By Gloria Lloyd
News Editor
glorialloyd@callnewspapers.com

The county Planning Commission will hold a public hearing next week on several potential developments in South County, but one stands out: A request by Affton Plaza to build Missouri’s first “food truck garden” as a sort of town square for Affton next to the shopping plaza.

The new town square/food truck garden will be called “9 Mile Garden” and already has its own Facebook page. It could open as soon as spring 2020, if the county grants approval.

The proposals up for a zoning change Monday night are the food truck garden at Affton Plaza and a conditional-use permit for a cell tower for Bayless School District.

The planning panel will meet for the hearing at 7 p.m. Monday, Sept. 16, in the County Council Chambers at the Administration Building at 41 S. Central Ave., Clayton.

Both zoning proposals are in the district of County Council Presiding Officer Ernie Trakas, R-Oakville.

The Affton Chamber of Commerce posted on Facebook Friday that Affton Plaza is proposing Missouri’s first food truck garden on a city block next to the shopping plaza at the corner of Gravois Road and Tobey Avenue.

The new “9 Mile Garden” could open in spring 2020, the chamber posted.

The shopping plaza also released renderings of what the garden could look like day and night. It depicts a caved-in amphitheatre-type space that has already been carved out on the proposed site.

The space will be used for a food truck rodeo following the Affton Days parade Saturday, Sept. 21.

To operate the food truck garden, Affton Plaza is requesting a change from C-3 Shopping District zoning to C-8 Planned Commercial District for a 1.39-acre tract of land at 8820, 8809, 8805 and 8801 Tobey Ave. and 8800 and 8804 Swifton Ave., on the south side of Weber Road off Gravois Road.

The shopping strip is proposing an outdoor event space “including but not limited to farmers markets, craft fairs; food trucks and accessory uses; and all C-3 permitted uses,” according to the company’s request to the Planning Commission.

The block bordering Affton Plaza once had a house at each of the above addresses, but they have been torn down over the last year.

Bayless School District is requesting an amended CUP at 4528 Weber Road, the site of Bayless High School and Bayless Junior High, to relocate a cell tower.