WPLNA Meeting – Tues. 7/9/19 at 7 PM

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The West Pine Laclede Neighborhood Association will meet on Tuesday, July 9th at 7 pm at Northwest Coffee, 4251 Laclede (at Boyle).  All are welcome!

The minutes from our June meeting are copied below and will be presented for approval at this meeting. We look forward to seeing you on July 9th. 

Minutes 06.11.19 – Draft until approved at upcoming meeting. 

WEST PINE LACLEDE NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION

President Harold Karabell called the meeting to order.

The normal order of business was suspended in order to give the floor to Jeff Winzerling of Envoy Commercial Real Estate. 

Jeff Winzerling and Universatile Development have a history in our neighborhood, having developed the Catlin Townhomes at West Pine & Boyle, the Laclede Lofts, just east of the Post Office and, just last year, four new homes at 4228-34 Maryland Avenue. He came to present a new project: redevelopment of properties both sides of the 3900 block of Laclede Avenue. Rothschild Development, his partner in the Laclede Lofts, will also partner in the new projects.

On the south side, the proposal is for a mixed-use development called The Carriage Works. The complex at 3940-62 Laclede was constructed for a carriage manufacturer more than a century ago. They propose to convert it to primarily office space, with a couple retail/restaurant storefronts. The redevelopment will include new storefronts, skylights, floors, and systems inside as well as widened sidewalks, pedestrian lighting, and street trees outside. A temporary parking lot will be built on the Cortex-owned lot to the west, but the new garage on the north side of the street will be large enough to meet the parking needs of both projects. They hope to start this project in October of 2019 and complete by spring 2020.  

On the north side, the project consists of three components: renovation for office space of the historic Police Garage building; construction on existing parking lots of a new parking garage, and an apartment building wrapping 2 sides of the new garage. The office building will be about 39,000sf and oriented toward creative and technology businesses. The garage would house c. 464 cars in a 4 level structure. The apartment building would be 6 stories high and contain c. 100 apartments. The timing of the State Historic Preservation Tax Credit process means that this project, if approved, would not start until after July 2020.  

Mr. Winzerling requested a letter of support from the association to document community support for the concept. This was approved by the membership by consensus.  President Harold Karabell will write this letter and send to Alderman Roddy and to Park Central Development.   

MINUTES 

The minutes for May’s meeting were unanimously approved as written.

TREASURE’S REPORT

Certificate of deposit value:    $7,211.30 

Checking account balance:      $3,312.86 (reflects memberships and Rejis contribution for the median)

Savings account balance:         $1,060.19

Rejis has offered to pay $750 annually to the West Pine Laclede Neighborhood Association in lieu of maintaining the median planter at West Pine and Boyle. Terry Werner will send Rejis a letter approving this agreement and asking if they would agree to have it posted on our association’s web page to publically acknowledge this support.

Membership dues were due in April.  Renew or to sign up: westpinelaclede.com/join/

BEAUTIFICATION REPORT

  • Rejis will contribute $750 annually for planter maintenance – see above. Anyone interested in helping to weed and maintain the planter is encouraged to talk to Lorraine Simpson.
  • Lorraine Simpson and Marshall Michener will be submitting an application to Brightside STL for funding for several common areas of the neighborhood. 
  • Lorraine commended our neighbors Joy and Tyler Bertroche from the 200 block of North Boyle for carrying a bag and picking up trash in the neighborhood while on their daily walks.  
  • Diana Gualdoni agreed to chair a subcommittee to explore ways to plant and maintain the median planters on Forest Park Avenue at Newstead, Boyle, and Sarah.  
  • Sue and Paul Nauert are exploring ways to improve the west end of the 4300 block of Laclede.  

DEVELOPMENT REPORT –Ron Coleman

  • Work on 4101 West Pine should commence very soon.  
  • Dead trees in front of 4101 Laclede should be removed this fall. 
  • The east end of the alley behind 4101 Laclede has been repaired. Unfortunately, it is patchy due to the many utilities underneath, and cannot be entirely redone with pavers, but he’s been told it is the best we can expect at this time.
  • The developer of 4101 Laclede agreed to pay half the costs for landscaping in front of 4100 Laclede. 
  • The owner of 4308 Laclede has cleaned up the mud in front of his property. 

ALDERMAN REPORT– Alderman Roddy was out of town and unable to attend. 

SECURITY REPORT– Marshall Michener was unable to attend.  

  • The sign announcing the West Pine Laclede Neighborhood Association at Laclede and Newstead was stolen.
  • Packages were stolen from a porch on the 4200 block of West Pine. 

OTHER BUSINESS

  • Tree branches obscure stop signs at several intersections.  The City faces this issue each spring and will eventually get around to trimming them. If citizens wish to trim those tree branches, they may. 
  • A stop sign on Boyle at West Pine is falling over.  Ron Coleman will report this.  
  • Sidewalk maintenance is the responsibility of the property owner.  If a city tree has damaged the sidewalk, the city will repair it. Otherwise, the homeowner is responsible and may apply for St. Louis’ 50/50 program to split the cost.  

Respectfully submitted,

Diana Gualdoni, Secretary