Old Orchard Business District Advisory Commission

Old Orchard Special Business District Advisory Commission MEETING MINUTES APPROVED MEETING DATE: Tuesday, December 10, 2019 LOCATION: City Hall CALLED TO ORDER: 8:04 AM MEETING ADJOURNED: 8:45 AM NEXT MEETING: Tuesday, January 14, 2020 NAME PRESENT ABSENT Joe Fichter, Chair X Angel Venegoni X Claire Winkler X Holland Saltsman X Robert Weber X John Barr X Steve Zielinski X Vacancy Vacancy Bud Bellomo, Council Liaison X Mara Perry, City Liaison X Also in attendance: Detective Fred Bell – WGPD Community Resource Officer Fran Sudekum – Administrative Support Approval of Minutes Motion to approve the November minutes as was made by Angel Venegoni, seconded by Claire Winkler was unanimously approved. Streetscape Update • The contract with Ameren has been signed to relocate their poles and associated wiring. Construction should begin in the spring. • In light of the changes in the East/West Gateway grading point system used to award the federal funding grants, the chances of getting another grant are diminished, so funding options to address the next phase for the other side of the street will need to be into. Holiday Cookie Walk Event Feedback • The Cookie Walk event is a joint event held in both the Old Orchard and Old Webster Business Districts. It took place on Sunday, December 8th; the weather was sunny and mild. • A complete account of feedback and ticket sales for the event was not yet available prior to the December Commission meeting, but information from some of the participating businesses was received/discussed. Many that did provide feedback Page 1of 3  had “a good day” and saw numerous cookie samplers. Several businesses saw new people in their establishment and stated cookie samplers commented they didn’t realize “the business was here.” The goal of the event is for new patrons to discover the “hidden gems [businesses]” in Webster Groves. • A benefit of the event is the inflow of revenue from the Webster Groves gift certificates given out as part of the event. One restaurant noted they saw 14 of the Webster Groves gift certificates that weekend which could likely have been ones given to cookie samplers when they purchased their cookie ticket (with each a $5 ticket purchased, the ticket holder received a $5 WG gift certificate). • The number of cookies provided by responding participating businesses in both business districts ranged from a low of 84 cookies to a high of 1,000; all ran out of their supply in approximately an hour. • Joe Fichter requested a recap of the event be compiled and provided to potential 2020 participating businesses in September. Traffic Flow & Safety • Nerinx Hall has been talking with the City about their plans to improve their campus. They have taken down the old convent building. They are looking at adding additional parking. They would also like to move their campus entrance west to the line up with the intersection of Big Bend and Lockwood and have approached St. Louis County about the possible move. If that intersection could be a four-way intersection accommodating the moved Nerinx Hall entrance it could also be an opportunity to improve the traffic flow east as it could allow for only a single traffic lane of Big Bend traffic in front of Gazebo Park. Since Big Bend is owned by St. Louis County nothing can be done without their buy-in and approval. A meeting was held with St. Louis County, Nerinx Hall, and City staff. Unfortunately, St. Louis County is requiring a traffic study to be done first and its results would need to show that the change would be beneficial; they would not provide the funding for the study they are requiring. • Commission Members have observed several safety issues with both pedestrians and vehicles in the District. Several accidents have occurred where Big Bend intersects with Log Cabin Lane/N. Old Orchard. Accidents are occurring when vehicles are attempting to turn into and out of the Log Cabin or N. Old Orchard side streets. Cars parked illegally on Big Bend in that area contribute to the problem by hindering visibility. In addition, pedestrians frequently cross Big Bend in that area, but since the crosswalk was moved from in front of Einstein’s west to S. Old Orchard, there is no crosswalk close to that section and pedestrians are at risk when they cross; near misses have been observed. Also, yielding confusion occurs with vehicles attempting to exit the parking lot at Weber’s Front Row at the intersection of Big Bend and S. Old Orchard. • St. Louis County has asked for accident figures at the Big Bend and Lockwood intersection. Mara plans to meet with them in January and will provide figures for the whole Old Orchard Big Bend corridor. Page 2of 3 Commission Vacancies • The December commission meeting was Claire Winkler’s final meeting as she is retiring from Commerce Bank. She will also be stepping down from the Gazebo Series Organizing Committee. Thank you Claire for your many years supporting the Old Orchard Business District. • The Commission will now have three vacancies. Members discussed possible business owners to solicit to fill the empty seats. All members are encouraged to actively recruit their business neighbors. Customer Service • Negative feedback expressed on social media about poor customer service was discussed by Commission Members. Poor customer service at one business can adversely impact the businesses in the District if the result is patrons going elsewhere and taking themselves outside of the District. BDC Update • Work on an interactive GIS mapping application for Webster Groves restaurants is almost complete and will be rolled out soon. Restaurant locations, hours, types of cuisine, and more will be available on the application. After the restaurant application is complete, additional applications can be added. For example, public art, historic walks, other business applications. The application works well on smart phones. It will be a link on the City’s website. City Update • Construction of The Elle on Lockwood continues. • Regions Bank’s construction is moving quickly. The second building for retail, will be under different ownership. • The parking plan for project at the former Auto Beauty location in Old Webster is almost complete and will include using valet parking utilizing private parking lots which may also possibly be expanded into a District-wide valet parking application. They hope to be open in the first quarter of 2020. • Jiffy Lube at Laclede Station Road and Big Bend will change over to a Valvoline; they’ve been asked to clean up the business site. • Working on text amendment updates on parking, non-conforming uses, and home- kennel uses. • Twelve ordinances to update to the 2015 building codes will be before City Council for approval. ADJOURNED Meeting adjourned at 8:45 AM. Page 3of 3