A new grocery store and two new fast food restaurants may be built in Concord after a July public hearing for a proposed Aldi and proposed Chick-fil-A and Chipotle in South County.
The St. Louis County Planning Commission was slated to give recommendations on the proposals at its executive meeting Monday – after The Call went to press.
Aldi Inc. is proposing a 23,000-square-foot store on a 3.97-acre lot at 13047 Butler Crest Drive. The vacant lot, currently owned by Kromal Investment Inc., is zoned for C-2 commercial. Aldi is requesting a change to a C-8 planned commercial district with C-2 uses to operate the grocery store, in addition to medical offices at 13065 Old Tesson Road.
There is an existing vacant medical building on the 13065 Old Tesson lot.
The proposed store features 108 parking spaces, with a full-access drive entrance off Old Tesson Road and a right-in, right-out entrance off Tesson Ferry Road. The lot is split with an existing McDonald’s, which the Aldi will share cross access with, and is situated across from the old MetLife building property, which is being redeveloped into the mixed-use development “Tesson Ridge.”
The proposal also sets aside an additional 5,000 square feet for future medical offices on the parcel with the existing medical structure, and an additional 2,000 square feet with 40 parking spaces for future expansion.
Two members of the public spoke against the proposal at the commission’s July 17 public hearing, expressing concerns about the potential for increased traffic as well as storm water run-off.
Petitioner representative Brandon Harp, with Civil Engineering Design Consultants, said the Metropolitan Sewer District was aware of any stormwater concerns with the project and that the petition would comply with any mitigation measures MSD would require them to take.
Regarding the increase in traffic, Harp said the store would “hopefully grab some of this traffic” already traveling down Tesson Ferry to other grocery stores and shopping districts.
In all, two members of the public showed support for the Aldi proposal, while five residents were opposed or “had concern.”
The other Concord-based proposal heard by the commission July 17 is a request for a new Chick-fil-A fast-food restaurant with two drive-thru lanes and a drive-thru Chipotle at 5240-5245 Towne South Road. Currently, there is a vacant 1-story Bank of America building on the lot.
The Chick-fil-A would be 5,226-square-feet with two drive-thru lanes, and have 74 indoor seats, and 24 outdoor seats. The Chipotle would measure 2,337-square-feet with a drive-thru and 46 indoor seats and 20 outdoor seats. Combined, the two restaurants would have 110 parking spaces, including six accessible parking spaces.
Similar to the concerns shared by residents about the Aldi, neighbors of the proposed Chick-fil-A and Chipotle had reservations about traffic generation, as well as the restaurants being unsightly to look at.
“I’m worried about property values. … All those headlights coming into our house, we have five children in that house. … Way more traffic for our children who do play in that neighborhood,” said neighboring resident Peter Barken. “I’m just really worried about looking outside my house and seeing this. It’s a beautiful patch of grass right now.”
Another neighbor, Jeff Wilber, was concerned about proposed access to the restaurants from Old Tesson.
“This exit ramp from Tesson Ferry to Old Tesson … people use that ramp, when they leave Tesson Ferry to come onto Old Tesson … they’re still at the speed of Tesson Ferry,” Wilber said. “So the proposed driveways, there’s really not sufficient space for a car to slow down to a safe speed from they time that they go from Tesson Ferry.”
There is already an existing full access drive onto the site off Old Tesson, and the plan requests the addition of another full access entry/exit, also off Old Tesson.
The commission was slated give a recommendation on the proposals Monday, Aug. 7, after The Call’s press time.
