Comprehensive Planning for Washington, MO
The project in my “Comprehensive Planning” elective at Saint Louis University will be to do a comprehensive plan for the City of Washington, Missouri. Our class will be divided into two teams with each doing their own plan. We will all visit Washington late next month.
My last time in Washington, MO was June 2006. I took out of town friends to Augusta, MO to visit the wine country and we returned to St. Louis via Washington, MO. Entering Washington from the North, crossing over the Missouri river, is my favorite way to enter the city. We ended up in the riverfront park enjoying a bottle of Missouri vino.
Like most older cities, big & small, commerce has moved out of downtown to the auto-centric edge. It is fascinating to me how a town of less than 15,000 can have so much residential & commercial sprawl.
Their Zoning Code looks typical, everything separated out. Their historic downtown is in the “C-3 Central Commercial District.” They have a long section detailing how much parking is required for a lengthy list of uses. Like most codes they have height restrictions although I don’t think they are in any danger of getting buildings in excess of one or two floors. They have another commercial district which indicates it is designed to allow residential & commercial to co-exist.
Web Resources:
I’m excited by this project as I see it being something I might be doing after graduation. Cities of all sizes need to continue to evaluate their land and development policies to ensure they stay current with changing demographics and community desires.
What comes to mind is how, from a legal/zoning perspective, would we modify the code to ensure future development in the sprawl zone would be more walkable and connected. Washington, MO, an old river town, now functions as a far suburb in the St. Louis region. I have not reviewed the last census data in any detail but they certainly do not have the industry they once had. Years ago workers would often walk to their jobs. Those days are long gone.
Al in all an interesting assignment. If you have any thoughts on the process please feel free to share below.
Communities along the Katy and near the wine district want to take advantage of all those imported dollars and so does Washington. In their plans for 47 is the idea of building a new bridge across the river that would include bike lanes/paths. This would increase auto traffic from the south as more attempt to take advantage of the recreational opportunities. In addition, 47 is the only route across the river in the area and thus the need to offer more parking lots for this larger group of visitors in a region dominated by autos. Currently 94 is a nightmare on weekends as bar/wine junkies hit the road… even use school buses to chauffeur them as driving infractions are being more aggressively addressed by law enforcement.
Very cool that your project is on Washington, MO (WashMo). I grew up there and have much fondness for the city.
I agree that urban sprawl has changed the look of the town very much. Development has exploded on the fringes of the city and the outer areas are beginning to look more like Ballwin or Manchester, MO more than a small town. In despite of this sprawl, there is still activity in the downtown area which keeps that area lively. Downtown has a nice stock of well upkept storefront buildings. Some businesses such as the largest local jeweler, the local GM dealer, etc have moved out to the fringes of the city but many new businesses have moved in. Many of the downtown businesses are mainly tourist-y type businesses such as antique dealers, art studios, etc. The Bank of Washington is completing a rebuild of their downtown location which now tops out at 4-5 stories and is one of the taller buildings in town. I haven’t seen it personally yet but hear that they did a good job integrating the remodeled building into the neighboring buildings. The city has done a good job making downtown a destination by adding a farmers market that has been a success. They also have art fairs, brew fests, wine fests, etc which keeps people coming downtown. There are a few bars and restaurants there which keeps the night life somewhat alive. One area that downtown could improve on is adding more unique restaurants. As restaurants chains such as Applebees, etc opened up in the fringes, it made it more difficult for local unique restaurants to say alive downtown. Unique restaurants such as Char-Tony’s, Elisha McClain’s have been forced to close which is a shame. I personally cannot stand big chain restaurants and it really ticks me off when great local spots are forced to close because they cannot compete w/Red Lobster, Applebee’s and other similar places.
I think you’ll like looking at WashMo and encourage you to take a trip out there. Its a very nice “big” small river town which surprisingly has a lot to do.
I think it’s important to balance the urban planning preferences/trends that are popular now, such as walkability, with what residents want. I just helped a young couple buy their first home. We looked at Pacific, Washington and Union. They ended up in Union, which is the next town over from Washington, because it was closer to work and they preferred the housing. Still, I think that they are pretty typical of the newer homeowners in towns like Washington. They want convenience and familiar restaurants/shopping, and a more small town feel. As much as I personally prefer independent restaurants, I know that they were thrilled to see Pasta House and Applebee’s nearby. We wrote the contract for their house at Arby’s.
I guess what I’m saying is that we all need to understand our customer in order to serve them. People that love urban living will move to the city. Those that choose the suburbs do it because they LIKE suburbs. It really isn’t our place to tell them they are wrong. There’s room for both type of communities. The challenge for you is to come up with a design that helps Washington grow to it’s potential while still keeping in mind that what they would want as an end result might be very different than what you would want if you lived there. Maybe you could build some time into your visit to talk to some local residents.
I travel to Washington at least 6 times a year for work. Darling place. Three tips- first, Waterworks on the riverfront is a great antique store.
Second, the new public safety building in downtown Washington is one of the most handsome examples of infill I’ve seen in a long time. Very good looking.
Third, budget plenty of time to get down HWY 100 to get there. It takes at least 15 minutes.
I’m not so sure I agree with the structure of the class (Two teams doing two separate plans.) Usually the scope of a COMP plan is vast. Although, the size of Washington, MO may not require such an intense framework.
My Studio I class at VCU is focusing on a Neighborhood in Bloom (Nib) south of the city. About 30 students from various backgrounds are all working on one plan.
How is the class divided (by student specialized areas?) Who is the instructor?
I think you’ll find alot of interesting topics to ruminate on in Washington. Some issues you might want to study:
Washington recently passed a local sales tax increase for the city to pay a large portion of expanding Hwy 100 to 4 lanes to I-44, similar to what Kirksville did for Hwy 63 years ago. There was talk of the city annexing the Hwy all the way to I-44 to control growth on the corridor, I don’t remember what happened with that.
Washington was the home to the first Wal-Mart supercenter in 1988, before then the old Wal-Mart was where the Orschelin’s is now, a year or so ago, Wal-Mart outgrew their digs and built a new mega-Wal-Mart, JC Pennys bought or leased the old supercenter, saving a vacant big box from occurring and did a great job on the renovation. There was much community-wide discussion about the city’s concessions regarding the new Wal-Mart.
The city limits have not expanded in decades, so much new residential growth is occurring in Franklin County, and I think there are some PUDs planned in the county. I have no idea how well that growth is being controlled by Washington, the county, or anyone.
Washington is also doing alot to even further beautify their riverfront including moving a concrete corporation and railroad siding to the edges of town to make downtown more retail/residential/tourist oriented. Washington actually has a fair amount of industrial jobs in several industrial parks, but a vast majority of their population commutes to St. Louis. Their “old industry” was the shoe factories, one of which has been rehabbed for senior apartments I believe. Don’t forget to check out the corncob pipe factory downtown.
I know the Washington area pretty well, I lived in the area for quite awhile and still have many friends and family who live in the Washington, Augusta, New Haven area.
A few quick comments. It all started with Wal Mart of course, but downtown Washington has hung on. With the recent addition of Target, Kohls and the other chain stores along Hwy 100 (just last year) the future impact on retail downtown is yet to be seen.
About 10 years ago Desco (Schnucks) along with other chain stores took over the southwest corner of Hwy 47 and Hwy 100. (Across from the old Wal Mart and strip mall, yes they built a new Wal Mart).
At that time the intersection and surrounding highway frontage was expanded a few lanes, including turn lanes. And, as you may have noticed, they are now expanding the two lane Highway 100 from Washington to Highway 44 to four lanes. Clearly the intent is to develop subdivisions and commercial along that section of highway.
There is some industry in the Washington area, a car parts factory in New Haven, a refrigerator magnet factory, a corn cob pipe factory, Happy Apples, among others, but agriculture is what built Washington and it is still a major force. (Including many wineries in the region)
They still tear down sound older commercial brick buildings, including the MFA feed mill near the river and at least one other on the other side of town in just the past few years (across from St Francis Borgia church). There are not many left as it is.
While there is a lot I could say, I did want to respond to Karen. While I know your clients like Arby’s or other chains (sort of safe havens). I think the real point is that what is happening in the Washington, Union area is happening now. Urban thinking has not evolved, it is the same solutions to building society that has been occurring over the last 50 years, and those solutions are not working. This method of suburban expansion appears to be a done deal in Washington. There was no public discussion of alternates. Highway 100 is Manchester Road, and this looks to be the same formula used in Chesterfield, Ballwin etc. That is what Washington is going to look like in a few years along Hwy 100.
Personally, I don’t think America can keep doing this type of development and expect to survive as a nation. Even if everyone drove electric cars, it is not sustainable. (Although that would certainly help)
Steve, an interesting drive is Manchester(Hwy 100) until it meets Hwy T, and that will drop you just outside Washington. Nice scenery, Labadie is a nice little town on the way and as a bonus you can drive out to the power plant.
Winding roads, a little slow, but not too bad, a decent cut through.
Finally the Washington Missourian is a good small town newspaper. A little on the conservative side, but very open. They would almost certainly like to cover the SLU project in some way. They are always looking for articles to publish.
Steve, as you may know Washington is one of the DREAM communities of Missouri that have a deal with locally-based PGAV for ongoing development of a “master” plan. Some years ago they did a pretty nice plan for the downtown area. **Spoiler Alert** It’s on the web somewhere if you want to sneak a peek.
Note near the north end of the riverfront area a free-standing brick building called Big Johnson’s Doc Haus. This bar is owned by a family member of mine and it is in danger of being torn down. The landlord has purchased some surrounding parcels and has not renewed the lease on the bar with the intent to redevelop the area. They are trying to relocate currently. While the free standing building surrounded by parking is probably not the best setup, neither is tearing down a perfectly good brick building because people want to see a drive thru at Arbys. (IMHO you gotta be pretty f’in hungry to eat at Arbys.)
Anyway, there has long been talk of both an aquarium and a marina project as the town has truly great river access, I know it has been hampered by several things, including mixed opinions among the locals along the way. The plan also called for preservation districts, and a farmer’s market which I think would thrive.
Please let me know when the class is headed out and I will arrange a suitable happy hour and perhaps meet you all out there myself. You will be greeted as liberators….I swear.
Steve, this sounds like a fun project. Those of us born and raised in our “small farm” town get quite excited when it gets mentioned.
One thing to understand is that there is still an older generation or two in Washington that still have very conservative roots. They see growth as increasing their taxes, detrimental to family owned businesses, and ultimately infringing on their way of life. This segment has a lot of capital and clout, albeit it’s shifting as the populace grows. The city is growing whether they like it or not and I fear that as they dig in their heals against growth proper planning could be fumbled for future generations. Ignoring them would be a mistake.
One entity that is worth looking at is the school district (if it has relevance in the scope of your project). The middle school, currently on 14th street was bursting at the seams when I was there some 8-10 years ago, and little has been done to alleviate the problem. The high school took over the vocational school, which renovated the old Hazel building. A few years ago one teacher put it brilliantly on a student run TV show when talking about some past fixes to over crowding, “We have a gaping wound and we are trying to use a band-aid to fix it.†The take away is that the district bought new land by 100 and St. John’s Gildehaus Road. It will probably sit for at least five years in the planning phase to see how the city develops, pay off the debt from the land, the new superintendent gets settled, and ultimately decide the best course of action. Should there be two high schools or one, what about the middle school, ect.
The new complex with Kohl’s and Target is still standing largely unsold. Furthermore, there have been hushed whispers of some of the businesses leaving, probably rumors but still interesting. Starbucks has already left.
A few places to check out: Dairy Delight and Aldo’s. “The Beer Deck†is a new establishment that in the summer overlooks the flowing river and offers some of the regions finest wines and beers.
A few people to look up: Mayor Dick Stratman (he met me for a Poli Sci paper I had a few years ago, so I know he is will to work with college students), Joseph Vernaci (his company is responsible for much of the city’s recent buildings/development), and Wayne Dothage (a great guy who has served in just about every capacity in Washington)
A poster child for urban sprawl is the Hwy 100 four lane expansion projects from Hwy 44 to Washington. It is at the expense of the government, to encourage centralization of economic activity so well served by the auto and whose main feature are chain and box stores. I think downtown Washington will survive, (maybe) but the cooperation between large government and large corporations in destroying small business should be evident.
The question of whether some of the richest farmland on earth should be taken out of production might also enter the discussion if anything other than enriching the few was the point of existence.
Americans are herded like cattle from strip mall to strip mall.
Not to mention what sort of TIFs or other incentives were used to encourage this activity? I have no idea, but would guess that there is some, if not extensive use of incentives.
Be sure to check out St Francis Borgia Church (on Main St) and its newly-renovated Jesuit Hall/parish center….especially check out the upper ballroom/great hall….. it was a wreck before they remodeled it 2 years ago. It’s a gem now!!
I live near enough to Washington to consider it where I live…. The town is full of corporate restaurants that I wouldn’t get paid to eat at… One mexican restaurant, El Nopol; near the Aldi’s is a absolute gem… I grew up in San Antonio and lived all over and El Nopol is one of the best mexican foods I ever had with Yucatan and other regions well respresented on the menu….This town has a lot of potential. The river lacks any kind of dockage or a marina as flooding is a problem..The people are small town folk who seem good hearted but also petty at times. I have been hung up on for “being rude” in my business discussions as my offers to purchase were viewed as insults for whatever reason…. They don’t seem to comprehend the law very well here. When I had a problem I spoke with about 15 lawyers before one finally understood equity law enough to help me. Seemed like I could have represented myself after all the trouble… This town is prime for a developer to come in and take over.. No one here understands business very well and the land values seems based on the local schools which are fair by national standards and high by Missouri’s. The local labor is your typical blue collar union mentality, expecting high pay and offering very little in return like their time is more than enough to deserve union wages alone. Minimum wage is probably over-paying. Southern Hospitality doesn’t exist here.. It reminds me of a yankee town. The waitresses never smile, no one is ever up for conversation unless you were born here.. It’s your typical redneck town… running a business of hospitality would be suicide and a complete waste of resources. The old Tri-County Truck stop located on I-44 would be a good investment since it is right on the interstate and all the through traffic would benefit sales, but the actual town of Washington should be avoided for anything but real estate development. I would wait till after Obama’s administration before I tried that as this recession will drag on till Pelosi and Obama are gone and someone with a real understanding of economics fixes the nation’s problems to provide for the working class to afford new homes..
also as it is right now…. the town of Washington is surrounded by areas well known for their Meth use…. Franklin County, MO registers with the DEA as one of the most infested meth regions in the USA…. I am not sure an investment here would be without risk… I took a chance to buy this home dirt cheap in hopes that St Louis/Wild Wood will expand and drive out the meth addicts in time and bring equity to my property… but with the possibility a lengthy recession and the loss of so many UAW jobs at the Chrystler plant, I may have made a mistake… I believe the 6 flags in Eureka, MO is also distressed at this time and may be shutting down due to bankruptcy in the future. Which will be a huge loss to the local economy and the tourism dollars that provided so many seasonal jobs.
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