Army Corps of Engineers permit application

St Louis County has applied for their Clean Water Act Section 404 permit from the Army Corps of Engineers. They need this permit to be able to fill in the wetlands where their portion of the highway is proposed to be constructed and thus need it to go forward. The 404 permit is still in the public comment phase, meaning it is not final and has not been granted, but the Army Corps is soliciting public input about whether or not the permit should be granted. You can see the permit here.

The comment period is open until October 16, 2009. Comments can be submitted as detailed in the permit application (to the Army Corps address on the first page of the permit). Please submit comments -- any personal experiences you have with flooding in the area in/near where the road is proposed to be built, or anything else that you feel is inaccurate in the permit application would be important to comment on. Additionally, as part of the 404 permitting process, the Corps allows interested parties to request a public hearing on a permit application (public hearings are not routinely held as part of the 404 process, but can be held by the Corps if they so choose). A public hearing would be another place to have our voices heard, and would obviously do a little bit to slow the project down, so it's important that we let the Corps know that we want one.

Mayor John Nations against Chesterfield

From the Post-Dispatch: Chesterfield mayor on the front lines of Highway 141

Nations, you don't get it. Residents don't want the project stopped. What they want is due process.

Building a 6-lane elevated highway on top of and through high-quality wetlands, demolishing a homestead that's eligible for the National Register of Historic Places, blowing off warnings from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, not conducting an Environmental Impact Study, beginning work without permits and without all right-of-way acquisitions completed, spending much, much more money than is necessary ($72 MILLION FOR FIVE MILES) ----- this is absolutely irresponsible, Mayor.

Mill Ridge conversation

Chatted with a woman who lives in Mill Ridge this evening. She said she was told by the owner of that development that the County was going to build the Page-Olive Connector where existing Creve Coeur Mill Road lies and would be removing a few of the development's buildings closest to that road. She was unaware, as well as distressed to learn, that the County instead plans to build behind her development. She didn't think other residents in her development knew this either. She indicated that she, as well as some of her neighbors, would sign the petition demanding an EIS.

We need to inform these people what the truth is.