Politics & Government

Residents Oppose Longview Parking Expansion With Online Petition

Town and Country residents have created an online petition and plan to ask aldermen Monday night to hold off on moving forward with the project.

Some Town and Country residents who oppose the parking lot expansion project at plan to address the Town and Country Board of Aldermen Monday night about the city's plan to apply for a grant to fund the project. The board could vote to move forward with the application process Monday night.

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In an email, residents say they are gathering support to urge St. Louis County to not give grant funds to the city of Town and Country to fund the additional parking. 

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They've started an online petition.

Town and Country resident Henry Vogt lives adjacent to the park and serves on the Longview Farm Park Ad-Hoc Committee. The committee was created last year to review the parking situation at the park and possible changes to the parking lot. After a feasibility study, the committee, headed by former Town and Country mayor Skip Mange, recommended adding 15 additional parking spots on the land and parking lot already designated for the park. Vogt has always spoken out against any expansion of the park or its lot. Other residents who oppose the expansion have previously said they feel it would bring more people and traffic to the park. 

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"The Board of Aldermen has ignored overwhelming opposition from residents to additional parking," Voght said in an email. He stated that Monday night he plans to ask aldermen to delay voting on applying for the grant to allow enough time for residents against the expansion to gather signatures showing the public's opinion to the project. "I'll point out that the main criteria the County Municipal Parks Grant Commission uses in determining funding is whether residents in the community want the proposed development." 

Those who feel the parking expansion is necessary have previously said they are making a clear effort to not bring more traffic to the park, but are trying to resolve a current parking issue.

Monday's vote would allow city staff to apply for a planning grant of $4,000 to prepare engineering construction drawings, Mange stated in an email to Patch. He said an ordinance would later need to be approved to then contract an engineer to prepare the plans. Mange said the engineering costs are estimated at approximately $20,000. 

According to Mange, another grant application would then be submitted for the construction costs.

"That grant covers 100% of the construction costs and 50% of any landscaping that is included," Mange stated. "When the project is completed the total of the two grants would be about 80% of the total costs, resulting in a cost to the city of around $20,000."

Voght also stated in the email that if aldermen do decide to vote on the grant resolution Monday night and move forward with the application process, he and other residents will continue to collect signatures and present them to the County Municipal Parks Grant Commission.

Check Town and Country-Manchester Patch Tuesday for new developments from Monday night's meeting.  

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