There is interest in building a multi-family development on the northwest corner of Manchester and Hanley roads, according to a postcard residents nearby received recently.
Brentwood Planning and Zoning Commission is set to hold a meeting on Dec. 9 to review a petition for rezoning urban development, conditional use permit, and site plan review to construct a multi-family development on the corner.
A Brentwood resident received this postcard on Thursday: “I don’t know any more about it than what is written on the post card. I am concerned as to how this would affect the neighbor(hood), property values, and the school district,” he said in an email.
An agenda for the meeting wasn’t posted on the city website as of Friday morning.
As the Chairman of P&Z for over 20 years in Brentwood, perhaps I can offer some clarification on the property in question. First, not a big deal, but the creek abutting the property is not Deer Creek, it is Black Creek. A short distance south of Manchester Black Creek joins Deer Creek and flows through Maplewood. Several years ago a Bank whose Chairman owned the property at the time proposed to build a headquarters building on the site. At that time the food zone came onto the property for about 20 feet of the eastern side. The 20 feet is my memory. The proposed building was on the western side of the lot therefore not in the flood plain. The idea of a nature reserve could be seen as having merit however as private property with good economic value the owner likely has interest in maximizing that value. Any action to create a park space/nature reserve would require an entity, i.e. Brentwood Parks to acquire the ground at market value. A related concern would be the deterioration of value of any remaining ground as a result of being a smaller size.
Addressing Mantelli- a correction in that the roadway to the east is Hanley, not Big Bend. The property was long owned by the mentioned Banker who is now deceased. As said he wanted to put the headquarters there but the recessionary impact on the banks halted that plan.There was a plan for yet another auto repair facility, but the City was not interested in that land use. While you are correct there is traffic in the area, the site does have challenges regarding leaving the property and turning east on Manchester as traffic does back up. As to the nature of the proposed building plan I would suggest going to Brentwood City Hall Wednesday night at which time details will be forthcoming. The P&Z process will consist of Wednesday nights meeting plus the probability of at least 1 site plan review subcommittee meeting before P&Z acts to send the plan onto the Board of Alderman so there are plenty of review meetings including opportunity for public input. In the past citizenship in Brentwood is not a requirement to comment. Take part.
There is one last issue to be aware of and that is St. Louis County Highway Dept has preliminary designs inn rebuilding the intersection of Hanley and Manchester. There is no funding now available but the design is probably on file with Maplewood City Hall. It will have a large impact on this area when/if it does happen.
John, thank you for correcting the typo – Hanley not Big Bed is the intersecting road with Manchester I meant. Good reminder about the traffic concern and the project re-disigning that intersection. I had forgotten about it. The website dedicated to the Hanley project – http://www.hanleyroad.com/where_now/phase1_south.aspx (The Hanley Manchester intersection is part of Phase I south) – has an interesting plan proposed. It does have some islands for pedestrians to cross to so that is one positive.
As for attending a BW P&Z meeting, I might be bold, but I don’t know if I would be comfortable giving an opinion as the neighbor. Ultimately it is BW’s decision on whether they want to maximize the Metrolink. Given that ideas have already been turned down is promising.
I was under the impression that Deer Creek floods the eastern portion of this property regularly. I was sort of hoping that it would become a kind of nature reserve, as I often observe woodchucks browsing the grass there.
Is there something about this property that has prevented previous investors? I get that it is not right on the corner, but it still has plenty of value with the amount of traffic that goes on big bend.
As a MW resident, I don’t comment on Brentwood business (whether good or bad), but this is the equivalent of your neighbor putting in a shed or a garage. Im glad to hear residential is involved since the metro is right there, but I am hoping there is some retail as well. It would be a good start to improving the area around the metro, which MW has a load of work to do on their side. This could be a good opportunity for BW to show MW how its done.
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