The St. Louis County Planning Commission voted 6-0 to recommend for approval a 5,300-square-foot QuikTrip convienence store at location of the historic Kassebaum Building. 

The commission voted unanimously at its executive meeting July 11 to recommend the QuikTrip with modified approval. QuikTrip requested a change in zoning  from R-2 residential and C-2 commercial to just C-2 with a conditional use permit to build a 16-pump convenience store at 5039 Lemay Ferry Road, at the intersection with Butler Hill Road. 

The panel voted to approve a change in zoning to C-8 in lieu of C-2, and deny recommendation of the conditional use permit. 

“The proposed use is appropriate at this site when in a C-8 district,” County Planner Paul Weatherford said. “The C-8 allows the county to exercise maximum control over the development to ensure that it is consistent with good planning practice and compatible with the permitted developments and uses and adjoining districts.”  

Staff is also recommending enhanced landscaping and limiting the lighting to 16-feet, in addition to a commemorative architectural feature from the building that currently is located on the site, the historic Kassebaum Building, also known as the Session Furniture building. Session operated out of the building for several years but moved to a different location in the early 2000s, using the building for storage until 2015. Since then, the building has been vacant.

The commission passed the modified approval with no discussion. 

QuikTrip held several town halls on its proposal prior to bringing it before the Planning Commission last year. Several residents said they were concerned about traffic generated at the location, if there was a need for another gas station when several are nearby down both Lemay Ferry and Butler Hill roads and the destruction of the Kassebaum Building. QuikTrip has claimed that to remediate the building would outweigh its value and that it would have to come down regardless of if its for QuikTrip or a different developer. 

In response to that traffic study conducted by CBB Transportation in 2021 QuikTrip will also add a right turn lane on Lemay Ferry based on the results of the study. The study showed that even without the QuikTrip, traffic had grown so much at the intersection to warrant a right turn lane regardless, but the Missouri Department of Transportation does not currently have plans to address that location. Access to the store will be restricted to right in, right out from Lemay Ferry.