Brentwood Board of Aldermen met Monday, days after construction began on Phase 1 of Manhasset Village apartments along Eager Road in Brentwood and Richmond Heights, and once again truck traffic was a topic of discussion.
Last October the board defeated two bills that would have restricted construction traffic on Eager and other roads within Brentwood Forest. The board tied on both votes with then mayor, Pat Kelly breaking the tie to defeat them. See also: Alderman Toohey: use existing curb cuts, Kramer’s bills were extreme
With site preparation underway, Ward 4 Alderman Tom Kramer said he might try to introduce the bills again. He said some signs have been erected on side streets.
Some Brentwood Forest residents came to the meeting Monday to complain.
“The first days it was pounding and pounding the concrete they were breaking up,” Matha Lopiparo said outside the meeting. “Then another day they came early to get tree roots out. It was drilling and drilling and drilling. Now they’re putting all the concrete they find in the ground in these dump trucks. They go up and down and up and down.”
Another resident, Pat Ebeling, said one of the problems is that “none of these people ever go up there, with the exception of our aldermen.”
Lopiparo and Ebeling said they don’t want to stop the project, they just want Richmond Heights to “share the pain.” They want trucks to go in on Eager from Brentwood Boulevard and out on McCutcheon Avenue, through Richmond Heights. “If you ride down McCutcheon there are two mailboxes, the rest of it is backyards,” Ebeling said.
Mayor Chris Thornton said he’s talked with Richmond Heights Mayor Jim Beck and St. Louis County Councilman Pat Dolan, to make sure it’s on their radar screens.