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By Carol Arnett

The Florissant City Council held two public hearings at its meeting Monday night. It also held the final readings and votes on bills that approve a new medical training center and a new banquet center at 407 Dunn Road, the former home of Yacovelli’s.

Aspire Healthcare Solutions was given the authorization to open at 3391 N. Highway 67. The school will train CNAs and other medical professionals.

The council also authorized The Jewel Event Center to open in the former Yacovelli’s site.

At the first public hearing, Lamar Wilkes spoke to the council about opening a restaurant, Stix and Ice, at 31 and 35 Florissant Oaks Shopping Center. The restaurant will also be a daiquiri bar, Wilkes said. “All our food is served on sticks, and the ice is for the daiquiris. “We’ll serve everything from fish, shrimp and beef to chicken and waffles on a stick. It’s amazing.”

The restaurant will be open to minors until 7 p.m., and adults only after that. Wilkes said that the cup colors would be different to indicate if a drink contains alcohol or not. Wilkes said they would offer a full service bar.

“I’m 100% behind you,” said Councilman Tim Jones. The restaurant is in his ward. He said that he had several discussions with Wilkes and visited the site.

Wilkes said that there would not be live bands. “It’s too small,” he said. He added that if he later decided to have live music, he would have to move chairs and tables. The council held a first reading on the bill that would approve the project.

Florissant City Council Considers Hertz

In the second public hearing, the council heard a request to authorize a special use permit for the Hertz Corporation to open a Hertz Car Sales for an auto leasing and sales establishment at 1390 and 1400 N. Hwy 67.

John Pennington spoke for Hertz. He said that Hertz was trying to consolidate the current three facilities they have on Lindbergh into one site. The site has a service station with seven bays that will be torn down, Pennington said. Some of the pavement at the site will be removed for more green space.

Councilman Gerard Henke asked about the time frame for the project. Pennington said they would like to start within 30, 45 or 60 days. It will be a two and a half to three month construction project.

“The current front building will remain,” Pennington said. “It will be gutted and renovated.” Henke pointed out that the site is next to a new U-Haul site, and said that he thought that it would be a good fit there.

Councilman Mark Schmidt reminded Pennington that the city has a masonry ordinance that prohibits painting masonry. “I won’t approve any painting until I can see color choices,” he said.

The council held a first reading on the bill that would approve the project.

20-year Anniversary for Golf Course

The council also had a special presentation about the golf course. The course opened under the city’s ownership 20 years ago on March 28.

Mayor Tom Schneider presented a shadow box to the course manager. The shadow box commemorates the first foursome to play.

“Three of the original foursome who shot the first balls at golf course are here,” Schneider said. The first foursome consisted of former Councilwoman Geri Debo, Councilman Mark Schmidt, former Councilman Bob Garrett and Schneider.

“Schneider hit the first ball,” Debo said. “I was the first woman to hit a ball there.” She called the course at asset to the city. “It was a miserable morning,” Schneider said. The teed off at 7 a.m. on April 5. “There was a foursome there ready to pay, so we had to hurry up,” he said.

Mayor Proposes Merger Talks with Calverton Park

Mayor Schneider said he was late to the Florissant meeting because he was making a presentation to Calverton Park about entering into a discussion of merging. “This is not a new discussion. We’ve had one success story already,” in the county.

He pointed out that Vinita Terrace folded into Vinita Park last year and every since 2014 there has been more discussion on these issues,” he said. “It’s just going to be an open discussion between our two communities.”

He commented that there was a little bit of a sense of urgency, since Florissant with a population of around 52,000 is only 2,000 people above the 50,000 required for certain community block grants. Calverton Park, which borders Florissant just south of Interstate 270, has about 1,200 residents

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