Economic Development Committee - Regular Meeting

April 20th, 2026 here at city hall. This board of witness is a roll call of members. So, Miss Lo, would you please call roll? Chair Utenberg here. Council member Preston here. Council member Alers here. Council member Bockard present via Zoom. Council member Farmer. Council member Crayons here. Council member McCutchen here. Council member Trier. How many present?

Six. Five. All right. Great. We have a quorum. So, next order of business is approval of the minutes from the February 24th, 2026 meeting. Does anyone have any questions or comments regarding those minutes? Seeing none, I will entertain a motion for approval. Council member Preston makes the motion. Council member CR seconds. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor of approval say I.

I. Opposed. extensions. Okay, that's approved. Next, the minutes from the March 24th, 2026 meeting. And in this particular case, we did not have a quorum that night. So, um, do we city administrator Lee, do we still go through the approval process? Yeah, if we don't mind, we could have that. That'd be fantastic. Right. So, since there was no meeting there, I guess there's really nothing to discuss. So, I'll entertain a motion for approval of the March 24th minutes. I'll make that as well. All right. Council member Preston, seconded by Council Rans. Again, all those in favor of approval of the March 24th minutes, please say I.

I. I. Opposed, extensions. All right. Approved. Um, next we go to public comment. Director, do we have anyone online for public comment? Mr. Chair, we do have one person online and if that person would like to speak, if they could do the raise his hand feature, we'll promote you and allow you to speak. No, sir. No raise hand.

All right. Um, next we have two gentlemen here who I think are interested in the topic of um, quick service retail and I think they were involved in some recent discussions with the city and I wonder is it more convenient for them to speak now or would they uh, or would it be more appropriate for them to wait until we get to that topic? I mean, I'm I don't think the committee really has any preference with, you know, when they speak. So it Yeah, Director Bunich, I know one has a previous engagement with their son at the National Honor Society at 700 PM. So

then now would seem to be the time. So uh his mother So um gentlemen, if you would like to introduce yourselves to the group and um please tell us a little bit about, you know, why you're here and we would appreciate your input.

Sure. Uh my name is Mike Pettit. I'm the executive vice president location commercial real estate. Um we are a retail only commercial real estate firm, the only retail only firm in St. Louis. Other firms have office and industrial. Um some have all three. Uh we just do retail. Uh we leased several shopping centers up and down Manchester Road. We redeveloped uh Town Country Crossing and put REI in there and Parker and Cooper Hawk and others like that. Chase Bank. Um, so I do retail brokerage, typically true third-party. Um, so from anything from representing Dollar Tree across seven states to um, leasing these shopping centers I just mentioned to New Groundup Development, which we do a lot of. Um, I came from Sans Group for the first eight years of my career and I've been with location ever since for the last 12 or so. Um but uh and then Craig uh we're actually neighbors. We live in Homestead Estates. Uh Chris used to be a neighbor. Um Craig is my developer and has been since 2014, particularly on Dollar Tree. And then grew into large power centers in Popar Bluff, Missouri, Kirksville, Missouri, anchored by Hobby Lobby, and you know, uh I think Starbucks is on the Al Parcel, Wendy's, uh cell phone providers, things like that. So Craig's a retail developer. So, um, you know, being a true thirdparty broker, I had to utilize folks like Craig's development company to bring these to fruition. Um, and I've probably done over a hundred with Craig and both being residents of Wildwood, we've just driven by it quite a bit. uh kind of started with the macro perspective with Joe of hey I like Manchester and 109 across from Lafayette that kind of empty corner across from the nursery that seemed to have some

merit traffic counts and the retailers love to be by schools the kids typically you know frequent over there after school sometimes before um that one didn't go over as well because it wasn't in the town center which I totally get and then so we moved to the town center it's okay where the we're the best traffic counts I mean It's very factual. Our clients, you know, from Chase Bank to Club Car Wash, full disclosure, as a client, a very busy one, um to, you know, any QSR, quick service restaurant, you'll hear me say QSR a lot. Uh but they all chase the traffic counts. Um you know, when you go to the town center, you're picking 100, but if you go to 100 and 109, you get the benefit of both. And the retailers have scorecards. Like I could pull up a club one and they take the traffic counts of both roads. So it's highest there. Whereas if you took the traffic count of the street coming into the town center and 100 it would be less. So that's why we gravitated towards this intersection and frankly I started working on it for primrose school and that uh particular franchisee passed. Uh and then I started talking with Craig. I said, you know, there's there's a real need here. Being out where we are, which is pretty peripheral Wildwood off Reager and Pond. Um, it's 13 minutes to any drive-thru. So, I mean, selfishly, we're like, we need some drive-throughs. You know, we're we're on the go. I work 70 hours a week., you know, I'm running back down to St. Louis High. Just came from Clayton, so not a lot of time for sitdown restaurants. Um, I've seen the Facebook posts um of like requested restaurants and retailers and I've hit many of them with no success. Uh, but there are mainstream quick service restaurants and there are two car washes that would have interest among many

others. But I think first and foremost for Craig and I, particularly for Craig who had to cut a check to get into all due diligence and civil engineering costs, we want to understand that it's not a wasted effort. Um, I think everything Craig does is first class. Um, you go to any shopping center he's developed and you'll see like he goes above and beyond. I mean, you could drive by his home and see the same thing. Um, so, you know, we just um Am I missing anything? I'm rambling. I'm sorry. I'm trying to give you some background. Like I didn't just like throw a dart at this particular site. Like this was a research effort with Joe's help to kind of quarantine where's an acceptable area because you know the city does have a bit of a reputation that it can be tough to develop out here. So I wanted to kind of come in not as a bulldozer but kind of like as a community advocate. I was on the Bowwin comprehensive planning committee at the request of Mayor Pogue. And I think if you talk to him, he'd tell you like, yeah, the guy's, you know, trying to do the best he can for the city. Um, so it's no different here. I like the health where I live. And I mean, as Craig said on the way out here on a phone call, he's just, you know, we're here to do good. If people want it, if they don't, that's fine, too. But we think we have the experience to bring in first class development. I think whatever retailer we interact with, we can reinforce the architectural standards to make it blend in with the city. Um, I mean, there's fancy buildings of everything. I do a lot of work in Northwest Arkansas. Rogers in particular is a very hot community right now and they have all the latest and greatest concepts. Like, recognize I see that and I can tell that retailer like I saw what you did in Rogers. We want something like that or nicer here. So we can kind of leverage it and be an advocate too. But you know at some point we do need some support that you know

all this time and money that's about to be invested is a worthwhile venture and you know kind of a lack of blind side so long as we adhere to the process. So sorry if I just rambled a bunch but I figured that'd be the best way to get it out there for you. Great. So, what suggestions would you have for us going forward of things that we might do?

Um, does the reszoning the land so that it's compliant to being able to have those uses there would be great. Um, you know, part of our idea, and I don't know how much of this has been relayed or not, but there's a parcel south of the tree line and across the creek that we're just riding off. We could do a exit 11 coffee there all day. Like size-wise, it would fit. Forget zoning, just it would fit. But we're saying we're not going to do that. We'll leave that entire thing. Whether it's city park, green space, it gets incorporated a new trail extension. We're open to all that. As far as we're concerned, that is the cities to choose what gets done with it and to also serve as a buffer. But with that tree line filled in now, I mean, it's pretty good buffer to everything to the south. The folks to the west, I get it. We're closer. The thing I struggle with there is there is a car wash there in the gas station that's significantly closer to the one that we had proposed. Um, and I can tell you with 100% certainty the president of Club Car Wash would love to be on that southern lot. He asked me about it frequently. Um, they're a client. Uh, so I'm totally biased. Um, but I do think they're like the Chick-fil-A of car washes. If you've never been, uh, let me know. I can get folks pass and experience it to see if they think it's good operations, but their their real estate's very stringent. I know the rest of it, uh, equally as tight. So, um, trying to think anything else we're leaving off. You know, there were questions about stacking coming off the roundabout. Uh, we're fine with the curb cut being up close to 109. or further back to off of 109 or you know maybe it's both. You have a front set of curb cuts and a back set. Um but there seem to be kind of mixed

reviews of where that would be placed but recognize all of our site plans will accommodate full stacking at full capacity. So we don't design them to spill out to the street. It will not happen. Um, yes, we did have a double drive-thru lane proposed on a QSR. And, um, that is the market standard in which they operate. So, to go to a single lane, a couple things will happen. You're going to get them out of their proto and then you're going to stack really deep. That's where you will start to spill out if you don't allow them to have double stack. Um, just, you know, it's obviously been proven. every single Chick-fil-A in town has been remodeled in the parking lot to accommodate that same kind of design. You know, after COVID, things change drastically. Um, so there are noise and light concerns and sound concerns. Uh, Craig's big landscaping guy, so I'm fairly certain we could help address that. The lighting LED standards these days with shades, we can direct those pretty well. U, we can even turn down the temperature. We can turn it up. Uh but you know, as you can imagine, these days everything's fully adjustable. Um you know, he's built entire shopping centers, so to do two pad deals, no offense, but it's not like, you know, uh a huge endeavor for him. He's had a lot bigger problems on his plate. Um but Go ahead. I'm sorry.

I think you I think you covered a lot there and summarized everything uh very well. So my only comment that I was going to that you didn't touch on but you just touched on was the landscaping you know so is to provide the buffers and and uh extensive landscaping landscaping plan and the the lot closest to the the car wash obviously that has a a grade that slopes down towards 109. So we'd have to do some probably some retaining wall up front. Um we'll have to do our our calculations our cut and fill calculations and there probably be a retaining wall in the back. So, uh, and we would over over landscape that that top area buffer that's that's closest to the the residential neighborhood in the back there. Uh, we're going to clean up the uh, I would say fence line along is that Granberry.

Yeah, Canbury. Canberry. We're just going to eliminate the whole stretch because it's kind of like uh,

all overgrown. It's nice. Uh but you're you're talking top of the the line, top-notch uh quality and and and workmanship. um we'll build to the city building, you know, specifications and and like like I said, I mean, we we just were receiving a lot of uh I would say opposition um from the public over the past several weeks and uh where we felt like we were kind of starting to spin our wheels, you know, and and once again, I mean, I don't want to our intentions are are good and we want to do good and but if you need a lot of opposition in the process uh review approval. You know, time is, you know, time and money and it's a expensive endeavor. I mean, we're probably um two two and a half million before we even build buildings and you're probably looking at about total about around 9 million building cost. So, this is going to be anywhere between 10 and a half to say 12 million project.

Yeah. Uh when everything's said and done. So, we just want to make sure we're we're calculating our approach and and and in aligned. If we can find find alignment, um then we'll deliver. Are you are you able to address the issues with the uh residents? Can I let me let me go? Yeah. Is it Cambury people mostly not? So, so I just so everybody knows a little more background. I've worked a little bit here with Mike. got them all the HOA emails and I said I was right, wasn't I? Yeah, you're right.

I said they're not going to be kind to you. Uh but uh people in there's a double-edged sword here where we need the QSRs, but the people in Cambury and Main Street, the two that we're talking about are those first two coming off the roundabouts, right? Right.

Yeah. On the main street. Yeah. right there. And they're all sensitive to that because they were told that they basically have office buildings there once. That's that's I know Joe's shaking his head over there, but that's what they felt and you know, I'm just telling you what they they are saying. So, they're sensitive to that and they were going to have a meeting, but I guess you got Did you say your people backed out all the way on this? They don't want to go through with it. I thought I mean you're talking to the people right here. I it's us. Okay. I mean you canceled the meeting because I thought you said I canceled it. It sounded like the the proposed people didn't want to mess with it the way you

That's true. I mean after I left that meeting I felt like we had zero support. Um

you know I in hindsight I think the the attendance group may not have been representative of the city. Um, and spoke with Joe. He mentioned this meeting with us tonight. And like I said, I'm I'm here to help. I mean, we have plenty of other deals we could do, be working on, but we want to do it here. Like, we're trying to help. Um, we think we have practical users. It may not be what everybody wants, but for this project, we're trying to target users that are sustainable, that will be here for 50 years, not three years. Every restaurant that opens here, not every, but a lot of the restaurants here struggle because we don't support casual sitdown because we have young families that don't have time for that during the week.

I think all of us realize that stuff. Yeah. You know, I I don't know if a car wash fits a QSR lot. And and I think and I and I basically told a lot of residents that I didn't feel like there was any way that would go through with the planning and zoning and everything. I just didn't think that had a chance myself. And obviously the right restaurant, cafe, whatever, you know, you know, has more of a chance there, I think. And I could be wrong, but I'm just trying to fill everybody here what I've been involved in a little bit with these being in Ward 8. So, so that's all.

Thanks, CL. Jim, you were starting to make a comment. Yeah. What's the hangup with the residents? I guess they they just don't want noise for the blowers. Uh, it's fair fair concern.

Okay. So, the car wash is more of an issue. Yeah, I think the car wash the speaker boxes with the drive-thru has been mentioned, but we put that on the far northwest corner. So, basically like the roundabout in front of BP to try to alleviate that. Um, also Craig touched on it, but just to be totally clear that QSR on the north pad, so just south of BP, would be significantly below Cambury. That site that s excuse me, that site has more hill in it than you would actually think. the southern pad uh up against the creek is actually pretty flat, but that northern one goes up pretty good. We'll have to cut that out, so it'll be sitting down. Like if Camber is over here, it'll be sitting down quite a bit. So that alone is a pretty good sound barrier. But I did notice the BM when I was sitting on site kind of tapers flatter on the north side. So maybe we can kind of equalize it out to create like a uniform buffer. But so sound is one concern. Uh the lighting we've addressed, you know, LEDs are very controllable, so I get it. The old H hallogens did flood out a parking field, but we can control these better. Um none of them are 24-hour operators, and I wouldn't even frankly try to do that short of like a first class sea store whom I'm not speaking with, just to be clear. Um you know, uh trying to think about what other concerns we face.

Traffic, traffic, traffic, right? So, I don't think anybody's going to loop through Cambury to shortcut around. They're what they might do is they cut through the QSR from Main Street through the QSR to Camberry. They might shortcut that, but it'd be inefficient to go through the neighborhood. I think there were concerns about that happening. Hopefully, if Main Street gets connected or when it does from Crest View, you know, to here to there, you know, there is going to be some traffic. I think that's the point, but I think it's also obviously, you know, speeding will be regulated because it be more of a city environment. U but I think that's hopefully the point is to kind of connect the retail nodes.

What about the water pressure? What about the restaurant? Uh do you know is it a Chick-fil-A or McDonald's or So McDonald's is absolutely looking um they are looking at another site too. Uh I am their broker but not in Missouri in another state. So a friend of mine has Missouri saw him at the McDonald's broker summit in midFebruary where he enlightened me that we may not be it for him. It might be another site in town. Um so that's why I was I was a little uh there were a lot of assumptions. I was definitely McDonald's and it was definitely on the site plan. Those are just conceptual test fits. I think if you look at the site plan was like December when we did that.

So it's like four months old. So, it's undetermined. Undetermined. So, what kind of feedback? So, Chick-fil-A told me no. Chipotle told me no. Uh, Seven Brew told me no. Chase Bank told me no. Uh, I got several nos. Well, can that fit in there without an issue with the residents, the restaurant? Uh, yes, it fits real nicely. I don't know if uh conceptual plans on hand, but we're happy to throw it up there and discuss. How did everybody feel they saw McDonald's on your plans and assumed that you were going to put a McDonald's? Yeah. And I should have clarified that was on me. Uh but if you check the date, it's pretty old. I I didn't, you know, but but that's what everybody

Yeah. was saying u I can reply to them, too. So, um question here. So, you've been in the business doing this for quite some time. Yes. This probably isn't the first time you've proposed a project in a particular community and gotten a lot of push back. Yes. So, how do you go about overcoming that push back? I think what's your recommendation? I mean, we're certainly happen happy to have open forums with everybody, but I think we also want some guard rails on like if we invest this time and this money and we adhere to the guard rails, you know, do we have a path towards approval? because right now uh it felt uncertain.

Okay. So, one of the um issues we've run into in the past is when somebody has a particular proposal, people already have preconceived notions in their mind of what it's going to look like. So, when the subject of QSR comes up and they say, "Well, what's QSR?" And you finally get around to saying that it's fast food. They're picturing the old style McDonald's with the garbage cans overflowing. Or if you mentioned car wash, they're picturing a bunch of kids out in the parking lot and a couple of them have boom boxes going while they're, you know, drying the cars. So, you know, are there I mean, did you have conceptual drawings of what this might look like that you would be able to show to the residents or maybe like examples in other communities?

Yeah, absolutely. Um, and like I said, the typically the larger the retailer, the more apt they are to really jazz up the facade. Okay. uh to make it blend in with the community. Um you know, there's a allmasonry club car wash in Wville. There's a twostory fake completely fake twotory false facade in u Spring Hill, Tennessee, where I I just did a Dollar Tree next to it. Uh but it is a completely false second story just to blend in the architecture of that community that has false second stories. But, you know, if you're saying they need to match the masonry of the town center, they'd probably do that and then some.

So, I guess that's what I would see as a strategy for overcoming or sort of nipping some of that those preconceived notions in the bud right at the beginning would be pictures of what a typical u project like this might look like. So, they can see, oh, they're not going to be garbage cans overflowing. Oh, it's not going to look like the traditional McDonald's that I saw 30 years ago or whether it's McDonald's or something else. I don't know if that's something that could be provided to us that we could, you know, show the residents. I mean, is that making sense? Am I making

Yeah, you want renderings of it? We can we can send you renderings. We have brand decks on most of these retailers. Press can tell me when you go first if you No. And Mike, I just as we've talked several times and I thought, you know, I told you the the high traffic one like a McDonald's, you know, or Chickfil-A would would be obtrusive, I think, there in those things, but you now I was going to say Chipotle, something like that. They're they're not a real crazy, you know, drive-thru thing. Um,

yeah, they lane they call it now, but it's like a pickup window. I think I mentioned um um oh the roast the roast beef um lion choice lion's choice was there at the gas station. I think that'd be perfect there. You know, it's not not really and I don't I don't see those being real overflow that to back up onto Main Street and then to 109, which is one of the concerns you might have with a McDonald's being real high traffic, you know. Just just me thinking out loud. Well, the difference there is that, you know, Chick-fil-A probably produces what, four plus million dollars annual sales. Yeah. Chipotle might do two,

right? Hey guys, quick question. I've had my hand up. I've actually Sorry, Jason. I actually have three questions. One, on the car wash front, what's the estimated annual revenue? Two, how many people does it employ? And three, what's the fail rate? Um, it seems like Club Car Wash has been a huge success. I'm a big uh I'm a big fan. So, again, estimated revenue, people employed, and fail rate.

I'll have to get you estimated revenue. Um, they're three they'll be 300 strong by the end of this year. Um, they are ground leases are coveted by uh every publicly traded real estate investment trust. So, they're investment grade ground leases. They trade at a 6% cap rate. Um, I'm trying to think of what else with them. They're just they're headquartered out of Columbia. Like, yeah, I'm happy to give anybody a tour of their headquarters. I mean, these guys are a welloiled machine. Yeah, they just seem solid as a rock. And again, we've had a lot of businesses come and go. I'd love to see a business come and stay.

And that kind of goes into another comment is like modernize the amenities. What does the city look like in 10 years? You know, is the wash behind the gas station the best wash and the most vibrant one that'll be here? I don't know. I think it'll probably be a tunnel wash because most washes are at least 100 feet in length these days. The best ones that clubs likes to do is 150 because they can put more components in and deliver a cleaner vehicle. Um, so, you know, things do turn over. Stuff closes and stuff opens. It happens. Um, but I think it's also about providing the best amenities to residents. And right now we may not have that. I don't know. And I'm not picking on washes. I'm just saying in general.

But how often does Club Car Wash do renovations?

Club renovates it constantly. I was on a tour with them and their building was two years old and the president actually the chairman thought it was looking faded and it was not. He had the whole building repainted. And what I always tell landlords about club is or or sellers, whoever it is, whether it's ground lease or sale, is go on street view at any location, and tell me if the landscaping looks bad. They're all like immaculate, you know, green stripes, except for like Texas where we're in the desert. So, they're just a really run wellrun group. So, thank you. But I've never called a city and they're like, "Oh, thank goodness you're bringing us a car wash." You know, like nobody really says that. They all want, you know, typically a Chick uh Chick-fil-A or, you know, ger, which I totally get and endorse as well. So,

hey, thanks for clarifying that with filt on the end. That's my joke of the night. So, are there any other locations you looked at in Wildwood? Uh, there were not any where I thought I could get approved besides where I'm looking right now.

Okay. Uh, like I said, we kind of started a wider net um by talking about Clayton in 109. Um, I thought that had some merit. There's a tree line back there, so you could argue you leave that alone. You got a nice kind of buffer there without disrupting everybody's pretty nice old trees in that little patch of woods there. Um, and that was not zoned correctly and it wasn't really part of the town center. And I think, you know, trying to embody the overall general idea of south of 100 on the town center, um, and chasing traffic counts. Like somebody said in the meeting, "What about Old Manchester? There's a bunch of land for sale over there." Well, yeah, I get it. But it's 4,500 cars. That's why there's a bunch of land for sale there. And I'm going to be backing up to homes there as well. Um,

by the college, isn't there some property there? There is, but it's access challenge and there's a creek on the west side of 109 on Old Manchester. Uh, that's why one of the parcels on here my colleagues actually list that we're talking about. I think it's 12. Oh, no, excuse me. 2521 basically the northeast corner of Manchester, Old Manchester and 109. It's got a pretty good creek going through it and some topography. So getting your convenient access there from 109 is impossible because of the creek. You got to loop around on the bridge and come back on Old Manchester. So that would probably be pretty inconvenient in a retailer's mind. And then uh if you go any further south, you get away from that 100 traffic count. So you get away you get too far away from it and you're really banking on the old Manchester traffic count at 4500 instead of like 20,000 on Highway 100. So that gap from Old Manchester to 100 is a big deal just because of the traffic. The retailers go straight to the traffic count and look at it.

And would the retail do you mind if I ask? Uh would the retailers suggest uh would they look at it all the way down south to Manchester or is it passed like before that pretty much? Is this the site you were looking at? Is that the most southern most site they would consider both traffics? Probably because they have to go off the nearest cross streets. All right, very good. Um, Council Member Preston.

Yeah, I um I think I just wanted to bring up a number of points here just that um I mean I think this kind of goes in line with why we wanted to get that apartment complex um approved. And I think, you know, no offense Cliff, but the the people in Cambury seem to be pretty much anti-development no matter what. And it's ironic that they live in the only area in the city that's zoned for development. They're anti- that. And everything in that area is dated as hell. It's I mean the the car wash on both the BP station, the Philip 66 are closed half the time. And when they're open, those things I mean I don't think they've been touched in 30 years. Um you know we have a big beautiful neighborhood being built right there. We're at the confluence of the two major two of the major um you know roads in Wild in Wildwood coming from Eureka coming from Grey Summit. Um we have what five schools within 3 minutes of there um with a huge population base that's growing from both the new neighborhood plus the um uh apartment complex that'll be done in the next 18 months. Um I mean I just think this is one of these things that this should be a no-brainer that this is the type of development we want. Um, I mean, having a QSR there from someone like Mike who lives out um, kind of, you know, in the fringes of Wildwood, that would be a godsend. Um, just for convenience for families who are all in the same position as all of us. And it's, I mean, we have someone local who wants to invest local. And I mean, if we're trying to, you know, bolster EDC in the city, I mean, think about the tax dollars that we'll bring in from this in a period where we're facing diminishing um tax revenue from our sales tax. I mean, I think this should be a no-brainer that we look at this and say we need to do everything we can to pave the way for these types of developments to take place. Otherwise, what are we doing?

So, I mean, I just think it should be a no-brainer. And if you know we have to do some convincing to make the uh you know the public's you know opinion of this go but I mean these are the types of things I don't think we can just let the squeaky wheel from a few people be indicative of the city. I mean I think everyone in ward one would love something like this. They're not going to they're not going to show up to complain or support it because people generally don't do that. They'll show up to complain not in support. So I I just think this is something this committee and should recommend and I think we should wholeheartedly support it. Otherwise, I just don't think we're being quite honestly like sincere about wanting to bolster economic development. So,

so I'm gonna um Did you want to make Okay, Council Member McCutchen.

Yeah, I'm My concern is we need public input. Um like an open form or whatever, maybe some conceptual ideas of what it might be. We didn't we need to know what the public wants and what the public's going to support. and I you know a survey you know having residents from all the cities and not just the ward but it's going to be in we need public input if we don't know what they want then if we come up with something as a committee or as a council and the residents aren't going to support it they're not going to use it then it's going to move out too so I think public opinion is critical for this

perfect so I'm going to thread the needle a little bit here between uh Council Member Preston and Council Member Alers. Um I agree with Council Member Preston. We need something over in that area, but at the same time, we can't discount the concerns of Council Member Alers here. So, Council Member Preston mentioned the Town Center project that you probably have both seen just down the street here. When we first announced that the Town Center project would include high-end rental apartments, uh the immediate image that everybody had in their mind were the apartments that they moved into when they left mom and dad and moved out or that they lived in when they were in college. It wasn't until they saw pictures of what the actual project would look like that they started to develop a particular comfort level with that particular project. So that's why I go back to, you know, any pictures you would have of similar projects that you've done elsewhere. That goes a long way towards nipping some of these concerns in the bud because you know what happens when somebody hears car wash and they start talking to their neighbor and they say, "Well, my aunt Millie lived next to a car wash and it was horrible. She could never sleep at night." And if we can address some of those concerns up front, uh, we might get more serious consideration of a project like this. And then also if it can be sort of demonstrated maybe with some bullet points or whatever how you would address the concerns that council member Alers mentioned that would help as well. Is that a fair thing to say?

Fair thing. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I director Mr.

I I would I'm not being critical. I'd be a little more sympathetic to these guys. your emails back to them didn't go very well, you know, on when I was when you guys were trying to set up the meeting and and to be argumentative with them wasn't the right way to way to go. So, you know, if we would have had this meeting tomorrow, we would we might need extra security here. the way it was going. That's I'm just being I've seen what we go through here when there's opposition to uh projects.

I I appreciate the transparency. Uh when I was 26, I worked on the Walmart in Nellisville. So, I've been escorted out through security for by the residents didn't care for us too much, right? Uh but yeah, I appreciate it. There's a need and I'm on your side. I'm and and uh I think it's just got to be the a good fit. That's all. Yeah, I think uh we just we've honed in on such a wide net. I mean, we even talked about 109 and Wild Horse U where they did the new roundabout behind the gas station. There's some homes on larger lots and it

the Tobo drops off a little bit, but on the Wild Horse side there's maybe a flat acre or two. I said, you know, what about here? And that that was under the guise of the primrose school initially at that point. Um so that was even in the mix. I mean we've we've scoured every corner of the city trying to find something to do and I don't think you could find a bigger gap than Wildwood for most of these QSRs. I mean it's like a glaring hole.

And can some I'm sorry Joe I think I talked to you about this one. Some of the banks that are empty, they they could not be switched over to a restaurant if or would it take a reasoning thing? There's there's several banks that have drive-throughs and they're they're here in the town center on the outskirts and up in the is it West Glenn Village there. You know, there's village plaza. Village. Yeah. Central banks there. And then electro savings. Electro Savings has a prohibition in the sight specific ordinance that says it can only be a bank. Okay. With drive-throughs or an office building,

either of them seem viable right now that would have to go through a develop I mean the u the owners of that facility. city council would have to amend the ordinance, but the reason it was placed in the ordinance is homes back directly to that common boundary and there is no buffer. So, um, council member France has a question and then I think one of you gentlemen has a commitment, correct? Council member France.

Well, um, we've talked about a drive-thru a while and um, we need one. That's what the public wants. Uh that's the way it works today. Both uh spouses work. Uh but now I'm finding out we don't have room for a drive-thru. So where are we going with that? I mean uh it's a dilemma. These are really two lots that Yeah. Candy. I'm being told this is probably the only spot for it that makes sense. It's a great location for it, too. I mean, that's where I mean, how many think about the number of schools with the people are going to pass by that every day.

Yeah. Well, we're faced the reality of Wildwood right now. And there's nowhere west of here that's even a potential, right? So, I guess what I'm going to do, unless anyone else has any other questions or comments, Director Brun. So, just to be be clear, the feedback that we received was at the public hearing the city initiated. I'm sure if the developers had proceeded forward with the resoning, it would have been a much more refined proposal. They would have had the drawings, the landscaping plan.

Sure. Tom and I were just basically following the direction of the economic development committee and doing the pre-zoning to try to start the process, kickstart the process, and hopefully use the project these two gentlemen were proposing as a template to see, okay, how do we refine this and make it work better? So, I'm afraid we've muddied the waters more so than anything, and that that wasn't the intent. Tom and I have talked and unless the EDC, you all as the committee tell us differently, we're going to proceed forward with the with the resoning proposals and try to address the concerns. And the last thing I'll say, Mr. Chair, is one of the concerns I think surprised us all, and it was everybody didn't like the roundabout at Main Street and Route 109. They were all complaining about people not adhering to the rules of the road. the concerns about just speeds in it. And that's something I think our Department of Public Works can address. I can assure you they did reams and reams of research as we proposed the first one and followed up with all the others we have. But that was surprising to me.

I think it's fair for me to also acknowledge too, I don't think it's the wrong path that we've taken. Uh on my end it's it's I look at cost too and you know just my civil engineering alone proposal alone is $125,000. So before I you know uh put that first initial payment in play I want to make sure which I understand what my likelihood is and hopefully it's good that this will ultimately be approved or I'm just wasting time and wasting a lot of money up front. So, Council Member Metein, I kind of had an idea that maybe coincides with your thought is get a survey on the city website. We have nothing to hide. Let's see what everybody likes, you know? I mean, like you said, we're here to try to help.

We're not going to be able to please everybody, you know. So, so I have been we've been through planning and zoning. We've been through a lot of opposition. You know, you know, first and foremost, it's it's a lot of things were talked about fairness. this this this topic uh is one, you only have I think two tracks of land that is suitable for, you know, drive-thru. Uh two is, you know, you got to be able to, you know, I want to hear what everybody wants, but can I deliver what everybody wants? The likelihood is no, right? Because it's going to be up to the retailer or the QSR, right? And you know, like Mike said, he's already been doing a lot of marketing and and getting a lot of nos. And I mean, and as a developer and someone that's investing his time in in and dollars to help economic development um within the city, uh I can't time will kill deals, right? So, uh it will eat me up in cost if I decide to take the property down even with one user, right? So you really need two users to make this thing work, especially during the economic climate that we're in right now. From a developer side side of things to a a residential side of things to a enduser retail side of things. Everybody is is is pinching pennies right now. So I you know can we get retailers to pay a little bit more for the you know ex the building material specifications or architectural if there's an architectural you know uh review which will be and uh we typically go by what the city you know guidelines currently are right now. Um, so there's a lot of different factors out here that that uh is, you know, is challenging, but we can know we've overcome them, you know, throughout the the past 24 years I've been in development. Um, so I just want to make that that clear, too. I we we have always done what we can to appease

uh neighborhoods, you know, resident residents uh residential properties that's abunded to commercial property, you know, um some point there something was going to be developed there, right? There's reasons why it hasn't been developed yet, right? Um, I think what the city has done initially with this this this pathway that we're on, what we're trying to bring to the table is the highest and best use for the city. Uh, sales tax revenue uh and and honestly beautifification. There will be uh yes, there's going to be some buildings there, but we will beautify this above and beyond city standards.

Perfect. So, um, thank you gentlemen. realized that this is a new thing for us. This isn't Baldwin or Ellisville where, you know, they're on every corner, quick service retailers. So, we're sort of, you know, moving a little slowly here. And we appreciate your patience as you come to us with a proposal. Maybe it didn't have the result that we were that you were hoping for in the beginning, but we certainly want to keep the conversation going and learn from your expertise and find out ways that we can accomplish what council member Preston referenced while at the same time addressing concerns that council member Alers raised. And I think council member McCutchen, you had one more comment or question.

Yeah. Um, who has said yes that they're interested in developing this property? Uh, club car wash. and QuickQack car wash. Those are the only two that have told me yes. Well, Quick's not even a yes. QuickQack is a maybe. They asked me for a CAD file to do a layout. Club Car Wash's president told me he will do this deal, but he's reluctant like kind of like we're reluctant because we don't know the path. So, it would be a car wash only and no type of quick food or

uh we no we could do uh we have two paths basically, one on the south side of Main Street and one on the north side. Um so there's an opportunity for two. I mean, we looked at it and we were looking at three, but it really got tight and, you know, trying to minimize like we dropped a pad on the south across the creek. And then we could still probably fit two on the southern parcel uh south side of Main Street because it's deep enough. We could probably fit two users, but we're just proposing one there and one on the other um to try to kind of keep it closer to 109 than it would be to Camberry. So in short, Mike has a firm commitment with Club Car Wash. Now the QSR, there's no firm commitment there, but we're working towards that.

Does an approval for the car wash, would that make the opportunity more desirable for a QSR? Uh, do they complement each other in any? Yeah, they complement each other. Club will seek out QSRs. I can't testify if uh um QSR seeks out club. Um and I'd have to get back to Jason. I can get you counts on how many people are there and workers too. I just don't have it handy and they're updating their brand deck for 26 right now, but I can get you guys all that. Were the uh buildings face Main Street or face 109?

109. We even angled the on the wash. We put the tunnel as far away from uh all the homes as possible. We angled it towards uh 12 or excuse me 2521 State Road, basically the wetland area because nobody can ever build there. So there are a lot of tweaks to our plan that we didn't get a chance to bring up yet, but we think mitigates some concerns. The hours operation is also 7 to 7. So it's not like it's going to be on at 10 o'clock. If you're an early bird, you might be annoying uh with the club car wash or Quick Quack, whoever it ends up being. Quick Quack's a big national chain. They're not here yet. They're coming here.

So you're trying to figure out, you haven't taken this, the planning and zoning commission yet. And you're trying to figure out whether or not they're going to pass it, right? Yeah. We're just trying to, you know, are we throwing good money after bad or we have a, you know, do people recognize these are kind of some amenities we lack? Um, I get we have car washes. I think, you know, perhaps they could do a little more modern job of things. Um I also you know uh wonder about some of the existing gas stations if they will be approached by competitors in the future for a more modern concept you know like particularly the BP.

A lot of these end users are going to a smaller footprint building wise and adding drive-thru. So, so I did a lot of development for Starbucks too across the Midwest and they're going to a smaller building and that's just because they're also trying to compete with Dutch Brothers and Seven Brew now that have smaller footprints, right? I think uh 7 is 600 square feet and I think Dutch Brothers 900 where I'm building 1850 square feet for Starbucks, right? Starbucks total development cost is 3.5 million where seven bruise is 1.2 and the profit margins are a lot better, right? So, you're seeing a lot of that going on in the retail and QSR world too. They're fine-tuning their prototypes. Uh,

Exit 11 said yes, too. That they would have interest. It's a coffee kiosk. One of those lots. Uh, called Exit 11. Oh, on one of those lots. Yes. Go for it. Yeah, that would I think that's what I'm that's what I've been talking that would work. That's exit 11. So, it's like seven brew. You know, one of these coffee. But scooters, micro scooter, scooters, would not be around. So, we're talking about next 50 years. Sustainable 50ear like rock solid. Yeah, I think

users while folks may not like them, I do think like they'd be one of the last ones standing here if we got particularly a QSR like a McDonald's. We just lack and I'll just say this. I mean, I I just think the car wash would be a very hard cell through everything. And I mean, everybody think about it. You You're maybe talking about a half a mile to your house and there's a car wash there. And the I mean, the light and noise pollution is going to affect a lot of those houses. I think that's that's just what I think about. Does the BP wash run that often? I don't know. No. No. No.

Yeah. And that was there before those guys. Anyway, that was a little bit of the irony that uh perturbed me during the meeting is that it was there. They bought a home knowing a wash was there and now they're complaining about it. Well, that's I won't say anything about that later. And you mentioned earlier uh talking about the water pressure. Yeah. So my uh lead civil engineer has had conversations with American water and I think we have there's a proposal for another um power right yeah works so there's plans in the works to make that be a few years so Oh yeah I know but

but I'm hoping like maybe our development this one so what what do you need from us a ser sounds like a survey maybe a good idea of the residents to fully understand. I mean, I don't know anything about these meetings, but I don't know that those were representative of committee. Yeah, we we'd certainly be open to it. I mean, the more um we can understand it, the better. I don't know how that gets administered or policed. Uh well, you gentlemen may be interested to know that that is something that we will be discussing tonight. We'll be reviewing some of the results from um previous survey work that we've done and try to refine that down to specific types of businesses that the residents would like to see here in this city.

That would be a great guide. I mean, I've been in retail my whole life. So, you know, there's a retailer that they have interest in. I, you know, I may miss somebody. I'm happy to reach out. If I don't have the contact, I could probably get it pretty quick. There's a group called International Council of Shopping Centers, ICSC, and they have a directory and you know, haven't been in the industry for this long. We have guys that work for one retailer, move to the next retailer. So, we have pretty vast contacts. You know, we're all for ideas. It's just, you know, when you there was a recent Facebook uh post on the Wildwood community page and it talked about what restaurants we want and I did not see one on there that would have been realistic for me to land with despite all my best efforts. uh you know a steakhouse um you know casual sitdown restaurants like I like it but they got to have the convenience component which usually means a drive-thru especially after co just it's just changed I mean you talk to any restaurant tour we represent Gerard Craft he's one of the nicest restaurant tours in the entire Midwest and he'll tell you the same thing u so we it will be irrated best effort approach on our end to try to bring the city the best retail we can, but it may end up that it's just mainstream retail, but it's a sustainable amenity. I think they'll be here for a long time.

But activity breeds activity, right? So, you know, I think eventually you might get be able to get some of these banks or some other, you know, banking space leased up with with maybe the sit down, right? I mean, they want to see more traffic coming in and to town center and and bringing that synergy and traffic generation in. So, I have to run. Um, I apologize. Um, but I'm I'm happy to keep coming to these. This is a good form to spitball. Um,

well, I know I speak for the entire committee here when I say, you know, thank you both for coming in here, spending so much time with us. I think uh I don't think there's anybody here that would disagree with with the statement I'm going to make next is we would love to keep the conversation going and try to find something that's going to uh fit for some of the things you're looking for in terms of traffic volume and location that sort of thing and at the same time addressing some of the concerns of our residents. There's got to be a way that uh we can address all of those things and deliveries. So, one of our takeaways is similar. So, right. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you.

All right. That closes public comment. So, and I apologize. I think I referred to you earlier as council member France rather than council member. Oh, you're still hurting from that. I wrote it down here, by the way. Very sensitive. All right. Very good. Uh so closing out public comment, we move on to discussion items here under for information letter A, which is an update on business changes and other business news. And for that, I believe we will turn things over to the city administrator.

Thank you, Mr. Just wanted to call out a couple of different events. Uh, one item we already discussed today, but that development proposal over at 1719 and 17194 main streets, those uh, they have withdrawn uh, at least notified the city that they're going to not be proceeding. So, that said, does seem like the discussion may continue, but it seems like they have withdrawn this time. You speak up a little.

Yeah, not a problem. Um the properties over on Main Street that were just here those have notified the city that they have withdrawn uh consideration at this time but maybe after this meeting they could go back to their folks. U but there was no official submission on file with the city so it never did go to plan zoning. Um nonetheless uh there was also did want to invite everyone to Cattails Lodge uh luxury cat lodge over on um over on Clayton near Strucker. uh they'll be having their uh ribbon cutting ceremony on Thursday, April 23rd and that's going to be at 3:30 to 4:30, but the ribbon's cut at 4. So, um they actually opened up early December and they've been doing decently well and they started taking reservations around Christmas time. So, um it's been working pretty well for them. Uh, also wanted to point out uh that there's been we had this on a report a couple months ago, but just wanted to give an update that uh one of the owners of Three Kings Public House is looking at u the city of Wildwood. They don't have a necessarily a full-on plan to move in just yet, but there is a concept that they're going to start working u some of our u farmers market events hopefully and they're going to try to test out some new products. they wouldn't be opening a three kings in while there's not really the space or a proper location for it but nonetheless uh they have somewhat of a new idea to start a new venture the idea could be uh moving into the retail component of the apartment complex but there's a lot of time between now when they open but it just goes to show there is some interest in the the retail place

just want to point out they suggested a bakery I think in the write up we got to get that downtown somehow I just think it's

Yeah, I overall their idea too has some really good synergy with the city. They uh just a little history on the the request. I mean, they had the woman that owns this and her husband, they have a daughter that has special needs. And the idea is to kind of synergize with the Village Green, the all inclusive playground is building here soon. And that could be they're trying to create a community gathering space on Main Street practically and have a bakery or possibly have some type of food that isn't necessarily you're cooking in a would like a they would love to have an oven, but there is expense that goes with that apartment complex. So, nonetheless, um it is good to see that there's that interest. supposedly there's interest the NCAAP too but we don't know who that is. Um it's good to see just wanted to provide that update because they are going to try to participate in our farmers market which they'll try out some products and if stuff clicks then that might be what we need to convince them to to stay around for a little longer. But yeah, nonetheless good news on that front. A couple more updates. There was quite a bit a long update about the um properties because we will get into the prezoning effort the results that we've had. Um, also wanted to give an update about the Route 66 weekend, some of the business activities that are planned. There's a uh a popup concert from the city's perspective on that Friday, uh, April 17th, I believe. Actually, yeah, April 17th. And then Saturday, this is all businessled, but wanted to point this out. So, for some synergy and cross promotion, um, there's going to be different events taking place. We're going to probably host it under one special event permit for multiple businesses, but uh all along uh Manchester Road, Route 66, there will be, you know, different popup tents and things along those lines. Uh classic cars, etc. Uh the idea is to help promote all these businesses. This is kind of the day that we're going to help, you know, really celebrate Route 66. Um, right now we're working to publish a we have actually a link now for the website like a dedicated story

map for all the events that are taking place from the business perspective. So businesses that are Wildwood uh licensed in Wildwood, they're able to reach out to us and say, "Hey, I'm planning this Route 66 themed whatever." And as long as it has a tie into Route 66, we can we can put that on the the feature list if you will and put in our uh e newswsletter. So good news on that front. I'll uh Joe, do you want to add anything to that? I know. Okay.

But uh nonetheless, that's the first portion. And then Sunday that of that weekend, um some of the restaurants are going to be trying to have kind of like brunch themed promotion. So, just making sure that you know if anybody's listening in tonight, uh they take a look at it. Uh check out the city website because some cool updates will be coming. Uh there's just the scavenger hunt that's about to go out too on the mobile app. Did that get published? Since we have a Route 66 scavenger hunt that started Friday afternoon, we've had two people complete it. We've had 50 people download the app. That's great news. So, people are and most of the locations are local businesses on Route 66.

Get some synergy going. Okay. Um then also just a couple you know smaller business updates. But first before jumping in there did want to note uh the community college and chair Utenberg had actually spoken um with the president campus president over there and had some very enlightening news that they have about 800 students registered for the spring semester which is a really nice boon from what they had at their just their single building. Um just from year-over-year it's an 18% increase from last spring. So does show some growth over there. Obviously with more students you have to have more teacher and staff and faculty. So all that leads into uh kind of growing that you know self-supporting ecosystem that we have on 109. Uh that said as well another big update the with the uh the apartment complex. I wanted to note this that we've been keeping an eye on the development performance agreement with the chapter 100 and one of the provisions that were included was that you had to have the footing they had to have the footings and uh the foundation poured by July 16th of this year. So very quick turnaround um given that it was approved in September. That said uh that's now been inspected and the footings and foundation have been poured. So they're going vertical. If you go near the uh you'll actually see it if you go near the the theater over there, you'll see vertical construction taking place. So, good news on that front. Uh obviously they're talking with tenants potentially seeing how that could work. Uh so successful on that front and they are compliant with the performance agreement. So good to see you there. Um did want to note that one of the uh DWood pub they are adding in their patio that was approved by council. So just follow up there. They'll be adding in a sound wall. So that's actually getting beautified as well. So good news on there. Good news there. Uh last one. Yeah, that sums it up and available for questions.

Yeah, I see here with Casey far is wanting outside patio area, but aren't they the ones with the neon sign that they won't get rid of? And so there so well almost every business in town has a neon open sign. So we're not we're not going to make an issue of it right now. In fact, we have regulations that we'll talk about later tonight that would give them a free open sign and regulate the rest of the window signage. Well, this is the big sign neon

business sign. Yes. And since they've done it, there's been several more in that same area.

Two signs, two signs have backer boards that were not called out in their submitts. I approved those submitts. We're working with them to address them as best we can. Signs are expensive. So, they have a point. Approved it. What are you going to do about certainly we're trying to figure that out? Mistake was made on my part. Like I say, I don't feel comfortable telling them take it down because I this story from that perspective, we're working with them.

Does that include Casey sign? Yeah,

by just sign. That said, I will add a note there that you know Joe's be is taking a little bit of the crutch here, but when you looked at the submittal that came in u that backboard is white and that's what causes a reflection. It's not necessarily called out. We could be happy to come down and show you. It doesn't have like a clear boundary behind it where you'd be able to call out and say, "Oh, what's that extra portion of plastic here that adds surface area?" So, nonetheless, it was somewhat faded into the background almost as an afterthought. So, you didn't necessarily think it was attached to the signage. So, there's a little bit of a two sides of that coin. That said, the permit did get approved for both of those. And those are the two that have that backer board that's causing the little bit of propriet.

And how long is the permit for perpetuity? Well, until they ever had an issue. Well, and what we do typically is when they need something else, that's when we address it. So, so please certainly. That said, the uh question though, this is very preliminary. They have not submitted anything on this, but it it's also a question of how how far can the patio go out. You know, there is that water. Yeah. So, there's going to be some questions that would have to be answered, but just wanted to make a note in case uh any rumblings were heard. The committee was well informed. Thank you.

All right. Any other questions on the business update? Seeing none, let's move on to item B, which is the update on the space museum grisome center relocation. All right. Thank you, chair. Uh, so we were going to talk about that briefly, but we got a little bit more info since then. Uh, Mayor Joe Garitano, uh, Chair Utenberg and myself and Joe Vunich actually started and Miss N actually started in the direct conversations and kind of moved into a site visit. Uh but overall we were approached by a resident in the uh that lives here in Wildwood that has a relative that you know knows folks in the Bontter region and was somehow plugged in with the uh museum center for this space museum. It's kind of a hidden gem down there in Bontter. Uh that said, we were told that this uh space museum is looking to possibly relocate that that they had a lease that was coming due uh and that you know did we have space in Wildwood that they could easily kind of just transition into. Um couple spaces that rang to mind you know possibly the Lasal Retreat Center maybe that they could find a way with them. It's a lot of, you know, Hail Marys, if you will. Um, the Marionist Retreat Center, but overall, if you go to this, if you look at their site or if you go to the actual museum itself, it does seem like they need a little bit higher ceilings. It's a they have some pretty tall items uh portions of ships from the Apollo and Gemini space missions. So, it it is something where they probably need about 10 to 12 feet ceiling uh feet high ceilings. And when we went there after a couple discussions with the resident kind of brokering the idea, uh the idea was that they would maybe come in and they'd build what it does seem that they would need some type of private investment into the city. So we thought, you know, let's go ahead and get the community college involved, see if they would be interested in possibly housing some of the artifacts. Did they maybe have a connection into the STEM field where someone might be willing to come in and build a museum here in Wildwood or be make it a part of the community college? Um that was really the best bet

we could have just considering we don't have the space to easily transition it. So we went there, we visited. They do have some really cool artifacts uh on the site. Uh it's it's nicely displayed. They've actually done a really good job down there. And the idea is they would want to come to place like Wildwood, but also uh closer to a metropolitan area in general because they're going to be able to u well get more foot traffic, get more people to visit. Nonetheless, uh the visit went well, but seems like they'll need about $21 million to build their facility. So, that is obviously difficult. Finding the private fundraising for that was a tall mountain to climb, but nonetheless, we still worked with the community college. uh we recently talked with them and as they uh concluded that they have kind of pulled their students especially with the expansion they've done recently the growth that they're seeing uh the students are asking for upgrades in the classroom and technology more offerings you know with what they've actually been doing with their new building um and the community college right now they kind of looked at it said hey you know we'd love to help but with the immense amount of money they need they need a 50,000 to 100,000 square foot facility it it just don't they don't have a place to put the artifacts right now and to invest in that would be taking money out of the budget for those capital improvements that would help with the students in the classroom. So they were they were saying that their target audience their clients if you will are not necessarily pushing for that. So especially given there's some state budget cuts within the schools u community college areas uh they have decided that you know might not be the best choice right now. Uh there's some other cities that are kind of jockeying for the relocation. So, it's something that they're needing answers really quickly on. So, we wanted to provide an update to the uh committee tonight, but with without having some, you know, private investor come in here and say, "Hey, I'm going to build it here in Wildwood." It does seem pretty infeasible at this time, just given the costs and the limited space we have. But be able to answer any questions. Uh it was great. Just wanted to give a shout

out to the resident for bringing it to our attention because it would be a really cool asset to have. um I think it would help kind of and we got a lot of folks that work at Boeing and you know have a part of the aerospace engine uh industry or engineering industry here in with a lot of professional services. So I think there's a lot of interest with the schools we have too. It could work. It's just more so a dollar and cent sign of can it actually work. Thank you. Cert it's it's been a couple days. the other municipality or other city in Missouri that is entertaining this. Did they have investment an investor that's willing to

So they had there was this one and there's also a from our understanding there was city of St. Charles City, uh, possibly, uh, Cape Gerardo, and one of them had actual like college space with I think Cape Gerardo, they had the the actual, uh, Southeast University, um, Southeast Missouri University. They actually had kind of a closed down portion of the college that they were going to be able to move them right into. And I guess St. Charles had potentially a spot, too. Uh but when looking at what the city owns that we don't have anything that could easily transition because they almost need something to get them by and improve upon what they already have for the next couple years while they you know hopefully find fundraising and figure out a way to fund it because the their true their true desire is to see it become that larger facility which is quite a bit of money. Um, but nonetheless, it does seem like some of these other cities may have some of the assets already in place to make this transition a little bit easier. Do you recall?

Yeah, I have they discussed this with Boeing and maybe be able to get some funding for that was yes supposedly they had reached out to them and they were trying to make some some inroads there but uh they didn't really let us in on they've been they weren't given since they're talking to multiple cities they were kind of close to the vest on who may be willing to privately fun. All right. Thank you. Moving on to item number C or letter C I should sayformational update on planning and zoning commission consideration of prezoning select properties for quick service USR restaurants. All right. Well, we already we already talked about this a little bit tonight, chair, but um we'll go

we'll give it a quick rundown. Uh we uh back a couple months ago, the committee after the planning and zoning commission and subsequently the council uh approved a change that allowed drive-through facilities on those 10 properties on 100 and 109. Some would have to be converted, but um nonetheless, we looked at it again to see if it would be possible to possib to prezone six properties along 109 to create almost a uh you know quick service restaurant corridor, if you will. uh that was endorsed and then we had this development proposal come in. It kind of had uh was happening all at the same time. We think actually what triggered that was that change. So it does show if you make a signal the market does respond. Uh that said, we did just want to provide a quick update because last the committee here had talked about it. it was to take the pre-zoning efforts to planning and zoning and then also with that proposal if that actually came in and got submitted we would create the boundaries for what we'd be looking for for the pre-zoning the six properties and we'd use that as a backdrop for what the architectural standards would be and what it would look like how it would work um and kind of learn from you know an actual live example. Uh that said, the most recent meeting we had quite a bit quite a few residents that were against the idea of having a lot of it was towards the car wash, but we were really not having the public hearing about that development itself. We were having a public hearing about the idea of zoning this as a whole for those six different properties. So that if someone were to come in in the future, uh like you know a quick service restaurant, it is different than the uh car wash that would have to be treated separately. But if a, you know, a vendor that wanted to operate a quick service restaurant came in, they would almost have all the the framework and the legal ease down of what that guidance that he was mentioning. They would have that down pat a framework for approval, but the city council would retain ultimate approval authority with the conditional use on the drive-thru. So, there was still a decent amount of control. The

department believed and committee endorsed that that seemed to be a decent approach at the at this juncture if we want to really see that that area. uh have a few QSR restaurants open. Uh that said, there was some some comments made that the residents may not want to see something like this go in. So, we wanted to provide the update today that it does seem that the commission was a little bit uh the comments weren't all positive. They think that we might want to treat these one by one as they come in versus prezoning the six at the same time. So, we just want to provide that as an update. No action tonight. The plan right now is that proposal did come off the table. So that motion to kind of do them concurrently unless they proceed that may no longer be feasible. But still I think it would be a good exercise to go through the prezoning effort. If it gets rejected and we at least kind of have a better understanding of what would possibly work there because the idea is let's set it up so we know what architectural standards are going to be met because this is something we don't necessarily build on a day-to-day basis. And I think setting clear expectations up front. you know there you heard it from those developers and we don't know if the exact costs are perfect but you know 2.5 million to plan it and 9.5 to execute it that it these are really expensive projects so to actually get someone we'll talk about it with the one sheeter uh tonight to get someone to come out here we have to give them some type of path to seeing approval whether it be um USR whatever we'd like to see here in Wildwood I think that would be a good approach u but it does seem we might want I go one by one based off the most recent

you can go first. No, you go to consult person. Oh, of course. So, if they if they were pre-zone, I I think I agree that we should go one by one. Well, if they were pre-zoned for QSR, a car wash doesn't fit that, right? Yeah. Okay. And then also and he um like a daycare wouldn't necessarily fit would it or would have to be changed for a daycare.

Right. So the the intent was to to reszone those properties that are designated non-urban to C8 and create general parameters for that C8 and put into place the requirement for the conditional use permit. Could we consider other uses? Certainly that they're designated workplace right now. So a daycare or child care center could be a component. An office building could be a component. brick and mortar retail could be a component. So, and so I think we we could do other uses, right, under its current land use designation in the town center plan. Okay.

What we're doing didn't take it off the board. I think it's better to do them as as they come up, you know.

Well, and certainly that may be the ultimate outcome, but unfortunately, we've posted it. We've held a public hearing. We've got to take at least the next step. And the next step to the committee members was the planning and zon wanted to understand better the traffic component particularly the roundabout at main street. They wanted to understand lighting and noise abatement and we'll come back with answers the suggested approaches. If they want to proceed, great. If they want to, as Tom said, kind of callull it down and wait, we can do that as well.

So, is there something unique about that roundabout versus other roundabouts that's raising these concerns? Do we have a feel for this? According to Mr. Brown, that roundabout is as functional as any would be, and it was planned with a 20 plus year window.

Okay? And it was planned knowing that workplace abuts that east side of route 109 and a portion of it on the west side is workplace as well. So HR green did the overall town center traffic analysis as part of the update in 2021. We gave them a gave them the regulating plan. We gave them what we thought would be changed in that time frame and we asked them to go 20 years out. Right, Council Member Couch.

Yeah, I've gotten comments about how confusing it is to go through there and a couple of suggestions that were made was the arrows on the pavement are a little hard to follow. Um, and knowing where to come in, where to go out, that kind of thing. I mean, pass that along to you before. Sure.

Um, so that was one issue. And then my understanding was um Camberry residents were concerned about the noise with the roundabouts. And so but I the big thing is it's confusing is what I've been being told. You know, now if you live somewhere else with roundabouts, then you know, it may not be, but is that where, correct me if I'm wrong, maybe my memory is faulty, but when you enter that roundabout, aren't you entering from two lanes going south and then you're reduced down to one lane going south when you get on the other side? There is a transition.

Okay. Okay. All right. confusing. Um I meant to you know on the other side of those two QSRs there's one on the other side right? Yes. Has anybody looked at that? Um the two development entities that were here tonight, they were given the list of all of the sites. Um and Jim Brennan, the owner of Kelly Homes, said proceed forward. think this is a great idea for their outlot because obviously they're focused on the residential side. So, but I don't think so

because that there's a lot of road space before you hit homes that that lot wouldn't interfere with any residence and it's a big lot so it could easily accommodate it. Does everybody know where I'm talking about? I think a lot within the larger reserve lot that is serving as well on the other side. Right. Right. I was thinking the same thing. Yeah. Why can't we do something on part of sorryzoning effort there? There is one there. Yeah. This So this for the city's perspective. This is part it was that outlot was included in the prezoning. But these guys didn't like that. And the roads they have too on the other side.

Yeah. They didn't they didn't specifically call it out. I think there was just too much contingency with the fact that they're building homes and you know the fact that it might just take more time to build on that side. But it's coming together out there. That's all. Thanks. All right. Um, anything else on this topic? So, that closes out the four information items. We move on to ready for action. Letter A, review of window signage regulations section 415-400 E.

Thank you, chair. And tonight u just providing an update but also we are going to be requesting of an endorsement of the initial framework but we came to uh the department planning and administration came to EDC a couple months ago a little bit of an issue we had uh well we after review we found that our current sign code it has a list of exemptions and before it seemed practical and you know normal to have window signage listed as one and it definitely was if you look at the principles of new urbanism it fits right in uh with that approach. That said, uh over time we found more and more businesses don't necessarily have a ton of window uh signage cluttering their their window stores, but their window space, but they do have the open sign that flashes, not flashes, but turns on um when they're open and turns off when they're closed. And residents typically, at least anecdotally, will say that's a surefire indication whether or not they're going to frequent that business for that night. especially with some of our businesses that don't necessarily stay open, you know, every day from a certain amount of time. They have adjustable hours. Uh so we had a instance where we got a few uh complaints about some of these signs that were lit up. Uh we wanted to make sure we could differentiate between you know just a simple open sign and bring that back because we were about to have a situation where quite a few uh you know citations were going to be issued or warning notices were going to be issued to businesses that didn't necessarily have a you know a big flashing sign but just had a small open sign um in their in their window sill. So after review and Mr. Vunish is here to provide a little bit more input as well. Uh the department has pres pro provided to the planning and zoning commission some initial thoughts on the framework that could be put in place. It's moving window signage from you know exempted sign category to an official sign category. And from the department's understanding of it, you would still have your 30% uh allocation for window signage if this new regulation would be

adopted. But then this this additional signage, this um what we're calling the illuminated hour of operation signage, if you will, uh that would not count towards your 30%. So that would almost be a given to the business community if you need that sign. You know, obviously with site uh height and size constraints, uh you could have that. And then also making sure that we double down on the sight line because it's forget the exact it's from four to seven feet. you almost want that to be cleared out so that if an officer needed to or something were to go on um you could easily see into the business to understand what was going on. So um tonight I mean I guess I'll pass it off to Mr. Vunish if you wanted to add some things. I know your department did.

So may I mention something prior? So back in January some of you may recall that I called some of the members of the committee regarding the fact that code enforcement was getting ready to go out and start reviewing sign code violations. uh you know at various businesses throughout the city and that's when it was brought to my attention that our current sign code did not make an allowance as mentioned for simple open signs which are one of the most basic promotional tools that a business use to advertise the fact that yes we are open. So uh it was recommended that we pass a motion requesting code enforcement to pause the enforcement of the sign code while director and his team took the uh took the pause in order to put together some recommended changes to the sign code. So, prior to the actual committee meeting, I asked Director Gunich, I said, "How much time would you need to do this assessment of possible changes to the sign code?" I said, "Would 90 days be appropriate?" And Director Vunich said, "No, 90 days would not be appropriate. 60 days would be appropriate. We can get it done in 60 days." and director Voonich actually delivered on that in 60 days. So anytime somebody takes exception to a requested period of time to direct to develop a report, they don't always ask for an extension or a longer period of time. So I just wanted to compliment Director Brunish and his team for delivering.

It doesn't surprise me. He's always on. Joe is on more of an outlier these days than than normal. So, but thank you. Pardon my aside there and director Bush, please u take the floor.

Just very quickly, um we've held the public hearing at the planning and zoning commission. Um we were expecting to be at the economic development committee meeting in March. We didn't have quorum, but we had already posted it because we have to do it a minimum of two weeks in advance for the planning and zoning commission. um planning and zoning commission was very favorable to the direction we're heading and tonight I think Tom has a request on walls part. Thank you. Overall uh there is a in the report there is a kind of a table and two definitions above it that is the preliminary uh framework that we're kind of basing it off of and is going to build from this but these are almost the these are grounding principles within what's going to be presented to the planning and zoning commission uh for formal review. So the idea tonight and we can read through this if you'd like uh but would be to endorse the uh recommendation for the framework here tonight and then we would bring that as an endorsement to planning and zoning as they get into their first recommendation and then final recommendation in two months.

So um so would you um address two specific parts of that table? One is the maximum percentage of window space that um signage can take up. Yep. So, it is it would be similar to what is technically allowed right now, but you still get 30% u does not include the open sign. That's the new addition. So, we So, the open sign does not count towards the 30%. That's correct. Okay.

Uh and also it wouldn't count you we don't count your Wildwood Proud Wildwood business sticker as well. So, you're allowed to have two allocations under this code u that aren't counted towards your 30% and you can also add in uh something that promotes your business with that 30% you have left over. But the other big thing here is you have your open sign. Um you have the proud wildwood business sign which are two kind of separate things. But then you can do that 30% is one other sign that you would have under these regulations. So you can't have 15 different signs that make up 30%. It's one plus the open plus the is it is the open sign neon? Can it be neon?

It can be neon but it can't flash it. It has to be a static um and it can't I mean the brightness will still uh enforce our u illuminance code to make sure that it's not like a a crazy bright. Yeah. Um so see duration um a limited 7 days prior application but no more than once a month. I mean that's extremely difficult to enforce. I don't think we have enough code enforcers to enforce that. Our police department certainly can't enforce that. So, can that be adjusted somehow or

that is for temporary? Meaning, let's say there's a sidewalk sale and they want to put a sign advertising it in advance of the actual sale itself. The permanent ones, those obviously will stay as long as the business is in in operation. Um, what I'm finding in talking with Frank and Brian, our two code enforcement team members, um, they drive by most of the commercial businesses every day. And so with Katie and Dawn now, we're basically creating a list so that they can here, check on this, check on that, check on this because there's time frames. So we actually are getting better at it. And I think it in part to the funding that you all approved for my cup, it's working.

Okay. Make a motion then to approve the uh as is as recommended by the planning and zoning. You certainly may. Do we have a second try? Okay. Uh so we have motion and second to approve the recommended changes. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. I. I. Opposed extensions. Motion carries. Thank you. Moving on to letter A. establishing a council endorsed target business profile for market focused recruitment. I guess we turn things back over to the city administrator.

Yes, thank you chair. And this actually uh is following up on a comment made by one of the sellers today which pretty good that having a kind of a list of businesses or business types that would be desired by the residents uh would be beneficial but also having something endorsed by the council of like here are the types of businesses that we'd like to see in Wildwood in a one sheeter format not you know full booklet something that's very simple for us to you know we get a call from a broker we get a call from a development entity we get a call from a business that's looking for space, we're able to send them like, "Hey, by the way, the council reviews this every year. Here's a list of business types that they'd love to see." And then the the staff can do the research on the back end. Doesn't necessarily going to fix the cost of how building these things. U but we can at least tell you zoning wise, here's the your here's your easy play. Like if you want like right now those properties that are um conditional use permit can get you a drive-thru, they're currently workplace district which allows a whole assortment of uses. Um, and I think also seeing that may help the council realize maybe if we're out of date in some areas like, oh, that might not be the best use at that property because, you know, we haven't seen it for 15 years that we've had it own that way. We haven't had a bite in that it's always been a different type of use. So, that's the idea behind this tonight. Also wanted to go through with the surveys we've done. They're a little bit dated, but I think they it's actually really good because they both saw almost 800 responses each uh from the whole uh Wildwood community. And each time we went out two different times. In 2022, we did a uh questionnaire to the whole city, the same uh for the business survey uh the next year, which was a little bit of a smaller sur sample size, but nonetheless, we got quite a few responses that are very similar. uh one, you know, the three businesses when you look across, you know, these surveys and what we hear anecdotally to back that up is that residents want to see more retail. Uh dining, specifically sitdown dining is more preferred, but dining overall quick service is included. And

then they also would like to see some type of entertainment. Entertainment's defined at least from the survey from like, you know, um escape rooms for having uh you know, axe throwing like these types of events that are more community gathering. you take date night type thing out there and it can fit into a retail plaza. So that's how it was defined that was third. So just from order order ranking uh perspective you had for both surveys really that uh the dining came in top uh top place that that's what's missing in Wildwood and then down uh retail was second and then third in both was the entertainment. what our residents uh had seem to indicate we already have enough of to an extent is the professional services and the personal services and when I say personal services more so like haircut hair cutting places nail salons etc uh nonetheless uh we're taking that info and we provided kind of a breakdown of given what the residents have told us already you know I look at that as sitdown dining uh QSR potentially specialty retail um possibly have entertainment or community gathering space type businesses. And always something that gets thrown in when we talk about what businesses we want to see is outdoor recreation oriented. So bike shops, uh, hiking shops, REI type stuff. Uh, when looking at those, this report tries to kind of touch upon without going too much in depth of how uh how feasible it is to bring some of these here. Uh, nonetheless, I think if we'd like, uh, the department's more than happy to go through these kind of one at a time to kind of go through the challenges we've identified and then go through the kind of the good things that we have going for us here. Uh, but when we were looking at this, there's, you know, select properties that seem to make sense for the QSR component. Um I think that there's also some you know there's another question too and we can come back to the other items next but uh during the master plan update uh group meeting we had discussed the industrial

property and there was also a reasonzoning request I mean a change in land use request um for that to allow a different a couple different types of uses down there and the question was posed which is a fair one uh you know it's currently zoned industrial and what does that actually mean that means there could be a manufacturer that could come in and build there tomorrow and what does that mean for the community too? Uh and so just asking that question as well. Uh are we comfortable with a large manufacturer or you know some type of large business coming in there you know running trucks? Usually we can accommodate it by running the 40. You're not going to take that up 109 but there are some unique considerations to take in mind there. And would you want to include an industrial component on our target business profile? Quite frankly, when you look at it from a revenue standpoint from the city, uh unless they're using a ton of utility, we're not necessarily going to get the tax revenue from it because those folks are not going to go shopping in Wildwood. Typically, they're going to go to the valley. So, we're not seeing and realizing any gain from that revenue source. And then on the flip side of that, if they're going to be using more utility than residential development, that's for sure. Same with commercial. It industrial use always will outpace others. uh but we don't have a property tax and that's typically with an industrial use where you would you would see quite a bit of return. Um so the question I guess is I mean we need to have it we need to have a place for it in our city but u it is something where you would have this this it would it' bring jobs which is a positive uh positive for us but those folks may not actually be visiting or frequenting the city as much as one would think just given the the unique location of it. So wanted to touch upon the the uh almost treat the industrial use separate but looking at the other types of businesses and there's examples in the report uh different sitdown types of dining QSR uh specialty retail entertainment community gathering type businesses. I would say good news brewing does a really good job about that. Um it's a retail not retail

it's a dining option but also a community gathering space kind of hitting two for one u and it's done very well. Uh then also outdoor recreation was creating its own category for that because I know past councils and also this council has always always been adamant about having a bike shop here. So I think just saying that out loud and having that put on a piece of paper that then can be distributed to all the different developers that come by my desk, Joe's desk, staff's desk all together and the council having that in their back pocket too. It'd be something that's almost like a promotional flyer that says, "Hey, here's what we would like to see and then by the way, here are the property addresses that fit that current zoning classifications." So, the department's just wondering, are these businesses fitting that need? And if so, uh, would you like staff to do that research, put together this one sheeter? We'd come bring it back, we'd get approval from the committee, and then we take it to the full council for final approval. And we'd probably look to update that annually. Council

PR, I think it's a great idea. um why not facilitate the whole, you know, process and stay ahead of it. I think that, you know, goes to help our reputation is, you know, maybe being a little better to work with and having everything up front so people know what they're getting into and say, you know, this already has our support. So, if we're looking at these types of businesses, you know, the process can be streamlined. So, I will make a motion that we approve that. Okay. So, I have a motion on the floor. Do we have a second? Council member CR seconds. Right. Any discussion? And then real quick, can I add one thing before uh and just to confirm, Mr. President, that as we were saying, we're we're going to treat the ones that were mentioned, but we're going to kind of let's put industrial.

Yeah, I agree with the industrial. There's very little to be gained. There's that's not nearly as almost nothing to be gain. In fact, that should be handled separately. Okay. Specialized situation. I would I would probably venture a guess that 75% of the residents in our city don't even realize we have that industrial. Yeah. Off Centaur. I mean, no one unless you live back by me, you'd never drive by there, right? So, um, so one observation I'll make here, I'm taking a look at the 2023 business survey.

Uh, and, uh, I'm noticing dining sit down 53%, let's call it, strongly agree. Dining quicks serve 36%. As I recall, when the two gentlemen were sitting out here, they seemed to feel that quick service retailers were more the trend these days, that sitdown dining, not that it's lost its appeal totally, but it isn't as popular as it once was. Yeah, I think well yeah, and the data here shows that residents would rather see the the sit down dining, but I think what they're making the case for, which is consistent with what we've heard from other development groups that aren't necessarily interested, but they, you know, call Wildwood to figure out what's new. They just stay in the buzz. Uh sit down dining, you're not seeing outbacks being built really anymore. You're not seeing new construction, so capital improvements being planned uh for specific sitdown use. where you're seeing new construction, typically it's a it's usually got a drive-through component to it or it's residential. That's what's in the development and and if you're looking at development these days, that's what you're typically seeing.

Okay. All right. Very good. So, that was the only comment I had. So, we have the motion and we have second. Oh, council member.

So, um there's a long list here of examples. Are those examples going to go on? that would be we would we're going to kind of work through those and have you know the best case scenario but the ones that except industrial we'll have that kind of prepackaged the best way to encompass all those types of examples. Uh if any of these don't sound good that's the idea tonight is please call those out so we'll make sure to mark them off and they won't be kind of covered by the summaries we put together on this. We're going to have to it's not going to be like a you know a normal report type document. It's we're going to try to create something fun uh that is like more advertising focused that doesn't necessarily say each individual one like here, you know, have an Americana, different type business, have a Mexican type, you know, restaurant. You're going to have, you know, all of those restaurants kind of summarize and maybe pick the top three on that.

Okay. So, I thought the bowling alley was a really good idea. The one down there is closed. Um, and I thought that might be a good draw. Um, so if you put that on your sheet, I'd appreciate that. That' be fine.

All right. Any other um discussion, questions, comments. Okay, we have a motion. We have a second. All those in favor of the motion signify by saying I. I. I. I. Those opposed? Abstensions? Motion carries. Very good. Moving along here, we move to um item C under ready for action potential gateway signage installation on state route 100 pedestrian bridge. All right, so back to the city administrator.

Thank you. Uh and this was back and at the February meeting. Uh we didn't have clear guidance. We almost had like a we had talked with MDOT and they kind of cut us cut us while we were putting this report together, but then we heard the opposite report back. So wanted to get this back to everybody because we have different um potential outcome. Uh so originally we had planned to talk with the committee master plan group had talked about it having a you know gateway signage potentially enhanced um on the eastern edge of Wildwood as you drive in. Originally we thought we could put it on the bridge. Uh, MODOT said no. But then MODOT talked to their engineering team and they came back and said, "As long as you have a civil engineer seal, uh, whatever design plan you put together, and this is just an example. It's not necessarily what it would look like. It was a quick here's what it would kind of look like. U, but we'd have someone, you know, or someone along those lines kind of design it, even kind of play around with the the idea of what it would look like. Uh but the idea is now that the bridge is back on the table, uh is this something we would like to look at? We do not have funds budgeted for 2026. So this would be 2027. Um available for questions, but I can go into more detail if needed.

Was that the cost previously something like 20ome,000? It was we could probably do it for somewhere 15 to 20,000. So it's it's not cheap. U it's a little bit more of a pricey thing. And uh the thing once we get approval for that, can we put that under the docket to when we think we have the necessary funds? I just don't think we have the money for that right now. So, didn't we already uh pass a motion? In fact, I think Council Member CR made it to um delay consideration of the sign bill 2027.

I Yeah, because I mean it's not written in the budget and we I think it's a good idea, but we don't have the money, right? Like% and the motion, just so you know, too, this was brought up just because before we would report it back that MDOT said just It's like we were almost in the in the aspect of we're not going to do this regardless because we were we didn't have space to do it. So that said, I think just doubling down if we need to do it eventually. But yeah, keep it on the docket for future um you know potential consideration. We can do that but in that case I guess we wouldn't need it chair. We wouldn't really necessarily need a motion. All right, I can carry on this question. Ask what wasn't the uh other example like Maplewood

like a maplewood sign where it was going to go all across the the br the Yeah, that that could be this. I mean, this has to be obviously a little more cost effective here and might get the same. This this looks pretty nice here. That was the idea behind it to make it kind of if you if you put it I and also the thing is mod uh we'd have to get a civil to approve it. I think we could even if you had it all the way across it. Um that said, you know, the more more the sign weighs you have to kind of put a backer on there too because you won't be able to call it out. If you just put the lettering in there, it can look a little questionable u because it doesn't stand out as much unless you use a high contrast uh either backer or you know different color for the actual font. Um,

this could even be a little bigger even. Yeah, but that said, they did want to have us just from Mod's perspective, they wanted to fit the sign. Uh, they don't want it to be higher or lower than the the bridge is most its largest width. U, so we want to keep that in mind. And then also it does they really didn't want to see it over the road. So once it comes up, it needs to kind of be off to the right a little bit kind of how you see here. That's really the in case it falls off in well that's where they need to go

but it is I will say that you know even though and we do not have the money for it right now. Uh it is nice to see because I I mean Joe can attest to this. I think that MDOT back in the day would have just absolutely slam this type of request down. I think they did many times. So the fact that they were willing to concede here pretty without too much push back u on this is is a good sign for the future. But also this angler and gentler mod. Yeah, that's exactly right. That said there this comes along too with there's a lot of uh improve capital improvements MDOT is doing across the state right now to find things and a lot of cities have been installed. These welcome to signs are becoming more popular.

All right. I think it just looks a little black eyed since it's not in the center. Well, just so you know, this is a for reference purposes. I'm not I'm not a landscape architect. It's an artist rendering. Yeah. Yeah. Not Yeah. Artist render. That's a great way to put it. All right. Very good. So, nothing needs to be done on item D then. Yep. Okay. So, um moving on to not ready for action. There are no items listed under there. Um miscellaneous. Does anyone have any miscellaneous items? We had one last item. We're not talking about booze. So, what happened to D? I got D. D 24 hours. Oh, I'm sorry. Okay, you're right. All right. Important one.

We got we got, but we need to have an endorsement to D that we get Brett Hall out here. All right. So ready under ready for action I letter letter D consideration of local policy response to state authorization of extended alcohol service hours during the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Thank you chair. So this is coming from um recent state legislation that was passed uh with regards to the FIFA FIFA World Cup and also from a a couple requests that we've gotten from um bar owners or restaurant tours here in Wildwood to say, "Hey, what's the city's approach to these changes?" uh because right now just the way the state law reads it's an exemption for very specific amount of time about two weeks uh where typically and we file state law with our liquor license process where u you can sell most of the time I don't want to guarantee that but for normal uh wine and alcoholic beverages you're usually from 6:00 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. It's hard cut off. What this new two week exemption period is is during the World Cup, uh, some bars will be able, if the cities endorse it, uh, will be able to sell alcohol from 6:00 a.m. to the next day till 5:00 a.m. So, it's pretty much 24-hour service. Uh, where they thought this would be make sense is it's going to help generate additional revenue for those businesses, but also tax dollars um, going into the state and also, you know, the local municipalities pocket. Uh but in the same vein, you know, a lot of different businesses, I guess, approach the state with they're having different kinds of events and promotions that are going directly with the FIFA World Cup, especially since we're having some events be hosted in Kansas City. Uh so the tonight the department just wanted to bring this up since we're getting a couple questions from the business community. We don't necessarily have to do anything. If we don't do anything, our code remains at 6:30 uh to at 6:00 to 11:30. That's it. We'll enforce it per usual.

Bars close at 11:30. They stopped serving al Oh, sorry. 1:30. I'm so sorry. Yes. 6 to 1:30. We would have changed. Yeah, we would have changed. So, 6:00 am to 1:30. And then they want to go from 1:30 to 5:00 a.m. because it's over in Europe and it's account for the time change. Oh, it's not so that we have a 24-hour bender. So, wait, we did check that. there all the games this year. There's going to be some pre-matches which are in other countries, but all the official games are in Canada, America, and uh Mexico. Mexico. That's right. Actually, that said, some of the pre-matches are going to be here in St. Louis.

So, we originally thought the same thing that oh, it's going to be planned around those weird hours, but truthfully, it's just they they may want to have a full uh full party. So, somebody actually drink at six o'clock in the morning. Nobody should be drinking at all. Yeah, the states. Yeah, they they need help, I think. So, yeah, soccer fans are pretty Soccer fans are intense. You've ever been to a St. Louis SC game here of Amsterdam, the routing group? Yes.

So, do we have any indication if any of the surrounding municipality? Yeah, we've actually been looking at this and maybe it's everyone's kind of catching up to it, but Sunset Hills is like the only bit uh city that we could see it clearly indicated on their website, but we could do some additional research and bring it back. Um, just from a quick review, going to a couple different websites, seeing what their liquor license says. Usually, their MUN code would update within a couple months of it being passed to show like they have this new exemption listed there. We haven't seen it elsewhere, so it it could be just cities thinking it automatically goes into effect, but it doesn't. it right now our code would supersede their new exemption. It's we with we are able to be more restrictive in the state just not less restrictive. U so that yeah nonetheless I can't confirm any other city in the nearby area that has passed this law.

Okay. So so have local bars and restaurants reached out? Yes, we've had a couple. How many or which establishments? We've had Daisy's has reached out. I know Larry would be interested. and Larry's. Yeah, a lot of soccer fans there. Yeah. Well, my two cents is I I I do not think there's any economic benefit to doing this. Um I think it looks bad myself. And if no other municipalities have move forward with it, it's drinking at 5 a.m. I would just let it go. Come on. Dangerous. Dangerous. You're going to be doing that in Ireland. Uh but I'm not going to be driving.

I I know that. Well, if we do that at Casey's, I'm so happy that I'm turning out. Where's Casey's? Because I would get tons of calls from the residents who live behind me, brothers or whatever it was over there. Nonetheless, I mean, like I said, if no actions taken tonight, well, we would we would appreciate some direction so we can get back to these businesses and hey, we're going to stick with our normal. I mean, I think our main benefit from this will maybe be come from just increased alcohol sales at the grocery stores. That's true. You know what I mean? I mean, I think most people anymore going to be watching that at their house. Who's going to be like, "Let's go out to, you know, Larry's and get drunk while watching." It's like, I think people get That's it. Oh, yeah. I think I think it'll just be self-erve.

Don't do anything like Matt said. Yeah, that's that's that's fair. And the department's not necessarily recommending we we Do you need a motion from us directing you to not do anything? Yeah. A motion to enforce this code as listed. Okay. So, I'll make I'll second it. Okay. We have a motion and second to basically um take no action and continue enforcing the existing liquor um code, I guess call, for lack of a better term. Director and I did contact Mr. Casey who kind of initiated this discussion and advised him that we'd be talking about it tonight.

Okay, perfect. All right. So, we have a motion and a second. We'll make the motion. Does he really anticipate being open to 5 a.m. Somebody I think what it is, it's not even necessarily and we could have gone in there and kind of minutely said, "Okay, instead of 5:00 a.m., we're going to make it. We're going to give you an extra 30 minutes. We're going to give you an extra hour." I think that's what the state is thinking. I don't think anybody's anticipating. Maybe they could, but we're not thinking that they're going to open, they're going to stay open till 5:00 a.m. I think it's more so

pushing it back to like 2, maybe 2:30. And some of the communities that really have that like outdoor scene, um, they're hoping that that extra couple hours is just more people. I mean, I can see an urban, this doesn't make sense here.

Plus, we're a unique community that 130 we should probably be closing the door. And there's other sound considerations that come in, you know, we probably want to look at. And the thing is too, if depending on how the committee spoke tonight, we were going to bring this up, but the staff time to go in and make these changes to the code, possible legal fees, we'd have to incur uh if we wanted to really check it because we'd probably want to control like if you're staying open till 3. Now, you know, we want to make sure that you're that activity staying inside the building. You're not playing music till 3. So, there's a lot that go into it. Um the safest bet is to just enforce the code as listed outside. Yeah. All right. In the streets. Yeah. Very good. All right. So, we have a

we have a motion and we have a second to basically continue with the existing um liquor code. I guess I'll call it for a better term. So, um any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. I opposed abstensions. Okay. Motion carries. No. Oh, Cliff, would you break the bad news to Larry's tonight when you got to the meeting? They would need soccer to have people drink till 5:00 a.m. there. Two week brief. They only sell beer anyway, right? Yeah.

All right. Uh, moving on here. Now we can move on to not ready for action and there is nothing listed there. Uh, miscellaneous items. Does anyone have anything? I have two items. One is uh Council Member McCutchen will be uh departing us from the council entirely after this term is up. And that's after how many years on council in total? 1415. Wow. I was appointed in 2011. So I don't know where you cut the Okay. Time off. Right. So was it 15? Yeah. So, we are going to miss you. I could get 20 years on the council if I played it all.

Well, no, I got grandfathered in. That's what happened. Yeah. And I'm going to miss every one of you, too. And I'm truly going to miss serving the residents of Wildwood. So I think she deserved a lot of

then I also want to recognize council member Preston who will be finishing up his term here and has decided to start enjoying life again with this make it basic. So but thank you for your service to the committee. It's been an honor great input and um we enjoyed having you here. Right. All right. Uh, no other miscellaneous items. The next meeting date is Monday, May 18th, 2026 at 5:30 p.m. And with that, I'll entertain a motion to adjurnn. Made by council member McCutchen. That's her last official act on this committee.

Second Chris doesn't want. Okay, that is your assume. Second by council member Crayons. Uh, non-debatable. All those in favor say I. I. I. Opposed. All right. Motion carries. Thank you everyone. It's been a great year and um we'll see what this committee looks like um next term. That's true. So we'll