U. City To Introduce Olive/170 Redevelopment Agreement By Nov. 21

UNIVERSITY CITY, MO — University City held a neighborhood meeting at the Heman Park Community center in the city's third ward Tuesday night to ask for feedback on a redevelopment agreement being negotiated with Webster Groves-based Novus Development. Last month, the city's Tax Increment Financing Commission voted to give the company about 70 million taxpayer dollars to build a shopping center at Olive Boulevard and Interstate 170. Likely anchored by a Costco, the development will displace about 60 homeowners and dozens of small, minority-owned businesses. Big box retail stores, offices, luxury apartments and more than 2,000 parking spaces will take their place.

But the project will also fund about $15 million of reinvestment into the Third Ward. Officials say the money will be used to improve infrastructure and boost home values, but many of the people who live in the majority African-American ward say they are distrustful of the city after years of neglect.

City manager Gregory Rose said his staff plans to introduce the final redevelopment agreement by November 21. While negotiations will happen behind closed doors, Rose said he intends the contract to be made public when it is introduced at a yet-unannounced public meeting.

It's not clear how long citizens will have to review the agreement once it becomes public, but a vote could happen as soon as November 21 or at the next scheduled council meeting on November 26.

"I don't know if the mayor and council will vote on it when it's introduced or not. That will be their decision," Rose said. "But our goal is to certainly have it before them by November 21."

The redevelopment agreement will be included on the agenda of the public meeting, Rose added, saying there is "no question" the public will get to see it before the vote.

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Similar to a meeting held in August, city staff asked community members to break into small groups and discuss things they would like to see included in a redevelopment agreement. Some of those things included an equity board to make sure money is spent fairly, tax abatements for low-income residents, affordable housing and jobs programs.

But it's not clear exactly how those proposals will make their way into the final redevelopment agreement, if they will at all. The city has fiercely resisted an independently-negotiated Community Benefits Agreement, and an independent equity board seems similarly dead on arrival. Last month, a CBA dispute prompted one member of the city's Human Relations Commission to resign and the commission has now suspended meetings pending a review by the city council.

"I do not think it is worth our valuable time to meet when we are so uncertain of the Council's view of our purpose and role," said commission chair Jaclyn Kirouac-Fram in an email to fellow commission members.

Councilmember Bwayne Smotherson said that it would be up to city staff to work out the details of the agreement with Novus.

"The person you would actually need to talk to is the city manager," he said. "That's all in the hands of staff."

The city manager said staff would prioritize proposals that would have the greatest impact city wide, citing minority participation goals as a good example. But, he added, which proposals make it into the final agreement will ultimately be up to the city's elected officials — including Smotherson.

"The purpose for the meeting was to get ideas about those things that we should try to negotiate," Rose said. "We'll try to negotiate the best agreement that we can. That's not saying that everything that's written will be included in the redevelopment agreement. We'll get as much as we can."

Correction: This article originally said the meeting was held Wednesday night. It was held Tuesday, October 16.

Photos by J. Ryne Danielson/Patch