Earlier this month, Florissant residents were ecstatic when a Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers opened its doors on North Highway 67. Mayor Thomas Schneider led the . Lines have been long for weeks.
There has been less of a red carpet for the fast-food chain’s proposal on Vandeventer Avenue in Forest Park Southeast, a hip St. Louis neighborhood in .
Some residents have grumbled and on that the restaurant would represent a suburban-style development — complete with a 33-space parking lot and drive-thru lane — in a decidedly urban neighborhood.
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It’s so decidedly urban, neighborhood leaders recently finished meant to promote a dense, walkable community while maintaining a distinctive architectural style. The code is awaiting final approvals from the St. Louis Board of Aldermen and is expected to take effect April 1.
To meet the proposed zoning requirements, buildings along Vandeventer Avenue — immediately east of the Grove entertainment district — would have to be at least two stories and cover 85 percent of their lots. The one-story Raising Cane’s restaurant, with a parking lot covering most of the parcel, wouldn’t meet either condition.
“Something isn’t always better than nothing,†said Andrew Hagene, who has lived in the neighborhood for almost 15 years. “We don’t really want a suburban-looking building.â€
Hagene was one of about a half-dozen people who came Tuesday to weigh in before the neighborhood’s development committee, where an endorsement can make or break a project’s chances when it gets to city permitting and the Board of Aldermen.
Some attendees, though, pointed out that the site is currently just a vacant lot located across the street from a QuikTrip and up the road from a White Castle that’s been there for half a century. Maybe Raising Cane’s can commit to a funky mural on the outside, too, as White Castle agreed to in its remodel.
“If it was on Manchester (Avenue), yeah, that’s a little different,†neighborhood resident Bill Carpenter said of the proposed Raising Cane’s. One fast-food place nearby on Vandeventer Avenue “isn’t going to kill us.â€
There’s a quirk on the site that makes meeting the pending zoning code a bit tricky anyway: An aerial easement requires clear visibility for the billboard on the adjacent lot.
“You cannot build a two-story building,†said David Mason, who currently owns the vacant site at 805 South Vandeventer.
Board members, though, were interested in trying to come as close they could to the new zoning requirements. Guy Slay, a board member and developer in the area, suggested that “maybe it’s a tall 1-story.†He noted the neighborhood spent years and thousands of dollars developing the rules.
“Every opportunity we have to be in compliance, it’s worth it,†he said.
Staff from , the community development corporation that helps promote the neighborhood, had already asked the developer for some modifications, including moving the restaurant up to the lot line on the street.
The committee on Tuesday asked for a few more conditions. ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ want all bricks, windows visible from Vandeventer Avenue and a pedestrian entrance on the street. And they want to find out just how high the building can go without violating the billboard’s visibility easement.
While the visibility easement remains, the site “could never conform to the code,†said Park Central’s executive director, Abdul-Kaba Abdullah. But, he added, “we certainly want to try and get it to conform as much as possible.â€
‘Development pressure’
Traditional zoning segregates commercial, residential and other uses into separate districts, drawing criticism for promoting a car-centric culture in many areas. A “form-based code,†such as the one Forest Park Southeast has spent years developing, is meant to regulate the appearance and style of the built environment, allowing businesses, residences and offices to more easily coexist.
If adopted, as expected, it would be the second such zoning code in the city, following the Central West End’s adoption of one almost five years ago. Park Central, the community development corporation for both neighborhoods, helped gather resident input and guide the process of writing a form-based code in each.
Forest Park Southeast’s move to write a form-based code came as the neighborhood was transforming into one of the city’s most popular areas and a bustling entertainment destination. on lots that were vacant or occupied by condemned structures. are under construction.
“There’s so much development pressure on the neighborhood, and there were so many development projects coming before the board for review, they were constantly in reactionary mode,†said Brian Phillips, Park Central board president and the head of the Washington University Medical Center Redevelopment Corp.
The code is intended to guide developers and provide a starting point for negotiations with the neighborhood, said Matthew Green, a Park Central staffer who coordinated the form-based code process. Even now, it’s being used despite not yet having the force of law.
“Since it’s been in its draft form, the development committee has been using it as a guiding document,†Green said.
Alderman Joe Roddy, who represents the area and whose committee plans to hold a public hearing on the code Jan. 31, said it promotes “smart growth†and protects the area from bad development. He said he’d leave it to Park Central to work through issues with the Raising Cane’s proposal.
“I have my concerns about the fast food,†he said. “But that’s why we have neighborhood committees, because there’s going to be gray areas in all these things. Not every decision is going to be black and white.â€
For their part, Raising Cane’s representatives expressed openness to many of Park Central’s requests. They noted that each store often tries to reflect its local flavor with interior décor and often partners with local schools and nonprofits.
“People seem to think it’s just generic fast food, and it really isn’t,†NAI Desco broker Bill Barnes, representing the restaurant, told the committee.
“We are really wanting to come in and be a part of the community,†Raising Cane’s real estate manager Christopher Walker said.
Park Central’s request to move the building up to the street was the one request that restaurant representatives seemed wary of. It could hamper the design, or cause safety issues, for one of fast food’s main ingredients: a drive-thru.
