St. Louis officials and grassroots organization leaders hope a new neighborhood plan to develop a “stronger Northside” will help preserve the communities damaged by the May 16 tornado.
Members of the St. Louis Planning Commission in December adopted the plan, which has been in development since 2024 and envisions a revitalized north side of the city through strategic reinvestment in the area.
The plan, the latest of the PlanSTL initiative, aims to revitalize three neighborhoods: the Ville, the Greater Ville and Kingsway East.
More than 3,000 community members participated in the planning process over an 18-month period. That feedback, combined with data analysis, led to the final draft.
Officials hope to revitalize the area through “catalytic investment” in housing and commercial corridors. A main pillar of the effort is stabilizing housing in the area and making pathways to affordable homeownership more accessible to the community.
Additionally, the plan is designed to improve mobility and safety in the neighborhoods, preserve and strengthen the area’s cultural and historical anchors and revitalize the local economy.
The actions of the plan span a wide range in both scale and time length. The proposal lays out short-term actions including home repair, home down payment assistance, flexible retail permitting and more long-term plans like creating mixed-income housing, establishing a land trust and creating community improvement taxing districts.
Altogether, the plan envisions a massive revitalization effort in the three neighborhoods. It’s not the first plan to do so, however, and many in the past have fallen short — like Paul McKee’s Northside Regeneration project.
But for grassroots organizers in the community, the new neighborhood plan is a hopeful blueprint to help preserve their neighborhoods not only after the devastation of the May 16 storms, but also after almost 50 years of disinvestment from the community.
“I’d like to see the neighbors come together as one and support the plan and understand that it’s not going to happen overnight. It’s going to take time,” said Julia Allen, founder of 4 The Ville, a community group that focuses on preserving the Ville neighborhood. “The devastation didn’t happen overnight; it took 47 years for the neighborhood to look like it does.”
Allen is a lifetime resident of the neighborhood. At 73, she said she might not see the outcome of the plan but believes it could be a catalyst for a turnaround for the area.
She stressed that city officials must stick to the promises made in the proposal.
“We who live in the community have to hold our alderperson and everybody accountable to get this implemented,” she said.
Aaron Williams, who sits on the commission and serves as president of 4 The Ville, said the plan offers a path toward deserved preservation of the communities in the area.
“For many years, we didn't have this plan, this very comprehensive plan to guide this work that the entire community poured into and the city adopted,” Williams said. “This sets us up for some really transformative work over the next 10 to 20 years.”
The adoption of the plan adds the three neighborhoods to a growing list of communities that are part of PlanSTL. Sixteen other neighborhoods have community plans. However, the adoption of the three northside neighborhoods is the first since the May tornado.
“This neighborhood plan, which establishes key priorities for the future, was created in strong collaboration with the residents of The Ville, Greater Ville and Kingsway East, exactly as it should be, and I’m grateful to all the community members who have taken part in this, once again demonstrating a strong collective commitment to the neighborhoods,” said Mayor Cara Spencer in a statement.
