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BY CAROL ARNETT

The city of Florissant will soon be sending letters to residents in certain surrounding areas inviting them to a meeting where city officials will discuss the benefits of living in the city and invite them to consider annexation.

At an executive session, Mayor Robert Lowery told the council what areas the administration would like to target. The city has drawn up an annexation map and will target certain areas on the map.

“These areas will be targeted with letters asking for opinions and inviting residents to a meeting will the city will make a presentation,” Lowery said. He said the presentation will be only 10-12 minutes long.

“We will stress no tax increase,” Lowery said. City department heads will be there, but will not speak individually. After the presentation, residents would be able to meet city employees and visit booths for each department.

“We’re coming up on the end of the decade,” Lowery said. The amount of money the city collects from sales taxes is based on population. “We need more revenue, we need to start planning,” Lowery said. ‘We’re the anchor for North County.”

Lowery said that a city should provide more for residents than St. Louis County. “The city is supposed to provide better services than the county,” he said. “The county is not set up for it.”

City Director of Public Works Lou Jearls discussed the areas that the city would target. The first is the area containing Sunswept Condominiums. The second consists mostly of Pleasant Hollow subdivision. The third is bounded by Shackelford and Weithaupt, and the fourth goes from New Halls Ferry and Shackelford to the river. The fifth area is bounded by Weithaupt and New Halls Ferry.

The sixth area contains Paddock Estates subdivision, and the seventh and last area targeted is bordered by the city, Old Halls Ferry and Lindbergh Boulevard.

Lowery sought the council’s input on the targeted areas. Council member agreed with the areas targeted, but some expressed concern that some of the areas had several homes with multiple code violations.

“We will enforce the code,” Lowery said. However, he added, the city would “help people who need it.” He said the city already had programs in place to help residents who are unable to make changes needed to comply with city codes.

Lowery stressed that the city wanted only to inform residents of the area of the benefits of living in the city. “We want this to be a grass roots effort,” he said. He said the city would like the residents in the targeted areas to want to live in the city.
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