WEST PINE LACLEDE NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION

Minutes: 09.13.16

President Harold Karabell called the meeting to order at 7:05 PM.

Harold dispensed with the usual order of business to allow guests to present first: 1) 4101 Laclede’s developer Austin Barzantny and construction manager Nelson Vogt and 2) Annie Bevill about “Little Free Library.”

4101 LACLEDE REPORT

Austin Barzantny – President Grove Properties – Technically the developer has not broken ground and plans to do so in October. The work underway is related to Metropolitan Sewer District’s requirement for verification that the underground sewer pipes are no longer in use. Presales are going very well, and only a few more sales are needed to reach 25% required for financing. The block party on Thursday Sept.15 is open to all WPLNA residents and runs from 4:00-8:00 PM on Sarah St. between Laclede and The Block.

Nelson Vogt – Raineri Construction

First month’s work will be excavation and grading of soil.

• Construction access and parking: Periodically when delivery access is needed, the parking row on Sarah and briefly the alley will be temporarily closed. Also sewer lines will run through a portion of the alley closest to Sarah, and work on building them will cause some intermittent closures. The parking row and sidewalk along Laclede will definitely be blocked. Raineri will do its best to alert residents of upcoming closures along with contact information for Nelson or a staff member of his. WPLNA residents can contact Nelson if access is needed or problematic.
• Parking for construction workers: Local businesses are concerned that worker parking along Sarah will negatively impact business because customers will not be able to park or will assume that because all parking is taken up the restaurant must be full. Raineri expects that for a while workers will be able to park at the location of the condo’s amenities deck, which will be built late in the process. Marshall Michener suggested contacting Cortex to request use of the fenced vacant lot it owns at Sarah and Forest Park. Ron Coleman might enlist Alderman Roddy’s help with this request. In addition, Nelson will consistently remind workers that they cannot park in front of these businesses, and he will respond to complaints from restaurant. A motion was made, seconded, and unanimously passed to request the City to install parking meters on the Sarah commercial corridor ASAP. Ron Coleman will undertake this project. Diagonal parking will be installed on Laclede sometime this fall with all vehicles required to back-in to the parking spaces.
• Trash dumpsters in alley: Raineri will develop a plan for access to The Block’s trash receptacles as well as any residential receptacles that will be impacted by construction.
• No sign of toxic waste has been found at the site despite previous concerns.
• Work hours are weekdays 7-3:30 approximately with occasional overtime
• WPLNA will publish contact information on its Web site, and Raineri will do its best to notify non-members and attendees of contact and hours/days of construction.

ANNIE BEVILL: LITTLE FREE LIBRARY (LFL)

Annie and Doug Bevill are installing a doll house size weather protected mini-library at Boyle and Laclede near the Community Garden. The grand opening will be September 24 from 10-12:00 Noon. Initially the Bevills will stock the LFL with a variety of books. People may then stop by and take/borrow whatever interests them and contribute books themselves. See www.littlefreelibrary.org for details on this “take a book/return a book” library.

MINUTES

Minutes for the August 8, 2016 meeting were approved as submitted.

TREASURER’S REPORT

Savings account balance:          $1,053.37

Certificate of deposit value:     $7,045.34

Checking account balance:       $924 for Community Garden shed; $975.09 balance

SUSAN ANDERSON – PARK CENTRAL DEVELOPMENT REPORT

Susan reported the following:

New Projects

1. 4906 W. Pine – Gamlin’s renovation is underway.
2. 32-40 N. Euclid (Koman) – visit https://sites.google.com/site/40neuclidconstruction/home
3. No dates for community presentation are yet scheduled for West Pine/Kingshighway; 4101 W. Pine and 215-21 N. Sarah (Lawrence Group); and 4205-4211 West Pine (Double Helix).
4. 3920 West Pine – Purchased by the Jesuit community with the approval of the Development Committee, the space will include a $10M facility to house the Jesuit Archives for the Central United States. See details at https://nextstl.com/2016/09/jesuit-archive-facility-planned-3920-west-pine-citys-central-west-end/

CWE Infrastructure

1. CWE Infrastructure Committee – 100+ residents responded to the “needs survey” and focused on lighting, sidewalks, and ADA sidewalk ramps. The Committee is identifying funding resources to cover the $3,000 project cost.
2. West Pine Pedestrian Streetlights
3. 4252 West Pine missing fixture – delivered and awaiting Street Department installation
4. 4400 West Pine – The City requires signed and sealed design and construction drawings that add several months and $40,000 to the cost of the $270,000 project that is funded through Alderman Roddy’s capital investment fund and CWE SouthEast. Via the latter, Susan has requested proposals from electrical engineering firms.
5. Sarah St. – Through Alderman Roddy’s Capital Ward funds, the tree-well pavers along Sarah have been removed and remaining debris will be removed very soon.

Events

1. October 1 – Grovefest (street festival) on Manchester from Sarah to Arco from 2:00 – 11:00 PM with $5 donation requested from attendees. Included will be food, vendor booths, live concerts, a drag queen contest, a paint-by-number mural, and family activities.
2. October 15 – Pair & Pour along Euclid, Lindell to Forest Park from 2:00 – 6:00 PM. Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 the day of. For this first annual event, Euclid South businesses are offering specialty dishes paired with select cocktails, wine, and beer served while patrons enjoy live music and art outdoors.

BEAUTIFICATION COMMITTEE

The Community Garden’s new shed is installed replacing the beleaguered hand-me-down shed of old.

SECURITY COMMITTEE

Jim Whyte reported the following:

Cortex Murmuration Festival and events on Sept. 23-25 – Although Cortex has made parking arrangements with the BJC complex, some attendees will park on the WPLNA side of Forest Park. Increased security patrols will be in place. See festival details at http://murmurationfest.com/

A resident of the block of Boyle between Laclede and West Pine was raped recently. As of this writing, police have arrested and charged a suspect with this crime.

As of this writing, the police have arrested four suspects in the murder of Monica Shaw on September 12 at Sarah and Olive.

Note that Jim is available to advise residents on security improvements. Phone: 314.454.5808    Fax: 314.361.0496 Email: [email protected]

ALDERMAN RODDY REPORT

In a few words, “There is a lot going on!”

1. Joe referred attendees to the Cortex Web site for detail on involved contractors and to keep abreast of what is going on with the Cortex work force. See http://cortexstl.com/inclusion/
2. Our neighborhood has had unprecedented increase in development in recent years. Much of the past development has been helped by tax incentives. However, the lack of consistency across the city can be problematic, and the goal of decreasing incentives as property values increase is not always considered. Joe is trying to address this problem as the senior alderman and chair of the Housing, Urban Development, and Zoning Committee.
3. Louis U. has unveiled a huge development project that will eventually connect its medical campus with its main campus. See extensive detail including Federal Mogul, and Armory renovation, and Great Rivers Greenway at https://nextstl.com/2016/09/st-louis-set-blight-395-acres-citys-fast-developing-central-corridor/
4. Cortex highlights – Cortex 3.0 approved Sept. 13: Four buildings are in the approval process w/ City:
   1. @ 4240 building will be Cortex “central” with Duncan being a “small downtown.” Included in the development will be a six story, 160 room hotel with a restaurant and meeting space. Oriented toward Duncan, the hotel will be adjacent to the Tech Shop.
   2. The recently opened Tech Shop already has 700 paid monthly memberships. Floors above the ground floor are completely occupied.
   3. A 1,000 car parking garage is planned to be built immediately east of the new hotel. Area business will share the facility with none exclusively owning it.
   4. Two additional office building are planned along with an apartment building with easy foot access to the planned Duncan Metro stop expected to open late 2017. Washington U.’s gym, Well Aware, will move to one of the buildings.

The meeting adjourned at 8:15 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Terry Van Schaik, Secretary