The new 100-acre Tesson Ridge development in the footprint of the former MetLife campus in South County was approved by the St. Louis County Planning Commission in July, but the project appeared before the commission again in August with an additional change. 

The development features four different “areas” each zoned for a different use. The first zoning area – which had the additional change presented to the commission Aug. 30 – is zoned for commercial development on 7.87 acres fronting Tesson Ferry Road. 

The plan originally recommended for approval by the commission in July featured a 70,000 square-foot plan for the commercial building area. The change introduced Aug. 30 added 20,000 squarefeet of space to that lot for a total of 90,000 square-feet of commercial building space, with adjusted setbacks. 

Commissioner Bill Sneed questioned whether this change was minor enough to not need public comment considering it is nearly a third of the original square footage.

“Have we been transparent to the public … that it’s going to be more dense than previously communicated?” Sneed asked.

Acting Director Jacob Trimble said the change is relatively minor and it doesn’t have much impact on the overall goal of the development. Mel Wilson, planning manager, said the addition to the plan is on the interior of the new development, so the only affected property would be inside Tesson Ridge. 

The board approved the change 6-0.