Ehlmann Road Connection To Ease Access to Truman, Mid-Rivers Areas

The missing 900-foot section of Ehlmann Road between Shady Springs and Executive Centre Parkway should be completed this summer, Public Works Services Manager Russ Batzel told St. Peters aldermen Thursday.

“It’s a critical piece for additional traffic circulation in St. Peters,” Batzel said. “Residents won’t be forced to get on I-70 or other main roads to get to Truman Boulevard. It’s a good reliever route.”

Batzel said the project would be bid out in the spring. Construction would begin and be completed this summer. The $1.3 million project is funded 80 percent through the St. Charles County Road Fund with a 20 percent match by the City of St. Peters.

Batzel also told St. Peters aldermen the railroad crossing project on Executive Center Parkway is scheduled for completion between Christmas and the new year.

“That will allow residents on the north side of the city to access Premier Parkway, which they can use to get to 370,” Batzel told Patch. “With the closing of Blanchette Bridge (in January), more people will be taking 370.”

He said that together, the projects increase access to the city of St. Peters.

“It also gives residents the ability to go to Costco or to the mall without getting on Mid Rivers Mall Drive or the outer road,” Batzel said.

CarMax gets green light

Aldermen also unanimously approved a special use permit for a CarMax Auto Superstore along the North Service Road between Spencer Road and Mid Rivers Mall Drive. The spot is the site of the former Hill-Behan Lumber.

Ed Griesedieck, an attorney representing St. Charles Nissan, Hyundai and Isuzu, said approving CarMax as a standalone used car sales facility would be unfair to other car dealers in St. Peters. Griesedieck said existing dealerships were required to sell new cars in addition to used cars when the dealerships first located there.

He also said CarMax had not met provisions of the special use permit in that it did not demonstrate how it would benefit the community or that it would not harm the area.

CarMax attorney Jeff Wagner said the company projects $75 million in sales, which will benefit the area and add anywhere from 80 to 100 new jobs. The building would be a new design and would cost $10 million.

“This is not your mom and dad’s used car lot,” he said.

Steve Hudak, a real estate manager for CarMax, said CarMax is a Fortune 500 company that for seven consecutive years has been named one of Fortunemagazine’s 100 best places to work.

A city staff report indicated that CarMax is a used car dealer but operates much like a new car facility in presenting and selling its vehicles. It does auction off older models or higher mileage cars, but the auctions are open only to car dealers, not the public.

Raising tents

Aldermen approved temporary tents for the planned I-70 Shoppers Fair with a 6-2 vote, but not everyone was sold on the project.

“The last thing I’m going to approve is a business on the side of the highway and they have to look like a mess of a flea market from Poplar Bluff, MO,” said Ward 3 Alderman Tommy Roberts.

The fair would be on the former on the North Service Road and would be visible from Interstate 70. The tents would be able to be erected each weekend through November 2012.

“You’re not even sure if you need these tents,” Roberts said.

Owners Dan and Judy Fetsch said their plans are to complete a 23,000-square-foot building that would house 150 vendors on the site and open the fair this spring.

“We’re awfully confident that we will have up to 300 vendors,” Dan Fetsch told aldermen. He said they have more than 100 listed and 30 to 40 have already reserved spots.

Ward 2 Aldermen Jerry Hollingsworth and Ward 1 Alderman Dan Thomas also questioned changes to the site plan, how the tents would look and how they would be arranged.

Fetsch said they could require vendors to bring black or white tents similar to those used for tailgating parties and arranged in 120-foot rows.

He said the vendor fair needs to be established before other phases of the site plan can be established, including a hotel and carnival rides.

Judy Fetsch said the city uses temporary tents for Armed Forces Day and other festivals.

“If you as a city use these tents, then I don’t understand why can’t we use them as a business as well,” she said.

Roberts said, “The difference is that these festivals have tents up for one or two days. Now, you’re talking about a permanent business using tents on an ongoing basis.”

Fetsch acknowledged the former foundry site had come under scrutiny by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and the qttorney general’s office. He said there is no soil contamination at the site, and they have plans to remove barrels containing chemicals used at the foundry.

Roberts and Alderman Patrick Barclay, Ward 4, voted against allowing tents.

Correction: This article originally incorrectly stated one name of the aldermen who voted against allowing tents at the I-70 Shoppers Fair.