04/11/2005 Regular - Laserfiche WebLink

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Regular Meeting April 11, 2005 light and the traffic. He expressed his support of development for University City, but not when it is at the expense of others, and this is the way it seems to be occurring. Mr. Slade said that he met with one of the Councilmembers who was very surprised at the devastation that occurs when there is heavy rain. He said he had film and pictures which might surprise people. Ms. Welsch asked the City Manager if this is the time to approach MSD about the backflow and the negative impact of the river. Mayor Adams said the City had approached MSD to clean out the creek at that location many times. Herbert Smith, 1285 Hafner Place, said he attended a previous Council meeting and explained what took place with the developer, Mr. Yang, following that meeting. He reiterated his original statement at that meeting regarding traffic safety. He said that he had seen the plans for the development and he applauds it. He would like to see other businesses along Olive make similar developments. However, residents on Hafner Place fear that someone will die as a result of there no longer being a divider between the Farmer’s Market and another property, and drivers “come out of there flying.” Drivers find themselves stuck in the middle of the street, unable to turn, because of the backup of traffic caused by the situation and the peculiar nature of the traffic pattern due to the changes. Mr. Smith said the traffic will be a problem no matter what takes place. Next he commented about the problem of the sewer line and the storm drain and the sanitary sewer running parallel on Hafner Place in the same pipe. When water gets inside, it backs up and floods and water enters basements. He posed the question, where is the water going to go once the parking lot is installed, where will the gutters drain since water can no longer drain into the ground? Olive Street and Hafner Place both drain on an incline into the same area. One side of the creek is higher, so water is pushed onto their property, even though walls are the same height on both sides. He concluded by saying that these were the concerns of his neighbors, as well. Ms. Colquitt mentioned a study conducted on Olive Street Road at Hafner Court, either requested by Michael Dooley or undertaken by him, and the result of that study was that it was not a necessity to move the stoplights from Hafner. She spoke with Hazel Erby of Saint Louis County Council and they plan to meet with County Executive, Charlie Dooley, to review the situation and solve the problem of drivers trying to exit Hafner Court while making a left turn, heading east, on Olive Boulevard. Ms. Welsch asked the City Manager if the state had conducted a study of the area because it is a state highway and because they needed to approve ingress and egress. She mentioned that this arose when the Council studied the plat for the proposed Aldi’s at North and South and Olive Boulevard. She asked if the state conducted a study also when the new exit out of the Olive Farmer’s Market closer to Hafner was installed and said she did not recall seeing it. She asked what it would take to get the state to conduct an analysis of the light there and all of the new passages into Olive along this area? Can anything be done to make it safer? Mr. Ollendorff replied that those inquiries Page 10