June 7, 1982 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Session 1309, Minutes Page 6 June 7, 1982 consider denying the conditional use permit. Mr. Hos Liston, 7522 Milan, asked to address the Council. He stressed the impor- tance of knowing-how to swim. He also said he had worked on the Merritt and Gian- oulakis homes as a contractor during the time swim lessons were being given and that the noise level was not at all offensive. Mr. Lawrence J. O'Connell, 6951 Pershing, asked to address the Council. He thought the Council had a very difficult decision, but felt they should accept the recom- mendation of the Plan Commission. Mr. Frederick H. Roever, 7066 Washington, asked to address the Council. He said he was amazed and disappointed with the Plan Commission's recommendation, and could not understand how they reached that conclusion. He said the granting of a condi- tional use permit in this situation, even for only one season, was a precedent-set- ting act which would make it difficult to deny a similar request. Ms Dora Gianoulakis, 7039 Washington, asked to address the Council. She is direc- tor of Childgrove School and owner of the pool being discussed. Ms Gianoulakis re- quested that the Council support Childgrove's application for a conditional use permit to enable the summer camp to use the pool at 7039 Washington so that young children at the camp may learn to swim. However, in order to address the concerns expressed by neighbors, she asked that the Council consider a modification of the plan recommended by the Plan Commission. The plan would allow usage of the pool two and one-half hours a day, four days a week for eight rather than fourteen weeks. Weekly usage would go from nine to ten hours, providing swimming instruction to three groups of children aged three to eight, with the nine to eleven year olds using other facilities. Classes would begin at 10:15 a.m. and end at 1:45 p.m., with breaks between classes and a lunch break. Also, she noted that a decision had been made some time ago that the children would walk to and from the pool on Delmar rather than use the alley. Mrs. Gianoulakis said she was distressed to be before the Council on this matter. She and her husband have allowed have allowed the camp to use their pool without charge since 1975, since they felt they were providing a service to the community. She said no neighbors had ever complained to them about children using the pool, and also, since she was at home during the summer, she would not have tolerated excessive noise or unruly behavior in the pool area. She hoped the modification in the schedule responded to the concerns of the neighbor who complained to the City. She noted that other arrangements might have been pos- sible had the neighbor spoken with her directly prior to the time the brochures were sent out, but it was now too late to find alternatives for the entire group. She promised that noise would be kept to a minimum by the instructors. She felt the compromise proposal was in the spirit of the Plan Commission's recommendation, and that it would allow the school to meet its commitments to the parents of the campers. She asked the Council to approve the modified conditional use permit, for this summer only. _ Mr. Ben Cohen, 7062 Washington, asked to address the Council. Mr. Cohen said he had been unaware that the children had been using this pool for the last five years. He noted that a similar request in Creve Coeur had been turned down, as he thought this one should be also, because the neighborhood was residential and the summer camp was a commercial operation. Allowing them to use this pool would set a poor precedent, he said.