Maplewood officials Tuesday night unanimously passed the final vote approving a Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers restaurant at the corner of Manchester and Big Bend. That was despite continued opposition from neighbors — mainly to a variance given the restaurant for a reduced setback between bordering streets and the restaurant parking.
Maplewood resident, Adelina Mart, said the city shouldn’t make it so easy for a fast food restaurant to move there. Comfort Avenue resident, Jason Robey, said he thought the city is missing an opportunity to promote pedestrian traffic west of Big Bend by approving Raising Cane’s.
- Officials discuss Raising Cane’s: setbacks, signs, scrubbing the smell
- Plan and zoning approves Raising Cane’s
- Raising Cane’s seeks variance to build on Schaefer Shell site
Ellis Avenue resident John Hendel said he had heard a rumor that Jack-in-a-box, next door to the corner lot, is moving to the Menards development on Hanley Road, and if the development waited it would have room for the restaurant without the setback variance.
Ward 2 Councilman Tim Dunn said after the meeting that he gets what they were saying, but said money follows the traffic.
“I think what people don’t understand is, here’s a primo spot traffic wise,” he said. “There’s not a lot of businesses can pay what that guy wanted for that lot. A boutique shop — a Guatemalan fabric importer — can’t go there and expect to make it. That’s why Hanley is the way it is. The big revenue goes where the cars are. It’s a car society.”
Councilman Barry Greenberg pointed out that the variance was granted by the Maplewood Board of Adjustment several months ago, and could not be changed, and was not up for approval at the meeting on Tuesday.
Once again the council members do not listen to what is being said; apparently they believe they are much smarter then the citizens. Case in point Tim Dunn’s statement. So, let’s be clear! The citizens that spoke said, “they understood that it is a prime location,” and they never asked for Tim Dunn’s silly Guatemalan fabric importer. Really Tim?
The concern presented was the granting of the variance. The request was to step back and investigate if the Jack In The Box property was actually coming available. If so, then Raising Cane could purchase that location, and would not need the variance. This action would have shown that the council is actually interested in doing the right thing! And, it would support Raising Cane’s statement of being committed to the community. However, as it stands, if the Jack In The Box move rumor is true, then we have another vacant eye sore building, right next to the prime traffic-dollar-generating pass-thru-hot-spot.
I will say, there’s no big hurry, it’s not like there is a line forming on the corner waiting for chicken, nor are there cars doing practice drive thru!
I agree with J Butler. Maybe this new Cane’s can run the other chicken place out of town. Ate there once and through it away after one bite. They impressed me so much I can’t rember there name, you know that used to be a DJ office, don’t tell me, I don’t want to know.
Agree with Joe and Adelina. More ought to be expected from council members than this.
Agree. Our neighborhood deserves a more diverse and compelling commercial presence than this.
Mr. Greenburg,
Why didn’t you propose these ideas before? Where were you months even years ago “revisit zoning” It’s too late now for Big Bend / Manchester. You are the council put there by the people – for goodness sake – how can you pass the buck and say that you can’t do anything. Where is your forward, proactive thinking?
The mayor must have been paid quite well to allow this chain in our city considering how much he hates small high end chains like CBC.
ooo to make that assumption is unworthy and ill thought. Do you realize the accusation you are making? Shame.
I’m not sure who Councilman Tim Dunn was referring to,when he said that’s a lot of money that guy wanted for that lot, but “that guy” was actually Shell Oil who owned that lot, and sold it to the company that owns Raising Cains ….. It was a business deal and I’m sure there was a lot of money involved. Hopefully they will stay open, and we won’t end up with an empty store front….the reviews for the food sound hopeful that it is good food.
With Gus’s, Porter’s and KFC all nearby Maplewood will be enjoying the grease filled air and chicken stench all along Big bend. Now that’s good eatin!!!
Maplewood, MO New Motto:
You’ll Love Smelling That Chicken Grease on Your Clothes the Morning After!
The only thing stinking up Big Bend and Manchester is the White Castle. I can smell those sliders over anything else in the area.
White Castle is a landmark ! I haven’t eaten there nor bought take out, but many people have and do and isn’t it a good thing to have a successful well utilized business there ( or anywhere, really.)
I used to eat at White Castle when I was younger but haven’t in a long time. I agree about it being a landmark. That particular location was even mentioned in a parody song done by K-She back in the 90s. “Nights at White Castle” a shout out to the classic Moody Blues song. I crack up every time I hear it.
Please, please, please! Love Raising Cane’s chicken, fries, slaw, and garlic bread, YUMMY!
The most frustrating part of this is that officials act like they have no way of influencing the future. Oh well, “it’s a car society” a council member says. It is a car society because council members allow it to be that way. Developing codes that also allow foot traffic does not mean that car traffic is no longer welcome. These two things are not mutually exclusive. These are not that complex of issues to think through. Fortunately, it seems that MW residents are becoming more aligned with this thought and expecting more from its leaders. As long as we as a community continue to be involved, MW will continue to change for the better and so will its leadership (either with the current officials changing the way they think, or new officials being voted in).
While I have worked to make Maplewood a more sustainable and walkable community, I do feel that the issues of walkability in Maplewood are indeed complex. Even with a updated comprehensive plan, there cannot be an strongly integrated solution if development occurs in an incremental manner. Some of the individual projects that are conforming uses do not even come before Council for approval. Conditional uses undergo an analysis by the Planning and Zoning commission and are reviewed by the Council on their individual merits. I feel we need to revisit the zoning ordinance and consider other strategies more consistent with modern practices, but it isn’t a panacea for all that is wrong.
We have an established community with established roadways, and in most cases, minimal opportunity to create amenities that would enhance the ability to encourage pedestrian and bicycle traffic. This is compounded by the fact that Big Bend and Manchester west of Big Bend are controlled by the County and State respectively. The WALC Institute study suggested that roadways be reconfigured resulting in a single lane of vehicular traffic in each direction. That won’t happen unless we own those streets. We have done that on Maplewood controlled Manchester east of Big Bend mainly to accommodate much needed on street parking. We have maximized what opportunities we have at the Marietta lot, Sutton Loop, Bellevue lot, etc.
The issues are easy to analyze but extremely difficult to implement. I am not saying that conditions cannot be improved, but solutions won’t come easy.
I agree with Joe. It’s not so much the difficulty of the issues we’re facing that are frustrating, but the lack of motivation by the Council to do anything about them. Improving walkability in an established City is not a unique problem, and many cities before us have had to grapple with it, with a lot of literature written on the topic. To Barry’s point, it requires a transdisciplinary collaboration, community involvement and open discussion. I was surprised at how fast Barry was shut down by the Mayor when trying to ask a citizen a follow-up question at the last council meeting. I can understand keeping decorum, but many council meetings I attended had back and forth exchanges between the council, the City Manager and the citizen making comment. As some Council members try to understand a problem, communicate with the people who take time out of their lives to step forward and speak, there are clearly some members that do everything possible to ignore citizens and throw their hands up at every problem. Leadership has to lead us somewhere and right now it has dug its heals in and is holding us back.
The problem is we have a mayor who does not care. We’re asking progressive action from a mayor who has proven – time and time again – that he is for regressive deals. Once Mayor White has made up his mind on an issue, there is no changing it. He is not open-minded and his version of “the best for Maplewood” is no longer aligned with the forward-thinking actions its citizens are pushing for.
With this being said, if you desire change, keep in mind that Mayor White’s term is up in April 2017. In 2013, our mayor – who has stood in the way of progress on many different issues – ran unopposed. Filing to run for a position on Maplewood’s City Council should open sometime in October.
Yea! Whiners, make a check out to Maplewood every month for the next 100 years, and leave the property vacant… None will sign up, I really think you will be pleasantly surprised at their operations and community spirit…