The Winding Bluffs subdivision in the Springdale area may get a little bigger, and it may have a new neighbor as well.
The Jefferson County Planning and Zoning Commission voted on Sept. 14 to recommend approval of a rezoning request and development plan for Winding Bluffs Second Addition.
McBride Berra Land Co. LLC of Chesterfield has developed Winding Bluffs, which originally was approved in 2015 for 320 lots and expanded by another 32 lots in 2019.
The main entrance to Winding Bluffs is on 13th Street, off Hwy. 141 near Guffey Elementary School and the Northeast Public Sewer District treatment facility in the Jefferson County portion of Fenton.
McBride Berra has a deal with Old Log Cabin LLC of St. Louis to buy a 35.85-acre lot to the west of the Winding Bluffs development and is proposing to use 10.32 acres to further expand it by 50 homes.
The homes would be accessed through two streets that run through the current layout.
The P and Z board, which advises the County Council on land-use issues in unincorporated parts of the county, voted unanimously to recommend approval.
The County Council, which has the ultimate authority to approve the request, will likely take up the request at a meeting in October.
It also will consider a proposal for a separate but related McBride Berra development on the remaining 24.89 acres of the lot, an 83-home subdivision to be called Winding Meadows.
The P and Z board voted 7-1 to recommend approval of the rezoning request and development plan for that layout.
Both requests ask for the zoning of the 35.85-acre lot to be changed from single-family residential to planned residential. The lot currently has a barn and farmhouse, but planning staff said they appear to be vacant.
Jeannie Aumiller of McBride Berra said the two proposals “are really the conclusion of a project that we’ve been working on for some time. This is kind of the final piece of the puzzle.”
Access to Winding Meadows would be off Saline Road and that development would not have access to Winding Bluffs.
“That’s very important,” Aumiller said. “We’ve heard from a lot of residents indicating that Winding Bluffs shouldn’t connect all the way to Saline.
“This is not only for the benefit of residents of Winding Bluffs, but for the people who live off Saline Road. Not having the two subdivisions connect means that traffic that shouldn’t be there will not use Winding Bluffs as a way to cut through from Hwy. 141 to Saline Road.”
However, a handful of residents who live off Saline said they have their doubts about the development.
“I’m concerned about the entrance of this new subdivision,” said Daniel Herron, who lives just south of the lot in the Hermitage Hills subdivision. “Saline is fairly narrow. I’m concerned about adding traffic and the impact on Saline Road. There should be some way that traffic from the subdivision does not pose a big danger to traffic going by on Saline Road.”
Joe Kenkel, who lives across Saline Road from the proposed entrance, agreed.
“My big concern is with the entrance, which is on a hill,” he said. “I’ve lived off of Saline Road for 40 years, and as long as I’ve been around Jefferson County roads . . . if there’s ice and snow, cars will slide around on that hill and that will tie up traffic. I believe this access point is in the absolute wrong place.”
Aumiller said her company has worked with engineers, traffic engineers, the county planning staff and the Public Works Department to figure out the optimum entrance.
“From a sight distance standpoint, this has been determined to be the best location,” she said.
She said the Public Works Department has a project planned to address safety concerns along Saline Road in the area of Winding Meadows.
That project, scheduled to begin early in 2025, will include installing 4-foot shoulders where now there are none, rumble strips in the center and on both sides of the road, guardrails where needed and the widening or replacement of three culverts in the mile-long stretch between Memory Lane, south of the proposed entrance, north to Northwest Boulevard.
Shawn White of CBB Transportation Engineers in St. Louis said a traffic study indicated that most residents of Winding Meadows would head north on Saline Road toward Northwest Boulevard, using the stretch of the road slated for work.
Shirley Durrwachter, whose property is south of the lot, said she is worried about stormwater runoff.
“(The McBride Berra lot) is quite a bit higher than we are, and it’s a problem. Once they start getting rid of trees and vegetation, this is only going to get worse. I’m afraid of possible flooding and a possible mud slide once they start cutting down trees.”
However, Mike Faulkner of Sterling Engineering in St. Louis said those who live in the area should be pleased with the solution.
“The plans show a detention basin in that corner that will meet all of the county’s stormwater requirements. This is strategically located to intercept water during a normal to heavy storm event,” he said.
Planning commissioner Jeffrey Spraul cast the sole dissenting vote against the Winding Meadows petition.
“My concern is that it will have the same kind of density as other housing in the area,” he said. “I think it would be better if there was a mix of housing, small lots, medium lots and large lots. I’d like to see more economic diversity.”