To local candidates: For those of you who tried to complete the questionnaire but encountered a “survey closed” mesage, I’m sorry. Somehow a number got entered in the field to limit the number of responses to one. So after the first it would not accept antymore. For this reason I’ve extended the response deadline to 5pm Monday February 9, 2009. Again, please accept my apologies.
Updated 2/2/09 @ 6:30pm:
I have created a public version of the Aldermanic questionnaire – virtually identical to the Mayorial version. The public is invited to take the questionnaire to see what & how I’m asking the candidates. Click here for the home version.
I had a productive weekend and got 25 letters ready to candidates for Mayor & Alderman who face a challenger in the March 3, 2009 primary. The letters were mailed yesterday.  After the primary I’ll do the same for candidates in contested races in the April 7, 2009 general election.
The letters request candidates to complete an online questionnaire. I’ve assigned a random ID code to each candidate to ensure no other candidate pretends to be another. The questionnaires will be accessible from this page. Each questionnaire (Mayor & Alderman) has a password so only candidates have access.
Topics covered include:
Basic info like email/phone/website.
Top five issues facing your ward (Aldermanic candidates only).
Top five issues facing the city.
Top five issues facing the greater St. Louis region.
Charter Reform – term limits
Charter Reform – partisan vs. non-partisan local elections
Charter Reform – reduction of the number of Aldermen
Charter Reform – consolidation of city/county positions
Ban on Smoking in public places.
Local control of the St. Louis Police.
Adoption of form-based zoning
Funding of public transit in the region.
Expansion of MetroLink light rail.
Thoughts on streetcars.
Earnings tax
Replacement/upgrading the Edward Jones Dome in the future
Redistricting following 2010 Census.
ADA/Pedestrian-friendly development
Historic Preservation/demolition
Bicycle advocacy
Bicycle parking
Parking for scooters/motorcycles
Big box & strip center development vs. urban development.
Tax incentives for affluent firms
Ideal role of the Alderman (Aldermanic candidates only).
Ballpark Village
St. Louis Centre
Homeless (Mayoral candidates only)
Arch-Downtown Connection
City reentering STL County
Valet parking
Communications (blog if elected?)
Public schools
Rental vs. owner-occupant development
I’m still finishing up the questionnaires. I indicated to the candidates the questionnaires will be open as of 5pm Friday January 30, 2009 and they will close a week later at 5pm 2/6/09. This means I still have a chance to include questions on additional topics not listed above so use the comments to suggest more for either aldermanic or mayorial candidates (or both).
Just to correct my earlier post on our upcoming municipal elections (March primary & April general). I have not yet mailed out letters to all the candidates.
I’m still revising the online questionnaire the candidates will hopefully fill out. This task will be completed this weekend and letters will go out to candidates next week with instructions on how to complete the questionnaire. The deadline will be mid-February.
Most likely I will only send these out to those in contested races. I’ve got a pretty good list of topics already but if you have suggestions for more suggest them in a comment below.
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.
Map of Washington, MO.
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.
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.
Last week, while at Penn Station at Gravois Plaza, I look out the window and I’m struck by the massive amount of parking. Parking so far away from most stores it has likely never seen any use.
Excessive parking along the Eastern edge of the suburban Gravois Plaza.
When I pulled away I went that direction to get another view:
Looking North along the Eastern edge of Gravois Plaza
The excessive parking you see is either mandated by the zoning code or used as filler space by the developer. Either way it is unnecessary, a waste of land and a bad decision for the environment by causing more water runoff. From above it is really stark:
Aerial view of Gravois Plaza.
For a hint of the excesses required by out 60 year old out of date zoning code let’s take a look at Parking regulations (26.40.030) within the F-Neighborhood Commercial Zone (26.40)
The parking in the “E” Multiple Family Dwellings District, except as modified by Section 26.40.040 shall apply. (Ord. 62588 § 5 (part), 1992.)
26.40.040 Specific parking and loading regulations.
In addition, the following uses shall provide parking space within 1,000 feet of the main building:
A. Retail stores within floor area of more than 3,000 square feet shall provide parking space sufficient to accommodate one motor car for each 700 square feet of floor area in excess of 3,000 square feet which is actually used for the selling of merchandise.
B. Banks and office buildings with floor area of more than 7,500 square feet shall provide parking space sufficient to accommodate one motor car for each 1,250 square feet of floor area in excess of 7,500 square feet which is actually used for banking purpose or for offices.
C. Restaurants, bars, taverns, and exhibition halls with more than 1,000 square feet of floor area shall provide parking space sufficient to accommodate one motor car for each 200 square feet of floor area in excess of 1,000 square feet which is actually used by patrons or customers for such purposes.
D. Theaters shall provide parking space sufficient to accommodate one motor car for each 12 seats.
E. Mortuaries and funeral homes shall provide parking space sufficient to accommodate three motor cars for each chapel or parlor.
I. Private clubs and lodges shall provide parking space sufficient to accommodate one motor car for each one hundred (100) square feet of floor area used for purposes of dancing, assembly or dining. (Ord. 62588 § 5 (part), 1992.)
Did the authors of this code, back in the 1940s, have some great wisdom about parking? No! They were guessing. They were enamored by the “motor car” and wanted to ensure if they gave up the streetcar and bought one they’d be able to park it where they liked. They wanted to remove on-street parking because they felt they needed all the lanes available. So for sixty years we’ve been building massive parking lots because guys who are long dead made bad guesses about how much parking would be necessary in the future.
Furthermore, developers are free to build beyond the too high minimums. Desco bragged about having more parking than required at Loughborough Commons. Oh Boy!
The Board of Aldermen need to stop focusing on stop signs and petty “constituent service” and authorize a complete overhaul of our zoning code. Short of a complete overhaul they need to simply remove all off-street parking mandates. Developers & business owners will ensure they have the parking necessary to serve their customers.
Rather than parking minimums we need parking maximums. This would cap the number of spaces provided so land is better utilized.
I don’t expect the Slay administration or the members of the Board of Aldermen to do anything about this aging and destructive code. Rollin Stanley, the former director of Planning, wanted to update the code to bring it current with all we’ve learned in the past 60 years but we ran him off.
The code was written and adopted we had half a million more people within the city limits. So much has changed but the city clings to this code like it is etched in stone. Slay — pretend the zoning code is a treasured historic building and raze it!
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