After an hour of public testimony Tuesday night, University City’s stormwater commission recommended the city council deny a proposal to build more than 100 townhomes in an unused part of a local cemetery.
The commission’s decision, while not the final determination, serves as a temporary victory for nearly all the residents who showed up to testify against the project.
“It's a terrible travesty and a horrific use of the property,” said Arthur Wasserman, who lives near where the development would be built. “It really disturbs our watershed to the point where it will increase flooding.”
Called Enclaves at Canton, the development would consist of 106 townhomes, 220 parking spaces, pickleball courts, a dog park and a coffee shop. It’s located less than 2,000 feet northeast of the River Des Peres.
The developer, William James Capital, could not be immediately reached for comment on Tuesday regarding the commission’s decision.
Some residents who testified in front of the city’s commission on Tuesday worried that the development, which would remove roughly 11 acres of wooded area adjacent to the United Hebrew Cemetery, would take away green space that’s needed to soak up stormwater. Those residents said, despite a retention pond included in the proposal, the development would overwhelm an already fragile wastewater system that flooded drastically in 2022 and 2008.
Commissioner Susan Armstrong, who was skeptical of the proposal, said she didn’t want her town “to go from tree city to cement city.”
“I was concerned when I saw the design that took out so many of our trees — 11 acres of trees — at a time when we had lost so many trees during the tornado,” Armstrong said.
The unanimous recommendation by the commission of largely engineers and hydrology experts to deny a rezoning application and conditional use permit will be sent to the city council, which will make the final decision.
It’s possible the developer amends its proposal or presents more information to the stormwater commission before next month's meeting, Commissioner Eric Karch said after the vote. Best case scenario, it could be a couple of months before the rezoning application and conditional use permit are presented before the city council, he said.
University City’s planning commission approved the project in July, and the city’s attorney, John Mulligan, said the traffic commission has also approved it.
Some of the residents, who’ve spoken at previous commission meetings, would prefer the cemetery’s land, listed for sale at $1.2 million, be turned into a park or a hiking area.
Commissioner Gary Aronberg, who backed the residents' concerns regarding flooding, said it could be possible to make the proposed detention ponds function better.
“I know we can engineer the hell out and make it better than the current situation for the people downstream.”
However, he said if the neighborhood doesn’t like the project that should “override everything else.”
A few residents testified during public comment that they remained interested in creating affordable housing in University City. However, they didn’t believe the green space at the cemetery was the best location for housing and wondered if there weren’t better ones elsewhere in town.
This is the first time the stormwater commission, which was created in 2020, has been asked to weigh in on a proposed development, and they are still figuring out the process, Karch said. As an engineer, he said it will be his job and also the commission's to evaluate the pros and cons of the project pertaining to stormwater concerns.
“I think we're just practical people, and I'm not going to take a position on development — yay or nay.”
