Old Orchard Business District Advisory Commission

Old Orchard Special Business District Advisory Commission MEETING MINUTES APPROVED MEETING DATE: Tuesday, September 19, 2016 LOCATION: City Hall CALLED TO ORDER: 8:04 AM MEETING ADJOURNED: 8:30 AM NEXT MEETING: Tuesday, October 11, 2016 NAME PRESENT ABSENT Joe Fichter, Chair X Angel Venegoni X Claire Winkler X Mary Jane Armstrong X Steve Scheipeter X Holland Saltsman X Robert Weber X John Barr X Vacancy Frank Janoski, Council Liaison X Mara Perry, City Liaison X Also in attendance: Dick Estes – Motivation Technologies Robert McNichols, Jr. – Opera Theatre of St. Louis Fran Sudekum – Administrative Support APPROVAL OF MINUTES Motion to approve the August minutes as was made by Angel Venegoni, seconded by Bob Weber, motion was unanimously approved. VISITOR COMMENTS  Dick Estes of Motivation Technologies brought a parking need to the commission. His company is located in the DeSoto building and currently has about 20 employees that don’t have a place to park and was looking to the Commission to see how parking could be accommodated. He currently has to stagger his employee’s hours to help alleviate the problem. He is willing to pay for additional permits if more could be made available. Mr. Estes was curious if additional permit spots could be added to Lockwood, Summit, Bompart, and Big Bend. He also suggested changing the parameters of the permits based on time of day perhaps; before 9AM a permit is required and after 9AM the spot could be open to all. They have dedicated spots on the lot as part of their lease in the DeSoto building, but find that others frequently park in those reserved spots. Motivation Technologies is growing and adding more employees; Mr. Estes wants to stay in the District, but is concerned the lack of parking could affect that.  Robert McNichols, Jr. of the Opera Theatre of St. Louis shared with the Commission a new program they are starting to get teens interested and involved in opera. They will start doing some fun events for teens and do a little education in the process. Their first event is a teen movie night in Gazebo Park on October 21st. It is free and open to be public. Any help to get the word out is greatly appreciated. Mr. McNichols will get details to Mara to share with the District. PARKING DISCUSSION  Parking in the District is an ongoing issue. Several items were identified and clarified:  Permit Parking is controlled by ordinance. Any changes to the permit parameters would require a change in the ordinance. Public Works needs a recommendation from the Commission on any proposed changes to the ordinance.  St. Louis County owns Big Bend and will not allow any permit parking on that street.  There are residential and issues to take into account on Summit, Bompart, and the north side of Lockwood Avenues.  Student parking in the District is a large contributing factor to the parking issues. Webster University students park for free on streets like Bompart instead of paying for parking “on campus”. Nerinx Hall students only have public parking available to them until the new Webster University garage is completed.  A couple of blue permit spots could potentially be added to the existing line along the south side of Lockwood is space allows.  South Old Orchard could be looked at as a potential location for additional blue permit spots.  Emmanuel’s lot in “the triangle” is full; they provide 20 of the spots to Nerinx Hall and 20 spots to their Nursery School.  Changes are coming to the parking area between the DeSoto building and the Quonset Hut with the new tenants going into the Hut. The space will be connected with a new traffic flow. This change will result in additional spaces, but with new businesses in the Hut there will be more customers using those spaces.  There is a parking study for the District that was completed in  The new Webster University parking garage will add more spaces for their students to park; however, they are growing and will have a higher enrollment once the new construction is completed.  Commission members want to get input from the businesses in the District to discuss potential short and long-term solutions to the parking issue. They decided to have a special parking meeting prior to the regular October monthly commission meeting and invite all the businesses in the District to attend. In addition, Mara Perry will pull together back up parking information and provide to Commission members. OLD BUSINESS  Streetscape Phase II Application – The application is due in the spring. The focus will be on Big Bend from Murdoch to Dale. The sidewalks in that area are owned by Webster Groves while the street is owned by St. Louis County. Mara shared handouts with Commission members showing traffic counts from 2015 on Big Bend, traffic counts from 2006 on Murdoch. Mara asked Commission members to keep in mind what options need to be provided to the consultant working on the application; discussion will take place with the consultant at the October meeting. CITY UPDATE  The Farmers’ Market will have their Fall Festival on October 6th.  Construction changes to the parking lot at Roger’s Produce/Quonset Hut are underway.  Interior construction continues inside the Quonset Hut.  A new dance studio will be opening in the building next to the Novel Neighbor.  The Planning Commission continues its work on changes to the residential code.  Missouri American Water is putting in pole around the City to read water meters remotely; there will be six different locations.  The church on Brentwood is doing a clean-up of their lot.  A new Bed and Breakfast will be located at Tuxedo and Bompart. OCTOBER MEETINGS Special Parking Meeting – Date to be determined Streetscape Phase II – October 11, 2016 ADJOURNED Meeting adjourned at 8:30 AM. NEXT MEETING The next regular monthly meeting will be held on October11, 2016 at 8:00 AM – City Hall.