The Jefferson County Planning and Zoning Commission has recommended denial of a proposed 184-unit apartment complex in the Fenton area, primarily citing potential traffic and road maintenance issues.
Lorenzo LLC petitioned the commission to rezone an 18-acre property at 108 E. Lark Drive for the development, called East Lark Apartments. The proposal called for the property to be rezoned from single-family residential to planned mixed residential and asked for approval of the development plan.
The commission voted 8-1 to deny the petition Dec. 11, with Commissioner Drew Ishmael representing District 2 voting for it.
The County Council, which has the sole authority over rezoning in unincorporated areas, will likely consider a resolution to deny the rezoning request and development plans at a meeting next month.
If the East Lark Apartments development were approved, the complex would include 21 one-bedroom units, 112 two-bedroom units and 48 three-bedroom units. According to county staff documents, the complex would also have a dog park, fitness center, pool, walking path and covered parking options.
Lorenzo Debrecht, owner of Lorenzo LLC, has developed several other apartment complexes in the county, including Sugar Creek and Turtle Creek Apartments in Fenton and West Village Apartments in Festus. Lorenzo LLC also developed the Stoney Pines apartment complex in Barnhart, but has since sold it to another company.
The County Council most recently approved Debrecht’s 156-unit development called The Station in April. That development is currently under construction at the site where the old Bayer’s Garden Shop in Imperial operated for more than 80 years.
Nine Fenton-area residents spoke against the East Lark Apartments development at the P and Z meeting, raising concerns about privacy, sewage and stormwater capacity, and traffic.
Brian Coulter, whose property neighbors the proposed development, said he circulated a petition requesting the commission deny the proposal, and others who live in the area signed it.
Among other concerns, Coulter said the apartment complex has only one entrance and exit on East Lark Drive, a public road that is maintained privately by residents. There is limited site distance for vehicles exiting his road onto the busier New Sugar Creek Road, he said, and there would be an increased risk of accidents if a development like the apartment complex were approved.
He called into question Lorenzo LLC’s commissioned traffic impact study, performed by CBB, which stated the development would cause no large impact on traffic.
“The estimated effect of car travel is not factual; it is only an estimate,” Coulter said.
Ashley Elliott, also an East Lark Drive resident, agreed with Coulter and said the nearby intersection at Hwy. 30 and New Sugar Creek Road is also dangerous.
“There has to absolutely be a prayer from God to get out on Sugar Creek (from East Lark Drive) at any high-traffic time,” she said. “The amount of accidents I’ve personally seen happen at Sugar Creek and Hwy. 30 is too many to count on my hands, and I’ve lived in this community almost 30 years. It’s dangerous. I don’t want to see anybody get injured.”
County Services Director Mitch Bair said there is a 9-mile stretch on Hwy. 30 from the county line to Hwy. PP in High Ridge where at least nine fatalities have been caused by car accidents. However, he said, the New Sugar Creek Road and Hwy. 30 intersection is not a concern in terms of the number of accidents along that 9-mile stretch.
He also said the Missouri Department of Transportation and county officials are having “very preliminary” conversations about making improvements to the 9-mile stretch to reduce or eliminate car accidents.
Christopher Johnson, a Lorenzo LLC representative, said under the current zoning, a developer would be permitted to build a subdivision of single-family homes on the 18-acre property that would likely raise the same concerns brought forward by residents. However, the apartment complex can implement rules and standards that the county cannot.
“The current landowner wanted to sell this to a developer who would put up 80 single-family residences,” Johnson said. “You can’t stop that; it’s permitted under the current zoning. And these roadway issues, these utility issues, all of these, what I would call conjecture, would still be there.
“We’re able to actually limit the number of cars that are pursuant to the lease. That’s a contractual obligation. That’s not something that Jefferson County can mitigate or otherwise deter on single-family residences, and we’re able to do that.”
Commissioner Jeffrey Spraul said his decision to deny the proposal came down to the petitioner’s response on whether they would make improvements to East Lark Drive, such as fixing potholes or contributing to snow removal, for the benefit of the existing residents and future apartment residents.
Johnson said the apartment complex would have obligations and requirements as they pertain to ingress and egress for tenants but developers would not technically be responsible for maintaining the rest of East Lark Drive, since it’s a public road that is privately maintained.
“The road East Lark Drive – I’m completely unsatisfied with what the petitioner said, what they’re going to do or wouldn’t do,” Spraul said. “There’s no promise, there’s no guarantee. There’s nothing for the people who live on East Lark Lane. I can’t get over that.”
Commissioner Johnathan Sparks said his no vote had to do with safety on the roads leading to and from the proposed site, not with the development’s design or purpose.
“If I had a magic wand and everything was perfectly safe, as a development, I think it’s great. Where it is, I think it’s horrible,” Sparks said.