would do a public meeting, we would talk about the much larger area. What should we be connecting to? Are we connecting to the high school? Are we connecting to Britney Woods Middle School? Um what are the various private schools? What are the parks that you have? Where should these connections be made? And it might be that we expand back out or make changes.

Council member Briner. Thank you, Mayor Crow. Um I see lots of potential in there because Wilson, which is what goes along the river towards He-Man, right? That's where we're buying property right now. Yes.

And then also there's a path already behind the green center. So I guess you guys have already checked all those things out. Those will be the initial um like maps and drawings that we share with the community to ask feedback. So yes, we have already started looking at where is their existing right of way. Um what have you purchased so far? Um many times you can work with getting um paths through areas like that. Obviously taking into account what kind of permits you need with FEMA and things like that. But yes, we have already started gathering that information. Um and Groby is a wide enough road that you can see potential. Is that what that is? Yes.

Yes. Groby and Old Bonum are wide enough that we do see the potential. And then many times again you can partner projects together. So if it happens to be something that you are needing to resurface or make improvements to that many times you can partner with us and our funding can help you sort of get you over that edge on getting a section redone, repaired um by adding our greenway. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Any other questions from members of the body hearing? None. We thank you very much for coming. Good luck.

Thank you so much. We do have some maps of our greenway if we want to. Sure. Thank you guys. Thank you very much. We will stand adjourned until 6:30.