The Jefferson County Planning and Zoning Commission recently voted to recommend approval of a new wedding and events hall to be built in the Fenton area.
If the County Council approves the development, called Romaine Valley Weddings & Events, it most likely will open in October, said co-owner Kevin Lashley.
Plans call for the nearly 9,000-square-foot event hall and chapel to be built on a 44-acre parcel at 1676 Romaine Creek Road in Council District 2 (Bill Crow, Arnold). In addition to weddings, Lashley said the hall will be used for corporate events such as galas and retreats.
The commission voted 5-0 on Jan. 9 to recommend rezoning 5 acres of the 44-acre property, where the event hall will sit, from single-family residential to a planned mixed zone district. The favorable vote also included the business’ development plan.
Commissioners Mike Huskey and Johnathan Sparks were absent from the meeting.
The County Council, which has the sole authority over rezoning in unincorporated parts of the county, will consider the rezoning request and development plans at a future meeting.
Lashley, an event professional, owns the property with Robert McManus of McManus Construction. He said construction will most likely begin on the hall in the spring.
“We’re very excited to bring this sort of event venue to northern Jefferson County,” Lashley said. “This has been a dream of mine for a while. We’re ready to rock and roll as soon as the weather becomes nicer.”
In addition to the hall, the plans call for an asphalt lot with 116 parking spaces to be created. Six short-term stay cottages for wedding parties ranging from 500-750 square feet are also in the development plan, but Lashley said they will be constructed in a later phase of the project.
The commission put stipulations in its recommendation for the development.
County planner Josh Jump said the hall would be prohibited from playing music outdoors, as most of the surrounding properties are residential. The hall also would be required to close at 6 p.m. Sunday-Thursday and at 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
Similar rural wedding venues have opened recently in the county and have been successful, Jump said, including Pine Hollow Farms on Hwy. W in Eureka and Rocking J Ranch in High Ridge.
“It’s a very farmhouse-y style of venue, barn-chic, or whatever you would like to call it,” Jump said. “There is a condition that requires the building materials to look like how they were submitted to us in this petition.”
The cottages will have a three-day maximum stay.
“We feel it’s very important to be able to offer a place for out-of-town family members to come and stay and be a part of their family member’s wedding,” Lashley said. “(The cottages) are not something we’re looking to rent out outside of the hours of the wedding; it will not turn into an Airbnb.”
Concerns
A few nearby residents said they weren’t opposed to the event hall, but they worried excessive stormwater runoff would affect their property values. Romaine Creek traverses through a small portion of the event hall property.
“I don’t want (Lashley and McManus) to build it, and my place ends up being a retention pond,” said Clarence Cresswater, who lives across the street from the proposed development. “I’m not opposed to it, but I’ve got to cover all my bases.”
County Services Director Mitch Bair said the proposed retention pond in the development plan would be required to be sized to adequately capture any additional stormwater generated on the site and then slowly release the water into the creek.
Some residents also noted Romaine Creek Road is currently damaged, and the extra traffic coming in and out of the event hall could make it worse.
The Jefferson County Public Works Department was forced to close a small portion of the road from Creek Road to Corn Lane in early December for emergency repairs on a slide in the road caused by heavy rains. Crews fixed a similar slide directly to the west of the current damage in 2022.
Jump said any potential road issues due to the project will be addressed in a traffic impact study in coordination with Public Works.
Bair said residents’ concerns will be relayed to the Public Works Department.
“I have notes here, and I’m going to go back to the Public Works Department and share all the concerns that were brought up,” Bair said. “Between the traffic study and that, hopefully, there is some path of resolve. We do have to have a functional county road if we’re going to place a commercial business there.”