Maplewood City Council at its Tuesday meeting made Martini Drive one-way southbound, where it runs alongside the new QuikTrip. The ordinance was voted on as an emergency measure because drivers were regularly going against the Do Not Enter sign at the north edge of the QuikTrip lot, City Manager Marty Corcoran said.
The council also denied a request by Shur-Way Auto Body to expand its business around the corner from its main shop to a garage on St. Elmo. Planning and Zoning had previously recommended against it, and a handful of residential neighbors expressed unanimous concerns against allowing the move in the meeting.
W. M. Lyn said the noise and traffic congestion would disturb neighbors who have patios that are 30 feet from the garage.
He said there’s a history on Commonwealth, that “Shurway will do what they need to do for their business, which doesn’t include the wellbeing of the neighborhood.”
Laura Sanders, who’s townhouse is on the corner of St. Elmo and Cambridge said her concern is cars parked in various stages of repair on the street.
“If you look down Kensington, there are always cars in various stages of repair, and this is just not something I want in my neighborhood,” she said.
The council voted unanimously to not allow Shur-Way to expand.
The council also further discussed how to use the approximately $1 million available to the city from the Hanley Road Transportation Development (TDD) funds. Corcoran said the council should make a decision by July.
Corcoran said the ideas so far are to use part of the funds to pay the city’s portion of the Phase 3 Manchester project, bike paths from the western city limits to other parts of the city and a police officer stationed at Walmart at Maplewood Commons.
Corcoran said in his opinion an extra officer is needed at Walmart. He said there are about 1,400 total calls per year to Walmart alone. That includes police, fire and ambulance.
Mayor Jim White opposed it, saying it would set a bad precedent. He also said Walmart has one of the best surveillance camera systems he has ever seen.
Corcoran said the cost to the city of an extra officer would be approximately $65,000 per year, but added that the cost would be reoccurring year after year.
Councilman Barry Greenberg asked if anyone had asked Walmart, and Corcoran said he doesn’t think there’s a business who would turn an officer down, other than a pawn shop.
The council’s next scheduled meeting is July 8.
1. Are Maplewood councilmen called aldermen?
2. What a way to be eletist by reducing the amount of multi family housing to get rid of “those people.” I moved to maplewood for the diversity, racially, ethnically, and economically and am ok livling a block from an apartment complex which is visited regularily by our PD and by a group home.
3. Walmart can pay for its own security. As far as I know, the crime that goes on there doest spill outside the property, so the moral is: just dont go to walmart. As long as it is isolated, I want to see my tax dollars helping out that business as little as possible.
Andrew – Maplewood City Council members are called councilmen, councilwomen or council members, but not aldermen. Thanks for the catch. They are called aldermen(women) in Brentwood, where it’s a Board of Aldermen, but I think you already knew that.
Once the Walmart in Shrewsbury is built/open, believe me the crime at the Maplewood Walmart will go down. Currently the Maplewood Walmart tops the list with the most thefts. The amount of tax revenue the Walmart generates should more than make up the cost of an officer assigned to The Commons. Richmond Heights has dedicated officers at The Galleria. The Galleria also employs their own mall security. The security at the Maplewood Walmart is awesome and their loss prevention employees are on par. The video surveillance on the parking lot is amazing as well.
Maplewood is a growing city and their business district is expanding. It is a great community and the police department is one of the best. It only makes sense that the police department employ extra officers due to the growth of the city. The officers run call to call and could use extra manpower. It is plainly obvious that the PD is making a difference.
Now, if they could only get rid of the apartment buildings… Maplewood would be prime real estate. You see all the Webster people who bought up the beautiful homes behind the old Quick Trip. Maplewood is a diamond in the rough and it is becoming a real gem.
The schools are amongst the best in St. Louis County (and that was not the case years ago). We are a sought out school district that offers children a fabulous education and is very diverse. We are lucky to have such a wonderful school district! From the Karen Hall, the principals and the great teachers and staff (including the School Resource Officer)!
When it comes to public safety, the citizens of Maplewood deserve the best. Their officers deserve to have ample coverage and if that means spending some money to keep crime down and make it a better community, spend it. You get what you pay for and the PD is doing a great job!
I, for one, don’t want Maplewood to selectively tear down apartment buildings. When communities do that, they alter their demographics and displace the disadvantaged. Webster Groves is a great community. Maplewood is also great. The qualities that make us special, however, are very different, and I think that pushing out presumably lower income residents will rid Maplewood of much of the diversity you praise. Over half of our school kids receive reduced lunch; yet we are a relatively high performing district. This is a wonderful combination that is good for the kids and good for our community.
I am not saying we can’t use another officer or two, I think it would be better use of them to patrol the streets of our wonderful city then be stationed at Walmart. If one was stationed there, would they leave to transport the law breakers or would a call be made for another officer to come and transport them?
If the crime will drop like you say it will after the Shrewsbury Walmart is completed, then there won’t be a need for one to be stationed at the Maplewood one.
If an officer is needed at Walmart let them pay for it, is all I am saying.
First off, is Walmart paying enough in taxes to offset the $65,000.00 it would cost year after year? How many calls do ALL the other business in Maplewood Commons average per year, better yet how many calls do ALL the business in Maplewood require per year? If Walmart is requiring that much attention of from our first responders, maybe they need to be paying for them. Is there any studies done on having an officer in the store reduces or stops the law breakers?
I agree, Harold. Isn’t the whole point of allowing businesses like Walmart to be in our city because of the taxes they’ll bring to the city, not the expenses they will cost the city? I seem to remember (although I didn’t live here yet) many residents didn’t even want a Walmart in Maplewood. And now tax dollars will go toward keeping Walmart safe from crime? If Walmart brings more crime to our area, as well as added expense why is it here in the first place?
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