South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

Hearing set tonight on Fred Weber’s proposal for Oakville transfer station

South county residents once again will have a chance to voice their opinion about Fred Weber Inc.’s proposal for a trash-transfer station in Oakville — but exactly where in Oakville is being questioned.

A public hearing on Fred Weber’s proposed transfer station at 4200 Baumgartner Road will take place at 7 p.m. today — Dec. 11 — in the Mehlville Senior High School gymnasium, 3200 Lemay Ferry Road.

But Tom Diehl of Oakville told the County Council last week that he has discovered what he contends are location discrepancies that should void Fred Weber’s current application for a site on 4200 Baumgartner Road because that is not the site for which the company actually is applying.

The Department of Planning, Diehl said, has indicated Fred Weber actually made a rezoning request for 6245 Heintz Road, which can be identified as County Locator No. 33J410080 on a county map, but the Department of Health still is processing a request for a license at 4200 Baumgartner Road, County Locator No. 32K320097.

“These are currently two completely different addresses and two separate properties,” Diehl said during the Dec. 2 council meeting.

The 4200 Baumgartner property comprises part of the 6245 Heintz property, Diehl later told the Call. Even though Fred Weber most likely would use the Baumgartner location as the site’s main entrance, he said, the Baumgartner address is not the location for which the company submitted a rezoning request.

“They’d applied for this one (4200 Baumgartner) with the Planning Commission last year,” Diehl told the Call. “They had to withdraw with prejudice, which means they can’t apply for this property until June of next year, so with the Planning Commission, they filed with this location and this address (6245 Heintz), and with the health department, they say this address (4200 Baumgartner), but they have that piece of property (6245 Heintz Road). So they don’t have the right information.”

Diehl told councilmen that this discrepancy was so great, they should direct the health department to return the current application to Fred Weber so that the deficiencies could be corrected, also noting that the department’s public hearing scheduled today should be canceled or postponed until the public has had adequate time to review an updated application.

Councilman John Campisi, R-south county, said he would forward the information to the health department.

“I think people in south county are tired of coming out for these hearings time and time again to stop this trash-transfer station that people in Oakville have overwhelmingly said they do not want,” Diehl told the Call. ” … I think if there is any confusion, they should delay the hearing.”

But when the Call went to press Monday, the hearing for the 4200 Baumgartner proposal still was scheduled, according to Russ Sharpmack, manager of solid waste at the health department.

When asked how the department was handling the discrepancy in locations for the current Fred Weber proposal, Sharpmack said, “We’re looking into that and we are aware of the situation.”

Gail Ottolino, land-use manager for the Department of Planning, confirmed that Fred Weber currently is seeking a zoning request for 6245 Heintz Road, which is a 239-acre tract.

However, she said the rezoning request is only for 24.9 acres currently zoned Non-Urban Flood Plain and Non-Urban land.

When asked if the land Fred Weber is seeking a zone change for should match up with its application at the health department, Ottolino answered, “It should match. It should be the same address.”

She said even though the addresses do not match, that has not affected Fred Weber’s current rezoning request with the planning department.

“We are still reviewing it,” she said noting her department plans to schedule a public hearing in January for the proposal.

Diehl told the Call, “Realistically the health department and the planning department are supposed to look for these errors and enforce the law and make sure the application is correct. And they haven’t done their job.”

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