A new showroom and warehouse for BetterLiving Sunrooms on Lemay Ferry, and a request for change in zoning at Ripa Avenue and Gloria Road were presented to the St. Louis County Planning Commission, Monday, Aug. 16.

Both requests were recommended for approval by the commission at its Sept. 13 executive meeting. 

The new BetterLiving showroom and warehouse is located at 8085 Lemay Ferry road on 1.22 acres.

Mark Doering, president of Doering Engineering, said the new storage building is 8,000 square feet and 28 feet tall, and the showroom would be a display sunroom attached to the house already in the lot. The rest of the petition calls for approval to add landscaping and trees throughout the property and for upgraded parking. There will be no outside storage and the new landscaping and trees should keep the lot from being visible from neighboring roads.

The commission added four conditions to BetterLiving’s request. Landscaping is required along Southcrest Way to the southwest, the pavement east of the storage building must not exceed 40 feet in width, the proposed on-site trailer must be the only outdoor storage and 35 percent real fenestration and high quality materials are required. Fenestration is the arrangement and design of windows and doors on a building.

The second request on the agenda was a zoning change for 10.88 acres on Ripa Avenue and Gloria Road from M-1 Industrial and R-5 Residential to strictly R-5 Residential. The parcel is also designated as a floodplain district. 

Katherine Moore of McBride Homes said the lot has been “long vacant” and if approved, new single-family detached homes would be built there. She said neighboring areas are consistent with the zoning they are seeking.

Some members of the public who live on Gloria Road were concerned the neighborhood would cause unwanted traffic and construction.

“There’s talk that they’re going to take half of our front lawns … we all moved on this block because it’s a very private road and there’s talks of it becoming a two-way street,” Christy Pauly said. 

Moore said there is no intention to use Gloria Road for construction, and access would mainly be through Union Road.

Both projects are in the 6th District of Councilman Ernie Trakas, R-Oakville, and are in the Mehlville School District.