Longview Farm Parking Options Revealed Thursday Night

CORRECTION: Patch initially reported that the land south of Clayton Road has been maintained by the city for years. That land has actually been maintained by the adjoining property owners. The following story has been updated to reflect that correction.

A committee studying the parking at Town and Country's met for the first time Thursday night.

Initially the city was considering having an engineering company conduct a feasibility study of parking expansion at the park for $19,500. This new Longview Farm Park Ad-Hoc Committee was appointed by Mayor Jon Dalton and is now conducting feasibility study at no cost to the city.

The committee consists of the following members:

• Former Town and Country Mayor and St. Louis County Councilman Skip Mange
• Chairman of Parks and Trails Alderwoman  Lynn Wright 
• Alderman Fred Meyland-Smith
• Resident Henry Vogt who lives adjacent to the park
• Resident and Police Commission member Carolynne Huether 

Three Town and Country city staff members also attended the meeting: Anne Nixon, director of parks and recreation, Craig Wilde, director of public works, and Sharon Rothmel, director of planning.

Mange had been involved with Town and Country's parks for more than a decade and it was during his administration as mayor that Longview Farm Park was purchased and developed.

Mange led Thursday night's meeting. He presented the following options for expanding the park's parking:

• The area across from the park and across Clayton Road. Mange said the property has been sitting there for years and is not being utilized. He said since that land south of Clayton Road has been maintained for many years by the adjoining property owners, and not the state or the city, this presents possible legal questions as to who has clear title to the property. At this point, it is unclear if the city could even utilize that land if it wanted too. That plan is estimated to cost around $352,000 and would create 50 to 60 spaces. Park and event goers would have to cross Clayton Road to get from that parking lot the park.

"Not the safest place to have people walking across Clayton Road," Mange said.

• Another option is to move Clayton Road south and then replace the current Clayton Road space with the new parking lot. However, that plan costs close to one-million dollars.
• A third option is what Mange called a "Green Parking Space." The field along Clayton Road where the horses graze would be transformed into a part-time parking lot that would only be used during events.  Horses would be kept in the stable during that time. During regular park hours when there wasn't an event, the gate to the pasture would be closed, it would not be used as a parking lot and the horses would be allowed to graze. Nixon said there would be no danger to the horses. It is still unclear exactly where the parking spaces would be placed in the field, there was discussion of near the current parking lot or more toward Clayton Road. There is no cost estimate for this plan yet, but Wilde is working to develop a cost estimate. This plan would create 60 additional spaces.
• The committee also discussed creating additional parking spaces within its current space. One idea was to add a few additional spaces by the tennis courts and the farmhouse, but that would require the removal of some trees and create 6 spaces. Another idea was to close off one park entrance and one exit and only have one entrance and one exit to the park. Currently there are two of each. The city would then use the additional space created by the closures and reformat parking. This move would create 15 additional spots. The two plans combined could create 21 additional parking spots without obtaining additional land for parking. Alderwoman Wright tells Patch this is the parking proposal that sounds most feasible to her. There is no cost estimate on these plans, but Wilde is working to develop a cost estimate.

"My concern is that if you have an event and only 21 additional spaces, you still have to provide a parking service so people actually using the park can still park," Mange explained.

• The last option presented Thursday night is to make no changes at all and leave the current parking as it is.

Currently, the park has 66 parking spots, but the committee does not have a target number of total parking spots it hopes to see. Mange said he wants to hear from the public first before determining a total number of desired spots.

At past board of aldermen meetings, residents were very vocal about their opposition to the proposal to put additional parking in the park. Residents who live along Longview Farm Park have even asked aldermen during board meetings to reconsider the proposal citing that before the park was built, residents were promised Longview Farm would be a "passive park."

That sentiment was shared Thursday night by Vogt whose home backs up to the park. He tells Patch he doesn't want to see any more additions to the 32-acre park.

"This is supposed to be a passive park, a neighborhood park. Usually when you build a park, it's to preserve the park," Vogt said. "How many people can you put on 30 acres and preserve land? I just don't understand why they keep paving the park over. This is supposed to be for walking and I'm concerned we're taking the space for parking."

Mange said feedback like Vogt's is important so the committee will next hold a public forum at 7:00 p.m. on April 14 at the . It will be an opportunity for public comment on the parking issue. A postcard will be sent out to all city residents to inform them of the forum. 

The committee will use the public input when it makes its recommendation to the city of Town and Country. No date is set yet for that final recommendation, but it will have to be after the committee's next meeting on April 26 at the .

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