Planning and Zoning Turns Down Two Business Requests

Tuesday night’s meeting saw a number of rejections in front of a slightly larger than normal crowd.

For more than an hour and a half, commissioners listened and questioned two petitioners regarding their plans and requests.

The first request was a continuance from the Jan. 18 meeting, as Kydz Kastle requested a special use permit for a child care center to be placed at 1723 and 1735 S. New Florissant.

Previously, the commission had postponed its recommendation of the child care center’s request in order for petitioner Alice Ratnaswamy to consult with her architect and update her plans.

Tuesday, she brought her architect, Duane Thompson of Design Alliance, and more plans, but that wasn’t adequate for the commissioners.

Parking, lighting and the consistent traffic flow remained issues for the commissioners in positively recommending the request to the Florissant City Council.

“This is not a good location for this type of facility,” commissioner Jane Boyle said.

Boyle said that the selected location for Kydz Kastle has normally been a low traffic location, with businesses such as real estate agents, insurance agents and beauty and barbershops occupying the area.

Lead commissioner Jim Ross asked Ratnaswamy if she had considered a traffic study for the area. She told the commisioner she was not interested in the study. Ross indicated Ratnawamy would hurt her chance for a recommendation to the council without the study.

The Kydz Kastle special permit request failed, 4-2.

Next, Alan Bornstein of Florissant Development LLC presented three items of consideration for the Planning and Zoning commission that produced mixed feelings and results with the commissioners.

Bornstein began his short presentation with a request that caused a bit of confusion between him and the commissioners concerning how many lots would be consolidated for the project.

The agenda stated he would be requesting a consolidation of three lots to one lot, but that turned out not to be the case.

Therefore, Bornstein requested an amendment on the agenda to the first and second agenda points. Both were approved and changed to reflect his request for three lots to be consolidated to two lots, not the one he initially requested.

The two lots would house a Walmart Supercenter, restaurants and shops at 3350, 3400 and 3605 N. Highway 67.

The commissioners then unanimously approved recommendation for the first item but had a great deal of confusion and hang-ups with the second.

Boyle asked if it would be possible to move forward with the request when the building commissioner report indicated a number of things were unmet by the firm.

Ross pointed out that the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District (MSD) had not given its approval of the project, and he expressed he didn’t feel comfortable moving forward without that piece of the puzzle.

Bornstein explained multiple times that the MSD approval process was an expensive, time-consuming process. He cited doing a similar project in Bridgeton that took a $200,000 11-month approval process with MSD.

“I don’t know any developer who would go through the process without municipality approval,” he said. “Nobody will take that risk and spend that money.” 

After a 20-minute debate and discussion with Bornstein, the commission failed the recommendation 5-1 as well as the following item’s recommendation.

Although the recommendations failed, Bornstein said that he would bring the items to the City Council for consideration that could overrule the commission.

Bornstein said that if the development were approved, it would bring 300 full-time jobs as well as bring $300,000 of new property tax revenue to the Florissant area.

Previously, the City Council unanimously voted down a proposal for a Walmart in the same location, however, that project requested a Tax Increment Financing for the project.

Bornstein said there would not be a TIF associated with the currently proposed project.