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Florissant Council Looking at City’s Definition of Family
By Carol Arnett
The Florissant City Council once again took up the definition of a family at the council meeting last week. The council held a public hearing at the request of city staff to look at the city’s definition of family.
The problem, explained Phil Lum, city building commissioner, is that the city code contains two different definitions of family. They need to have only one, said Lum.
Councilman Mark Schmidt brought up several scenarios where the proposed definition would not fit, including situations where a family had taken in others because of financial difficulties. Schmidt agreed that the city should be consistent in its definition.
Lum said the city staff was concerned about situations where there was intentional deceit, such as when a family moved children in to a house so they could attend a school in the neighborhood.
Councilwoman Karen McKay asked City Attorney John Hessel if he could defend the proposed definition in a court of law. Hessel said that he could. The city held a first reading on the bill that would amend the city code.
The council also held extensive discussion on a public hearing regarding a proposed daycare at 1723-1735 S. New Florissant Road. This is near the intersection of New Florissant and Pershall Roads.
While most of the council had no problems with the daycare itself, they were concerned about the traffic in the area. The city’s Planning and Zoning Commission (P and Z) had similar concerns and recommended denial of the request.
At issue is the way cars would enter and leave the facility. Several council members expressed concerns both that traffic would back up and that children may be unsafe walking into and out of the facility. The council closed the public hearing.
A third public hearing was scheduled, but tabled at the request of the petitioner, Wal-Mart. The retailer had come before P and Z to request a subdivision of property at Lindbergh and Cold Water Creek.
Hessel said that Wal-Mart had withdrawn the applications in order to resolve some issues, and indicated that they would file a new application.
In other business news, Schmidt moved to table a bill regarding a new Dollar General store in the Plaza Madrid Shopping Center. He had previously postponed this bill several times.
“The owners of the center want to improve the entire center,” he said, “and they’re not sure how that involves Dollar General.” He said that instead of postponing again, he would prefer to table the bill until the owners of the center decide what they want to do.
