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BY CAROL ARNETT

The Florissant City Council held one public hearing and passed several bills at the council meeting Monday night. They also heard from Mayor Robert Lowery on new Tax Increment Financing (TIF) that could affect Old Town Florissant.

The public hearing was held at the request of the Gettemeier Company. The company would like to expand the bar at 1740 Thunderbird Road and turn it into a full service restaurant. Jerry Gettemeier, speaking for the restaurant, said that it would triple in size. The company would also like to expand the restaurant hours in order to serve breakfast on Saturdays and Sundays.

The council held a first reading on a bill that would approve the restaurant’s expansion.

The council also passed several bills. Several allow new businesses or expansions of existing businesses. The Target store on Lindbergh will be expanding, and a new Starbucks will be opening at 1261 Graham Road, which was formerly a Hardee’s restaurant.

The council also passed a bill appropriating the funds for bulky trash pickup. The $5,000 from the city will be matched by the MidAmerica waste. Mayor Robert Lowery said that he hopes to continue the program and have more than one bulky pickup day per year.

Lowery also announced that new legislation regarding Tax Increment Financing (TIF) has passed in the state legislature.

“This will create one TIF commission for St. Louis County,” Lowery said. Lowery said that the city had studied creating a TIF for Old Town, but waited until the state legislature passed the new legislation before acting on it. “We can now bring forth a TIF for Old Town,” Lowery said.

Lowery also said that he had worked with Senator Claire McCaskill to address issues with flood insurance that several city residents had. Lowery explained that several residents were paying “exorbitant” insurance rates based Federal Emergency Management Agency maps.(see story on this page)

“The Corps of Engineers is changing the mapping,” Lowery said. He thanked McCaskill for her efforts to get the maps changed.

After the meeting, Lowery dismissed rumors that police had to break up fights at the Knights of Columbus grounds during the Valley of Flowers.

“There was really no trouble,” Lowery said. “About 300 kids had gathered down there after closing and the police asked them to leave.” Lowery added that there was no fighting.

“In fact, there were no arrests at all this year at the Valley of Flowers,” Lowery said. “It was a great year for the festival.”

In other matters, the council:
• Approved a request for a package liquor license for Florissant Food and Liquor at 1925 Washington Street.

•Approved a request for a full package liquor license for Howdershell Mart at 420 Howdershell Road.

•Approved a request for a full liquor by the drink license for the Chinese Gourmet Restaurant at 14065 New Halls Ferry Road.

•Approved a request for a permit from Steven Lata to keep two domestic ducks at his home on South New Florissant Road.

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