BY DANIEL TOBERMAN
For the News-Democrat
Tuesday, Jul 17, 2007 Posted on Tue, Jul. 17, 2007
A standing-room only crowd applauded Monday night when the City Council told Grewe Inc. it cannot build its 40,000-square-foot Creekside Promenade development at the intersection of Kyle Road and Lincoln Avenue.
The Creekside Promenade was proposed to include five buildings including a pharmacy, bank, deli and coffee shop and two strip malls on eight acres. The council voted 10-4 to amend the ordinance to limit the development's size to only 15,000 square feet and four acres.
But Grewe representative Thomas DeNomme told the council before the vote that a 15,000-square-foot development would not be economically feasible.
The council's vote brings the proposal in line with its comprehensive plan. Since 2001, O'Fallon's comprehensive plan has had the site designated for neighborhood development, with any singular development limited to four acres and 15,000 square feet.
The council voted to approve the proposal on first reading July 2. The change came after protests from residents near the proposed site. The meeting attracted 130 people who responded to the vote with a round of applause.
David Crane and Tom Faulkner represented the residents in opposition and presented the city with a petition of more than 340 signatures in opposition. In a presentation to the council before the vote, they said residents are not opposed to the site being developed, but they said the majority of the people in north O'Fallon thought the development was too large and did not fit into the neighborhood.
Crane and Faulkner unveiled a survey they conducted with the help of TSB Research Inc. that stated of 675 people surveyed in north O'Fallon, 86 percent were against the development. The primary concerns of those surveyed were that the council had no guarantees of what tenants would occupy the site, it did not fit with the neighborhood and that it was too large. The men said residents would support the proposal in a less residential area.
Ted Shekell, O'Fallon's director of planning and zoning said the action by the council kills the proposal, and if Grewe wanted to move forward with a 15,000-square-foot development, it would have to begin the application process all over again.
DeNomme said a 15,000- square-foot development would cost $393 per square foot to build while construction costs for the 40,000-square-foot proposal would be only $201 per square foot. With the smaller development, DeNomme said the rent would be too high to attract tenants.
DeNomme said after the meeting a Grewe development at the intersection is not out of the question, but said there is no plan for a 15,000-square-foot development.