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Wal-Mart a No-Show at Public Hearing; City Finds Engineering Problems
By Carol Arnett
Representatives from Wal-Mart did not come to the public hearing regarding the chain’s plans for a store at 3350 and 3400 N. Hwy. 67. The hearing was postponed from the last meeting.
City Engineer Tim Barrett spoke to the council about concerns his department had with the plan submitted earlier.
“There is a concern with the truck traffic, especially trucks entering from the West or leaving to the West,” Barrett said.
The second major concern, Barrett said, was that “the plan shows significant soil in the flood plane fringe.” This would violate city ordinances, Barrett said. “They would have to revise plans to meet our ordinance.”
Council members asked City Attorney John Hessel for his legal opinion. Hessel said that he sent an email on Jan. 23 to the lawyer for the petitioner, Jeff Otto. “I advised him that I would advise the council that they could not approve the plan,” Hessel said. He said that he has not heard back from anyone about the project.
Councilman Tim Lee noted that the hearing was postponed from an earlier date at the request of the petitioner. Hessel advised the council to continue the hearing one more time, to February 11. The council continued the hearing.
In a second public hearing, a local business requested permission to expand into a new location. Certified Auto Repair currently operates a shop on Dunn Road. Owner Christine Wilkerson told the council that they would like to take over the old Firestone shop at 530 N. Hwy 67, in Florissant Meadows shopping center.
The Dunn Rd. location has been in business since 1996, Wilkerson said. It would remain in business. The new location would employee five employees and would be open from 7 a.m. – 6 p.m.
The council held a first reading on the ordinance approving the business.
In other action, the council passed an ordinance that will rezone former firehouse at 605 rue St. Catherine from Historic Residential District to Historic Business District. Jeffrey D. Brehm wants to live in half of the property and run his business, Computer Aided Measurement Service (CAMS) out of the other half.
