Barat Academy plans open house

Barat Academy, 1 Academy Place in Dardenne Prairie, will host an open house from 10 a.m.-noon March 15.

The school is accepting applications for incoming ninth- and 10th- grade students.

“As we draw near to the close of our founding year, this is the perfect time to showcase our 21st-century educational model,” principal Debby Watson said in a news release. “Members of our inaugural freshman class will be available to talk with prospective students about their collective experience here at Barat.”

Information will be provided during the open house that outlines the school’s application and admissions process, including aspects related to financial aid and payment options.

Deter’s Frozen Custard

Deter’s opens tomorrow, Friday, February 29.

Thieves eyeing sprinkler parts, police say

By Elizabeth Perry
Saturday, February 16, 2008 1:31 PM CST
Thieves have struck neighborhoods throughout O’Fallon and several other area municipalities and stolen pricey pieces of pipe used in sprinkler systems.

The parts, sprinkler backflow preventers, are attached to houses that have sprinkler systems and usually can be found on the side closest to the water meter, O’Fallon police said.

“They’re heavy, full of copper and brass, and they fetch money at scrap yards,” Detective Kevin Mountain said.Mountain said the parts have serial numbers, which can be traced back to the owner because the parts need to be tested every year and can be tracked through the water company.

Mountain said nine or 10 homes had been hit throughout the O’Fallon area over several days.

“I was one of many, according to O’Fallon P.D.,” said Scott Freitag, assistant chief of the Cottleville Fire Protection District. “I was going home from lunch and saw two PVC pipes sticking out of the ground where my sprinkler backflow preventer used to be.”

Freitag called police and alerted his neighbors to the theft; his was the only sprinkler backflow preventer missing on his street.

“It’s going to cost me $500 out of pocket, minimum,” Freitag said.

Diana Damke, O’Fallon police spokeswoman, said the total cost for the thefts so far has reached $3,850.

The homes hit were in the 300 block of Magnolia Valley Drive, the 300 block of Merrimac Downs, the 1400 block of Norwood Hills Drive and on Homefield Hills Court, Damke said.

“(Stealing) copper’s been an ongoing problem, whether it be spools of copper or what have you,” Damke said.

The Los Angeles Times recently reported theft of items made of metal, including several bronze statues, has soared in recent years along with an increase in the price of metals.

Freitag said thieves “can’t get scrap money near the amount it takes somebody to replace them.”

Cash’s West Recycling in St. Charles is currently charging between $2 and $2.50 per pound for copper.

“I’m just a little upset I’m going to be out $500 because of some uncaring moron,” Freitag said.

To comment, visit suburbanjournals.stltoday.com.

Basilicos serves Italian fare

By Ronnie Roy

For many people who make their livelihood in the food industry, there comes a time when they decide they want to stop working in restaurants and start owning one. That was the case for Bryan Smith and Curt Vonk.

“Between the two of us, we’ve run many a restaurant,” Vonk said. “We have 40 years’ experience between us.”

They’ve run the gamut from fast food joints to country clubs and have worked together for the past 14 years.

“After spending all those years making sacrifices in this industry, we decided to do it for ourselves rather than someone else,” Vonk said. “It’s been a dream of ours to own our own restaurant and run it our way. Make a menu as we would make it.”

With assistance from Smith’s father, Jerry Smith, the duo opened Basilicos Italian Restaurant Dec. 27 at 7333 Village Center Drive in the WingHaven development in O’Fallon.

Why WingHaven?

“We’ve always liked the WingHaven development and places like New Town where they’ve created true little communities,” Vonk said. “This was our opportunity to create a local, community-based restaurant people can call their own.”

The menu features appetizers, soups, salads, pizzas, pasta, entrees, sandwiches and desserts. There is a children’s menu.

The duo make all their own sauces and soups and many of the dressings and desserts. They use fresh herbs and vegetables. The cheese for their pizzas is custom blended.

“There are no shortcuts on our menu. We make it the right way or not at all,” Vonk said.

House specialties include Bryan’s Soon To Be Famous Lasagna (seven-cheese blend layered with noodles, covered in a special cheese blend, $9.99); Tutto Mare (jumbo shrimp, lump crab and clams sauteed together in choice of red or white sauce, $13.95); Mediterranean Chicken Pasta (grilled chicken, broccoli, roasted peppers and mushrooms sauteed in spicy red cream sauce, $12.95); Pecan Encrusted Tilapia (Tilapia filet in a pecan breading served over a bed of lemon cilantro orzo, finished with house mango salsa, $14.95); and Basilicos Strip (16-ounce New York strip grilled and coated in olive oil and seasoned breadcrumbs, served with white wine sauce, sauteed mushrooms and provel, $20.99).

Brick oven pizzas are served with regular or thin crust in two sizes: 12-inch ($11.95 cheese with 50 cents per topping) and 16-inch ($13.95 cheese with 75 cents per topping). Specialty pizzas, such as Chicken, Spinach and Feta, or Buffalo Chicken, are available for $15.95 (12-inch) and $17.95 (16-inch).

Basilicos offers daily lunch and dinner specials. Catering is available, and delivery will be offered in the future. The house Italian dressing is available for purchase.

There is seating for 42 indoors and 30 outdoors. The restaurant is available for private parties.

Have a taste

Basilicos Italian Restaurant

The Boardwalk at WingHaven

7333 Village Center Drive

O’Fallon

636-625-0960

Specialties

Lasagna

Tutto Mare

Mediterranean Chicken Pasta

Pecan Encrusted Tilapia

Basilicos Strip

Business Hours

Sunday, noon-7 p.m.

Monday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.

Tuesday, closed

Wednesday and Thursday, 11 a.m.-8 p.m.

Friday, 11 a.m.-9 p.m.

Saturday, noon-9 p.m.

Expanded hours planned in the spring

Local housing market shows mixed signals

By Eric Becker

Well into the first quarter of 2008, the story on housing in St. Charles County remains largely one without a clear ending or even a strong hint of what the denouement might bring.

With the full results for 2007 in, St. Charles County evaded some of the more dramatic drops seen in other parts of the country in new home sales, and average sale price for existing homes remained flat.

But the number of existing home sales dropped 9.3 percent, and new home sales dropped 8.3 percent from 2006 to 2007. Nationally, those numbers were 12.8 percent and 26.4 percent, respectively.

Building permit issuance tracked by the Home Builders Association of St. Louis and Eastern Missouri fell 6 percent from 2006 to 2007. During the same period, the St. Louis area as a whole saw an overall decrease in permits of 5 percent. Compared to 2005, the permits issued in St. Charles County fell 31.7 percent.

Joe Zanola, who owns Zanola Company/MarketGraphics in St. Louis, a housing market research firm, tracks new homes built and occupied. “What those numbers are indicating is a logical slowdown in permits in the last two years as we are closing and occupying a supply of homes created in ‘04 and ‘05 that was in excess,” Zanola said from a builders convention in Florida last week, adding that “we have a bit of oversupply.”

While permits can gauge homebuilder confidence in the ability to sell the homes they are building, closings on homes is a much steadier number than the ups and downs of permit numbers.

Merle Schneider, co-owner of Schneider Real Estate in St. Charles, thinks the market bottomed out near the end of November.

In a recovery market, he said, beginner buyers purchasing houses for between $130,000 and $150,000 lead the charge. Schneider said he recently sold a few properties in that range.

“I think we’ve hit the bottom of the trough in 2007,” he said.

Zanola expects median prices per square-footage to stabilize, which would stem some of the hits sellers have taken in a market that has weakened in past years. In order to ensure the health of the home market, Zanola says St. Charles County must provide better options for first-time homebuyers and the traditional retirement market, which typically seek smaller dwellings. Assuming a demand for larger lot sizes and larger homes has prohibited construction of such homes in recent years, Zanola said, laying some of the blame on lot sizes and zoning restrictions.

The entire St. Louis market ranked fifth on Forbes magazine’s list of America’s most stable housing markets. Because the area does not see great appreciation rates during periods of tremendous increases in home prices elsewhere in the country, it also does not swing hard the other way during slow periods.

Realtors in St. Charles County have undertaken a campaign to convince the public the situation is not as dire. During a news conference last week, St. Charles County Association of Realtors Chief Executive Officer Mark Stallmann tried to shift attention to the 2007 housing market’s performance in comparison to 2002, which he referred to as the “last normal market.” In the midst of public concern about the health of the housing market, the Realtors association has characterized the period of 2004 through 2006 as years of unusual growth that should not be used to gauge the present situation.

But subprime woes have touched the county market.

Missy Palitzsch, sales and marketing manager for Continental Title in St. Peters, said foreclosures in St. Charles County rose 10 to 15 percent in from 2006 to 2007. That was a greater rise than from 2005 to 2006, Palitzsch said, though she did not cite numbers.

A great part of that problem, she said, was that several people who put all their money into adjustable rate loans got into trouble when rates reset.

“By the third quarter, we’re hoping the correction has run its course,” she said.

Zanola acknowledges there are signs of weakness in the market in 2007, but argues it has stabilized.

“I feel like it’s stable and growing,” he said.

From 2006 to 2007:

Median home price: + 0.1 percent St. Charles County; – 1.4 percent Nationally

Single-family sales: – 9.3 percent St. Charles County; – 12.8 percent Nationally

New home sales: – 8.3 percent St. Charles County; – 26.4 percent Nationally

Meadows secures an anchor

Von Maur planning first Missouri location

By Eric Becker
Tuesday, February 19, 2008 2:22 PM CST
Having secured an anchor, The Meadows at Lake Saint Louis lifestyle center is hoping it has the high-powered names to push the development toward success when it opens in August. The development has landed Missouri’s first Von Maur department store and a hotel.

“With Von Maur, there’s going to be exclusivity that none of the other shopping centers in the area have,” said Bruce Johnston, the Chesterfield-based developer who is partnering with Davis Street Land Company, of Chicago, the project’s main developer.

And it came none too soon. The Meadows’ concept is to bank on the novelty factor of lifestyle centers, outdoor shopping centers that mix in restaurants and aim to appeal to shoppers with an open-air atmosphere. Having a commitment from Von Maur gives the retail portion an anchor, a key component in ensuring the viability of the retail project.The development also has a commitment from Kansas City based developer Ferguson Properties to built either a Marriott or Hilton brand hotel, estimated now to have between 100 and 120 rooms. The project is Ferguson’s first in the St. Louis area.

“We looked at sites in the heart of St. Louis and then in the suburbs, and we feel that growth out to the west is going to attract more business travelers,” said Jay Ferguson, executive vice president with Ferguson Properties. He cited the MasterCard and CitiMortgage locations and growth of business parks farther west in recent years as signs that a hotel catering to business travelers would fare well.

Ferguson expects to break ground for the hotel in the third or fourth quarter of this year.

As for Von Maur, Eileen Boyce, company spokeswoman, said the store is slated to open in the fall of 2010.

Johnston says that date could be as early as late 2009, although developers have received no commitment from Von Maur to do so.

The anchor tenant and hotel deals add to previous commitments from retailers, such as Coldwater Creek, Banana Republic, Chico’s and Talbot’s.

Johnston is betting strongly on the appeal of a lifestyle center and the lure of open air to attract shoppers when The Meadows opens later this year. He also is banking on shoppers from points west in Warren and Lincoln counties to frequent the shopping center.

Shoppers from areas west of Lake Saint Louis could prove important as the Highway 40 reconstruction project could complicate access for potential shoppers in St. Louis and St. Louis County. Johnston says he expects some shoppers whose access to shopping around St. Louis is complicated by the project will head west.

“The way we looked at it was that there was a real void in west St. Charles County,” Johnston said.

To comment, visit suburbanjournals.stltoday.com.

Retail and dining site approved for downtown

Retail and dining site approved for downtown
By Nina Kult

Aldermen have given the thumbs-up for a retail and dining development at Post Road and Highway N – the first for Dardenne Prairie’s downtown area.

Approval of the 10-acre community plan and a special district for the development came after an in-depth discussion about building height and adherence to the master plan for downtown.

The development, named Dardenne Commons, calls for 12 buildings on the southeast corner of Post Road and Highway N.

Chesterfield-based Fischer and Frichtel has owned the property for more than 30 years. The property recently was rezoned to a T5 urban center district and was subject to a pre-annexation agreement in May.

That agreement included one-story buildings could be built on the site.

Because the site falls into the city’s downtown development plan, the developer was required to meet standards established in the downtown master plan.

Florida-based Duany Plater-Zyberk & Co., a group of architects and town planners, created the master plan earlier this year.

One of those standards addresses building height. According to the Smart Code standards, buildings in the downtown must be at least two stories or have the appearance of a two-story building.

However, Fischer and Frichtel’s pre-annexation agreement allows for one-story buildings.

If a developer proposes a plan that conflicts with the Smart Code, the developer must present to the city a new community plan that defends those changes.

“The new community plan needs to be in line with the DPZ plan,” Mayor Pam Fogarty said. “We can’t approve something if the ordinance says XYZ. So, we either change the ordinance and then change it for everyone else, or rezone it and put them in a zoning class of their own.”

The aldermen approved the special district 4-0; Aldermen Scott Kolbe and Michael Coyne were absent.

Chris DeGuentz, vice president of community development for Fischer and Frichtel, said he intends to build structures of varying height in the district, but that his company isn’t required to build more than one story, according to the pre-annexation agreement.

“We try to get away from the big-building (one-story) look, and I think our plan proves that,” DeGuentz said.

Still, Fogarty said she would like Fischer and Frichtel to accommodate the two-story minimum.

City Attorney David Hamilton told the board that denying the plan would give Fischer and Frichtel the right to de-annex the property.

The special district for Dardenne Commons does not change the minimum height in the Smart Code.

Another concern came from neighbors of the property who said they want more buffering between their yards and the development.

Resident Dean Gallagher said although he welcomes a quality development, his home is within 25 feet of the property and tree line, and he is concerned about how water runoff, sloping and erosion from the development could affect his residence.

“Any consideration for additional landscaping as buffering would be appreciated,” he said.

Resident Ali Holtz also spoke in favor of buffering or a fence.

“The back of my yard has a deck, which is just 10 feet from the tree line,” she said. “We’d like to have as much buffer as possible, so we can enjoy our backyard.”

John Nations, attorney for Fischer and Frichtel, said as the plans come through for the final site development, Fischer and Frichtel will try to be as amenable as possible to neighbors.

Fogarty said a landscaping plan would be submitted to the board, and a group consisting of herself, the city administrator, city engineer and several town architects would review it.

DeGuentz said a combination of landscaping and a fence could be possible; residents said that would be desirable from a screening and safety point.

To comment, visit suburbanjournals.stltoday.com.

Westbound I-64 to close for bridge repairs

Westbound I-64 to close for bridge repairs
By Kalen Ponche

Motorists who normally cross the Missouri River on the Daniel Boone Bridge will have to find a different route if they’re headed west during the first two weekends in December.

The Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) plans to close westbound Interstate 64/Highway 40 between Long Road in St. Louis County and Highway 94 in St. Charles County while workers make repairs to the 72-year-old westbound span of the Daniel Boone Bridge.

The highway’s westbound lanes are scheduled to be closed from 5 a.m. Dec. 1 to 7 p.m. Dec. 2 and from 5 a.m. Dec. 8 to 7 p.m. Dec. 9.

Crews examined the bridge in late August after the collapse of a highway bridge in Minneapolis. The Daniel Boone Bridge is one of 14 state bridges with a deck-truss design, similar to the Minneapolis bridge.

Inspectors determined the bridge was in fair condition, but crews in December will add steel support to 25 joints that have shifted or bowed, MoDOT spokesman Andrew Gates said. The repairs will be similar to those made on the bridge that crosses the Missouri River at Washington, Mo.

“Exposing steel to the elements and the salts can encourage corrosion,” Gates said. “What you will find on these, though, is that with an aggressive inspection program we can track where there will be potential corrosion and get those fixed before they would ever become an issue.”

Gates said MoDOT inspects all of the state’s bridges at least once every two years. Last year, workers replaced rusting connection plates in the bridge. MoDOT plans to install a new overlay in 2010.

The bridge was last rehabilitated in 1990, he said.

Although the bridge will be closed during weekends to avoid changing commuters’ weekday routes, the shutdown could affect nearly 40,000 drivers.

The Daniel Boone Bridge is one of five river crossings between the two counties. The others are the Veterans Memorial Bridge (Highway 364, also known as the Page Avenue extension, on the south side of St. Charles); the Blanchette Memorial Bridge (I-70 at St. Charles); the Discovery Bridge (Highway 370 on the north side of St. Charles; and the Lewis Bridge (Highway 364 at West Alton).

The planned shutdown has some business owners near Highway 40 in St. Charles County worried about the impact it could have on their businesses.

“I know there’s a lot of stores around here who have customers who come from Chesterfield,” said Regina Ruppert, owner of Vintner’s Cellar Custom Winery in O’Fallon. “It does concern me.”

MoDOT officials recommended drivers detour from I-270 to I-70 to reach their destination.

O’Fallon resident Kim Page typically visits shops in Chesterfield Valley several times a week. She said she probably would avoid shopping there while the bridge is closed because the detour is too far.

“I guess I’d take Page home, but that seems like a long way around,” she said. “I’ll have to stay in St. Charles County.”

Trail trials: Dardenne Greenway is shrinking

Trail trials: Dardenne Greenway is shrinking
By Tim Bryant
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Monday, Nov. 26 2007

ST. CHARLES COUNTY — Dardenne Greenway, initially proposed as a recreational
trail across most of the county, is shrinking by more than a third.

When proposing the route in 2005, planners said they hoped to develop a 36-mile
trail along the Dardenne Creek’s entire length in St. Charles County, from
Warren County to where the stream joins the Mississippi River.

But indifference or even hostility from some creekside landowners led the Great
Rivers Greenway District to abandon its plan for the project’s eastern and
western ends. As a result, the trail will probably run from just west of the
Busch wildlife area to just east of St. Peters’ Lakeside 370 Park.

Dardenne Greenway is to become part of what eventually will be a regional
network of recreational paths. They will interconnect in what the Great Rivers
district calls the 600-mile River Ring.

Voters established the district in 2000 by passing a special sales tax in St.
Louis and St. Louis and St. Charles counties. The tax produces about $10
million annually.

A similar tenth-of-a-cent sales tax supports trail projects the Metro East Park
and Recreation District is completing in Madison and St. Clair counties.
Eventually, the districts’ trails on both sides of the Mississippi will
complete the River Ring.

Nancy Thompson, the district’s project manager for the Dardenne Greenway, said
few landowners west of the Busch area were willing to grant trail easements.

“What happened is that we listened to the people and found that in the west
part of the county there’s very little willingness from property owners for a
trail,” she said.

Vernon Schroeder, 68, of St. Charles, owns 58 acres of cropland, pasture and
woods on the south side of the creek near New Melle. He said his refusal to
grant an easement was based on his belief that a trail in sparsely settled
western St. Charles County made little sense.

“I would think it would be a nightmare to keep up, with the amount of use it
would get,” he said.

District officials encountered similar rejections from owners of creekside land
near the Mississippi, Thompson said. But she added that, overall, the district
was “enormously pleased” with citizen comments received at a series of public
meetings that began more than a year ago and concluded earlier this month.

Also struck from the plan is a “water trail” using boats on the greenway’s
lower stretch. Logjams and other concerns led district officials to cancel that
feature, Thompson said.

Despite its shortening by more than 13 miles, the trail will still run through
O’Fallon, Dardenne Prairie, Cottleville and St. Peters. The greenway — a linear
park built for cyclists, runners and walkers — will link municipal parks along
the way.

Sections of the specific route remain undetermined, mainly because of the
complexity of negotiating easements in areas with numerous owners of small
tracts. Old Town St. Peters is an example of such an area, Thompson said. In
addition, the presence of agricultural levees close to some homes requires the
district to figure a route that prevents the trail from “literally going
through yards.”

The district and its consultant, SWT Design of St. Louis, hope to complete the
Dardenne plan soon. No further construction timetable is set, but a three-mile
trail section opened this year within the BaratHaven development, a project led
by McEagle Properties.

Hunter Beckham, of SWT Design, said planners reluctantly abandoned the water
trail plan on lower Dardenne Creek. He said he and Jeff Hutsler, the St. Peters
parks director, used kayaks this summer to view close up the logjams that make
the creek impassible.

Efforts by volunteer groups to remove the blockages might someday lead to the
greenway’s extension all the way to the Mississippi, Beckham said.

tbryant@post-dispatch.com | 636-255-7212

Traffic problems to ease in Dardenne Prairie

By Nina Kult

Dardenne Prairie residents and commuters can expect traffic burdens to be eased starting in 2008.

Traffic lights will be installed at the intersections of Hanley Road and Highway N and Hanley Road and Feise Road, helping eliminate peak-hour congestion.

City Engineer Luke Kehoe said both intersections are in the city’s new pedestrian-oriented “downtown” area. He said the signals will be designed to eliminate the current traffic congestion and also have a pedestrian-oriented design to handle the anticipated increase in foot traffic.

Kehoe said the Missouri Department of Transportation is finalizing the paperwork for Highway N, currently a state highway, to become a city street.

“The mayor and Board of Aldermen directed me to request money from the St. Charles County Road Board earlier this year in anticipation of Highway N coming under city control,” he said. “The county has been very beneficial in assisting Dardenne Prairie in funding transportation improvement projects over the years.”

City Administrator Rob Hussey said the cost for one stoplight is approximately $233,700, but that the county would provide $175,275 per light, leaving the city to pay $58,425 for each stoplight.

Kehoe said a traffic study to determine the timing and configuration of the signal is planned to begin in January 2008. Once the study is complete, he said, the results will be used to design the construction plans for the new traffic signals, which would be installed in spring 2008.

Officials said right now, traffic gets congested during the morning and evening rush hours as well as on the weekends as parishioners are entering and exiting Immaculate Conception Church, located at Hanley Road and Highway N.

“I’ve seen the traffic backed up as far as a half-mile,” Kehoe said.

Ann Hoffman, assistant principal at Immaculate Conception School, said she looks forward to the addition of the traffic light.

“Our drop-off is between 7:30 and 7:50 a.m. and many times looking east on Highway N, it is backed up past the south entrance to the church, and that’s a long time for people to wait,” she said. “The afternoon is particularly problematic as we dismiss around 3:15 p.m., and on days when the police officer is not standing at the corner, it can take 15 to 20 minutes just to get everyone out of the lot.”

Hoffman said traffic congestion around the school started increasing earlier this year largely due to the construction of Hanley Road from Highway N to Feise Road. She said traffic was already backing up this spring, and it just got progressively worse as construction continued.

Work to add a center turn lane on Hanley began mid-June, which forced traffic one-way southbound only.

Hussey said the construction was supposed to be completed already, but due to utility delays, the finish date has been pushed back. He said he has not been given a completion date, but said the asphalt must be laid before the weather gets colder.

Hoffman said the traffic light won’t only help motorists at the church and school, but will allow daily commuters to get through the intersections more efficiently.

“We are really appreciative of everyone’s efforts to make the best out of the situation and grateful for the help of the police to direct traffic,” she said.

Tickets and Turkeys

Thursday, October 25th – Sunday, November 18th

Order your Thanksgiving Honey Baked^® turkey from the Marketplace and receive 2 free movie passes to Great Escape Theatre. Call 625-1314 for more information.

Upcoming Events

Fall Festival in Phoenix Village

October 31st, 6pm-9pm

Bring all your trick or treaters to Phoenix Village (behind Goddard School) for some Halloween fun and food (bounce houses, games, candy and tattoos). Questions? Call 561-8282

Marketplace Wine Tasting

Saturday, October 27th, 3-5pm

Try some the Marketplace’s finest wines while learning all about them – plus a chance to win wine and wine-related accessories.

Barat Academy Open House

November 4th, 2007, 12am-4pm

For more information or directions: (636)300-5500 | www.Baratacademy.org

Open houses to address Dardenne Greenway

The Great Rivers Greenway District has scheduled three open houses to give the public a final chance to comment on updated plans for the 36-mile Dardenne Greenway.

The open houses are scheduled for Nov. 12 in the Gould Building in Wapelhorst Park, 1874 Muegge Road in St. Charles; Nov. 14 in the Renaud Spirit Center 2650, Tri Sports Circle in O’Fallon; and Nov. 15 in St. Peters City Hall, One St. Peters Centre.

Displays of maps and information will be set up to allow visitors to attend the Dardenne Greenway Community Open Houses anytime from 4-8 p.m.

The updated proposal incorporates feedback from two previous public forums. Public comment is sought on trails and trailheads, voluntary conservation areas and prioritizing projects in various communities.

Public comment sought on trail plans

By Jami Cale
Saturday, October 20, 2007 12:36 PM CDT
Speak your mind

O’Fallon: Oct. 23, 5-7 p.m.; Renaud Spirit Center, 2650 Tri-Sports Circle, O’Fallon

Lake Saint Louis: Oct. 25, 7-9 p.m.; Lake Saint Louis City Hall, 200 Civic Center Drive, Lake Saint LouisWentzville: Nov. 5-7 p.m.; Wentzville City Hall, 310 West Pearce Blvd., Wentzville

St. Charles County residents who want more walking trails soon can have a leg up on their city’s future plans.

Park departments in O’Fallon, Lake Saint Louis and Wentzville have scheduled informational public meetings this week to seek resident input on a future Bikeable-Walkable Master Plan to be drafted for their communities.

The three municipalities entered into a grant agreement last January for Trailnet Inc. to create a trail master plan in each city. The non-profit organization will map out potential areas for construction of bike routes and trails that could eventually connect together inside and outside of the communities.

“The benefit is to make communities more healthy and to have more transportation options out there,” said Dan Cross, Trailnet project manager.

Trailnet was awarded a transportation enhancement grant in 2006 from the East-West Gateway Council of Governments, which will cover the majority of the plan’s $90,000 price tag. Each city is responsible for funding 10 percent of its portion of the project, which park officials estimate at $3,000.

Park directors and Trailnet officials will be available to answer questions at the meetings and to report the results of demographic studies conducted in the past eight months. However, the majority of the meetings will be spent gathering input from residents on what kinds of trails they would like, where those trails might go and what transportation routes they currently use, Cross said.

Park directors in the three communities say their cities are primed for the project.

Several trail systems already are in place in O’Fallon parks, but the paths are scattered and lack connectivity, said O’Fallon Park Director Cindy Springer. Implementing the project will help the community in several ways, she said.

“First of all, you’ll reduce your vehicle congestion, and every city that’s grown as fast as O’Fallon has can understand that,” Springer said. “Also, you’re becoming an active community, which means that you’re becoming a more healthy community.”

A master plan would lend itself well to Lake Saint Louis’ recreational community, said Dave Reynolds, Lake Saint Louis park director, particularly because of the main thoroughfares in the city that already have sidewalks and bike paths, such as Lake Saint Louis Boulevard and Freymuth Road.

According to Wentzville’s Parks Master Plan, completed in 2004, residents listed trail systems at the top of their list defining what they wanted to see more of in the community.

The project also would benefit Wentzville’s many younger residents, who more and more can be seen walking and riding bikes with and without their children, said Wentzville Park Director Mary Jo Dessieux.

“It’s an alternative route of transportation,” Dessieux said. “I would love to get children here to Progress Park or any park they want to go to in a very safe way, and the way that you do that is with trails and sidewalks.”

Officials are expecting positive input from residents in each community.

Trailnet officials will begin drafting the Master Plan after the meetings and identifying and planning connections between key destinations, such as schools, shopping areas and parks, and the recommended trail, bike and pedestrian facilities. They plan to gather additional resident input during a second set of informational meetings after about 90 percent of the plan is finished. The entire process is expected to be complete by early 2008.

At that point, each city will decide how to move forward with the plan, how to fund future projects and whether to continue working with Trailnet for help with grant writing or further planning.

Momentum builds for downtown in Dardenne Prairie

News

An artist’s rendering of a new city hall and baseball fields in Dardenne Prairie’s proposed downtown. The view in this artist’s rendering of Dardenne Prairie’s proposed downtown is looking north along Post Road toward Immaculate Conception Church.

Momentum builds for downtown in Dardenne Prairie
Plans call for mixed-use community
By Nina Kult
Saturday, October 20, 2007 12:36 PM CDT
It may seem quiet in Dardenne Prairie in the months after officials, residents and business owners gathered for an intensive week-long workshop designed to help plan a future downtown, but behind the scenes, those involved assure that the wheels are in motion.

Earlier this year, city officials designated 285 acres bounded by Highway N and Hanley Road, including the areas of Feise Road and Technology Drive, as the site of the future downtown Dardenne Prairie. They hired Florida-based Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company (DPZ), a group of architects and town planners responsible for the design of The New Town at St. Charles, for $450,000 to create a master plan

Galina Tahchieva, director of town planning for DPZ, said she thought the April series of workshops, called a charrette, was a complete success.

“Hundreds of people showed up during the week, and a few even surprised us on the weekends,” she said. “It was very well attended.”

After touring neighborhoods of St. Louis, more than a dozen DPZ planners began designing almost immediately, then altered designs as they received comments from the community. Residents were invited to talk with planners about their concerns while getting the chance to watch plans for a new downtown unfold before their eyes.

Tahchieva said some neighborhoods that originally were against the idea, were encouraged to work directly with DPZ on solutions. She said the interactive environment allowed for creative resolutions widely accepted by doubting residents.

Tahchieva said DPZ spent a lot of time listening to the community and tried to be as accommodating as possible in every case.

“Many business owners and developers came to us and we worked together,” she said. “We tried to create a mixed-use and lively community to balance out with existing retail and big box developments.”

What DPZ, city officials and residents came up with was a master plan, involving 25 set standards, that allows a more cohesive city using retail, residential and office elements.

Four areas of Dardenne Prairie were targeted for reconfiguration: the Highway 40 corridor, the intersection of Highway N and Hanley Road, the shopping district that includes Target and JC Penney, and the intersection of Hanley and Feise roads.

DPZ suggested using smaller streets along Highway 40 as entrances to Dardenne Prairie, and turning Post Road into an urban street lined with businesses. The Highway 40 corridor, referred to as the “tech campus,” could be home to a conference center in the future, and includes plans for hotels, office buildings and restaurants.

Based on a smaller-scale historic downtown St. Charles, the intersection of Highway N and Hanley Road would be considered the heart of Dardenne Prairie, featuring shops, offices and a new city hall. Plans include keeping an existing ball field, but adding an adjacent plaza for festivals and gatherings.

The current shopping area of Target and JC Penney would become a larger retail-office center, and the intersection of Hanley and Feise roads would become known as the “Four Corners,” featuring cafes and other small businesses.

A mixture of pedestrian and bicycle trails would connect the four areas.

Tahchieva said the plan is not set in stone. DPZ, she said, merely provided the framework and standards, which are intended to ensure conformity, for architects and developers to follow when building the downtown.

“The flexibility of the code allows for successful growth, which means if there is higher density, it can accommodate it. It’s flexible to the market,” she said. “We wanted our drawings to show what a great space can look like.”

Additionally, Tahchieva said plans do not focus on one style; rather, they reflect the qualities of many neighborhoods in St. Louis.

“We more or less tried to absorb the good vernacular traditions, focusing more on character, proportions and atmosphere, as opposed to style,” she said. “The way buildings meet and how spaces are formed, these are lessons we try to learn from traditional architecture in the area.”

Since then, plans were reviewed by residents and officials and subsequently approved. Mayor Pam Fogarty said the areas designated for development have been rezoned and city ordinances have been changed accordingly.

“I think the residents are satisfied,” Fogarty said. “I haven’t heard any opposition.”

City Administrator Rob Hussey said a number of developers, who expressed interest in the downtown proposal, also seem excited about the plan.

“Many of them had input during the charrette,” he said. “For instance, the 10 acres owned by (home builders) Fischer and Frichtel, DPZ sat down and drew out a plan just for them.”

Hussey said the same type of interactive planning took place between DPZ and Cardinal Ritter Senior Services, whose plans include building an apartment building for senior citizens. Additionally, city staff is expected to start talking with architects in January about plans for a new city hall, which would be a pivotal part of the downtown area.

“Everyone in the business community seems very excited about the project,” Hussey said. “People have been saying it’s architecturally pleasing and something different for out here. We’ve gotten a positive response.”

Tahchieva said she hopes the momentum for the project continues in these months after the charrette.

“During it, there is a lot of creativity and adrenaline going. You have the people interacting, and a lot of people committed to their work,” she said. “We have to keep that enthusiasm going, and I believe Dardenne Prairie has the community, staff and officials to do that.”

Tahchieva sad now is the time for the city to advertise the great possibilities and opportunities in Dardenne Prairie.

“The community has great potential,” she said. “The infrastructure, the rooftops and the regional shopping already exist and are attracting people. Now is the time to really show these advantages.”