McManus Construction can move to Oakville from Affton after the County Council voted last week to approve the company’s amended rezoning request.
The council voted 6-0 Aug. 1 to approve amended C-8 commercial zoning for the former Tee Time Family Fun Center at 4631 Lemay Ferry Road, which owner Rob McManus bought earlier this year.
First District Councilwoman Hazel Erby, D-University City, was absent.
Before he voted for final passage of the bill last week, 6th District Councilman Ernie Trakas, R-Oakville, read a statement, saying, “When running for the council last year, I said I would give close scrutiny to zoning petitions in south county, and I intend to keep that promise.”
Based on concerns surrounding McManus’ industrial use, heavy truck traffic on Lemay Ferry Road and finally, how McManus’ other company SnowPro stores salt and other de-icing chemicals, Trakas blocked the McManus move since March.
McManus’ original application to the county Planning Commission did not include a salt storage structure and tanks for SnowPro designed to hold those materials, and the planning panel considered an amended application that included the revised proposal last month.
On June 27, McManus provided additional information to county officials, citing “an unintended oversight” for not disclosing he would store salt, salt brine and calcium chloride, plus his plans to use an existing 500-gallon fuel tank on the site.
The additional information in the revised site plan was included “to clarify and show where the onsite salt and deicing chemicals would be stored, to indicate the numbers of trucks entering the site on a typical snow day and the typical business generated by the snow removal establishment.”
The company’s amended request included a revised site plan showing a new roughly 4,000-square-foot salt storage structure and three 3,000-gallon salt brine tanks.
The revised request also stated 20 to 60 trucks will operate at the site “on any given day of the average 12 snow days per year.”
The Planning Commission voted in March to recommend approval of McManus’ initial request to rezone the 3.2-acre site to an amended C-8 Planned Commercial District for the storage, repair and sales of snow-removal equipment — plows and salt spreaders — and a construction company office.
Regarding traffic, a Planning Commission report stated that the Missouri Department of Transportation, or MoDOT, “reiterates that it has no concerns regarding the impact of this use on Lemay Ferry Road. MoDOT was given the revised plan. MoDOT notes the traffic impact for the proposed use will not be significant enough to warrant any changes to the current access in place on Lemay Ferry Road …”
In its report, the commission concluded that McManus’ proposed use for the site “is consistent with the surrounding area, does not negatively affect traffic flow and will be required to protect the environment from any saltwater runoff. Conditions have been included that note the storage of deicing materials and the allowed use of the existing fuel tank.
“Additionally, landscaping requirements near I-55 and the Burlington Northern Railroad right of way have been added for screening purposes. With these modifications, the commission again finds the rezoning is reasonable and acceptable at this location.”
Although Trakas would have preferred that the Planning Commission hold a second public hearing on the zoning in light of the discrepancies he uncovered, the councilman said, “In the final analysis, my concerns about the full disclosure of and the imposition of appropriate conditions on all intended uses for the property have been addressed.”
