Delmar Gardens P&Z Decision Still A Week Away

It may have been two weeks since the last Creve Coeur Planning and Zoning Commission meeting, but residents expecting a meeting of the panel tonight, anxious for a decision on the Delmar Gardens proposal for Ladue Road will find empty chambers at the Creve Coeur Government Center Monday.

October has 5 Mondays in it, so the next scheduled meeting of the Planning and Zoning Commission is set for November 5.

At that meeting, city officials expect to have the city's analysis of traffic connected to the Delmar Gardens proposal, which would include skilled, independent and assisted living facilities on 28 acres, along with 10 single-family homes.

The developer's traffic study claimed the proposal would generate less traffic than the original plan for the land which called for 28 single-family homes with an entrance directly across from the Ladue Pines subdivision.

Developers said they listened to neighborhood concerns and approached the Missouri Department of Transportation about putting a stoplight at Ladue Pines and Ladue. When that request was denied by MoDOT, developers shifted the Delmar Gardens Ladue Road access to a shared entrance with the Thompson Counseling Center trust. 

Residents who spoke at a public hearing on the project earlier this month said they didn't believe the traffic projections and said the proposal doesn't meet the standards set in the city's Comprehensive Plan for rezoning. 

City planners have evaluated the proposal and have praise for it in many areas, but have so far also reached the conclusion that the project is at odds with the Comprehensive Plan.

P&Z Commissioners could vote on the project next week, which would then move on to Creve Coeur City Council November 12 if it is approved.

UPDATE: Ward Four City Councilman Scott Saunders emailed Patch this morning to offer the following clarification on this report:

In your article today on Delmar Garden’s you said:

“The developer's traffic study claimed the proposal would generate less traffic than the original plan for the land which called for 28 single-family homes with an entrance directly across from the Ladue Pines subdivision.”

This is not actually the claim or conclusion of the Delmar Garden’s Traffic Study that was submitted and presented at the P&Z meeting.

The study predicted:

“The development of 28 homes would generate a total of 21 trips during the a.m. peak hour and 28 trips during the p.m. peak hour.”

And

“Based on empirical data from existing Delmar Gardens’ sites, the proposed retirement community and single-family homes would generate a total of 89 new trips during the a.m. peak hour and 108 new trips during the p.m. peak hour.”

…or roughly 4 times as much traffic with the proposed development as there would be with just homes.

The claim made by the study was with regards to the anticipated effect on the entrance to Ladue Pines as a result of moving theproposed entrance such that it doesn’t align with Ladue Pines:

“Although the currently zoned 28 homes would generate fewer trips than the proposed Delmar Gardens development, the intersection of Ladue Road and Ladue Pines Drive would actually operate better with the proposed Delmar Gardens development over the currently zoned 28 homes since the proposed site access for Delmar Gardens would not be opposite Ladue Pines Drive as it would be with the currently zoned 28 homes.”

The City will have its own independent traffic study to address the validity of these assumptions and the numbers that they are based on…but I think it is important to convey correctly to the public what are the actual assumptions that are being proposed and up for validation.

I can predict that your site will fill up by days end with angry posts about “how can they suggest that a nursing home generates the same amount of traffic as just homes!!!. The answer of course is that it can’t…and no one is claiming that it could…but for your article suggesting otherwise. I’m just trying to eliminate confusion and keep the debate focused on what is actually before us. There is already a great deal of inherent mistrust of developer traffic studies.