Get our your wallets...

You Paid For It: Residents Speak Out Against Rte. 141 Project

(Typos courtesy Fox news)

CHESTERFIELD, MO (KTVI-FOX2now.com) - In this You Paid For It report, a dramatic move by MoDOT to push forward with it's Route 141 extension through a neighborhood despite a desperate attempt by angry Chesterfield residents to derail it. MoDOT plans to redo the intersection of 141and Ladue Road as part of the 141 extension through West County.

But residents say the MoDOT plan is too elaborate will create too much disruption to the neighborhood and cost taxpayers too much money. After being rebuffed by MoDOT St. Louis Area District Engineer Ed Hassinger, they've taken their cause to Hassinger's bosses: the Missouri Transportation Commission.

Chesterfield homeowner Emil Deluca is one of the trustees for the Green Trails subdivision which is fighting the plan. His group traveled all the way to a commission meeting last week in Sikeston, Missouri to tell commissioners they should over-rule Ed Hassinger.

Deluca says, "It was our last place to present our concerns to the Missouri Department of Transportation."Deluca says MoDOT did agree to made some minor modifications to it's proposal but no major changes. MoDOT is getting $95 million federal stimulus dollars for the Olive to Ladue Road section of the 141 extension.

Investigator Elliott Davis asked Deluca, "What do you think is the likelihood you'll be able to change the current MoDOT plan?"

Deluca answered, "Almost none, almost none. They've made up their mind that this project They're too afraid that if they try to make a change now they'd loose their stimulus money."

Back in August, Ed Hassinger made this comment about the neighborhood's concerns.

"We talked with the neighborhood. We understand their concerns but we're going to try to work with them as much as we can. But the fact of the matter is we're going to build and interchange there."

Meanwhile, there has been a new move by MoDOT to take the property it needs from the Green Trails subdivision. Deluca and other residents got a letter from MoDOT saying the agency was filing a class action condemnation suit to acquire that portion of the common ground needed for the project. That would clear the way for the agency to push on with its $95 million dollar plan.

"If you don't raise your concerns, nobody is going to ever pay any attention to us. And I think we surprised MoDOT because what they've been used to is people all over this state accept them as the defining authority. And then when they come up with a debacle like this people just weren't paying attention until it was just too late."

Pick your sound wall!

The Missouri Department of Transportation will hold a public meeting to discuss the construction schedule for the Route 141 project and to show the locations of sound walls along the project. In addition, the community will be able to vote on the type and color of the soundwall constructed along the Route 141 project. The public meeting is November 10, 2009, from 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at Parkway Central High School, 369 N. Woods Mill Road, Chesterfield, Mo., 63017.

Blue Heron along Creve Coeur Creek, interesection of Creve Coeur Mill and St. Louis Waterworks Roads

Snowy Egrets at the Terra Vista Lake known as DB-6 on the Page-Olive Connector EA/Location Study

Points of interest for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

1. A project of this magnitude demands that an Environmental Impact Study be done. The current Environmental Assessment that expired in 2002 is insufficient.
   
2. Construction of a four-lane highway down the center line of Creve Coeur Creek could have devastating impacts to the creek’s beneficial uses (protection of aquatic life including human health protection for fish consumption, swimming and livestock and wildlife watering [per Missouri Dept. of Natural Resources, May 26, 2009].
   
3. USACE: “According to the EA, no species of conservation concern, including State and Federal listed threatened and endangered species, were observed during field reconnaissance of the study area. In addition, the report stated that there is no formally designated critical habitat within the study area.”
   
   a. St. Louis County Environmental Assessment (4/16/09): The following Federal and State listed species have been observed during field reconnaissance of the study area:American bittern, Snowy egret, northern harrier, king rail, peregrine falcon, loggerhead shrike, pied-billed grebe, least bittern, little blue heron, black-crowned heron, sora rail, common moorhen, marsh wren, Henslow’s sparrow, Virginia rail, great egret, cooper’s hawk. yellow-headed blackbird, black tern. In addition, the area is potential habitat for the Indiana bat.
   
4. The increase in impermeable surfaces caused by the project will exacerbate flooding already occurring in the area.
   
5. The chosen alternative (Alternative 4) will have the most detrimental effect on the environment with high impacts to the floodplain.
   
6. Alternative 4 is the most expensive of all alternatives.
   
7. Pollutants removed from the elevated roadway via runoff will be channeled into the creek and adjacent wetlands.
   
8. Erosion to bluffs along the western edge of the project area, already a serious problem, will increase due to construction of and vibrations from the roadway.
   
9. St. Louis County’s representatives Sheryl Hodges, John Hicks and Glenn Henninger have stated that the wetland will be moved for two and one half years and then moved back to its original location. That is not stated in this application.
   
10. The new highway will have negative impact on property values along the project area. Current studies show 17-42 percent decrease along St. Louis highway projects for like home style and home price.
    
11. The cultural resources in the area were obviously ignored, thus being disturbed or destroyed by recent development allowed there. There has been no guarantee that the current evaluation will result in protection from further damage.
    
12. Traffic studies conducted by Crawford, Bunte, Brammeier show that traffic to accrue from this construction is foreseen worse than currently indicated in less than twenty years.
    
13. Economic studies show that the development planned for the Howard Bend floodplain is mostly retail. Economic indicators show a downhill trend in retail developments as such effecting local economies due to lack of industry and increase of minimum wage earners making less and relying on government assistance. The destruction of farmland will lessen the local economic impact for every local dollar spent by 40 percent.
    
14. There is no amount of paint or intricate concrete design that will make this bridge appealing in this natural setting. There has been no proven benefit to the fish and wildlife in the area. More concrete and destruction of watershed will only increase the already increasing flooding in the area.

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.

Letter to the editor of the Post-Dispatch, published 9/21/09:

Regarding "Chesterfield accepts 141 work, tries to limit impact" (Sept. 13): Here are some questions that everyone should be asking about the Highway 141 project:

— What health problems will occur from routing a six-lane highway directly over an open source for our drinking water?

— How was the Missouri Department of Transportation able to use an expired environmental assessment that doesn't include any newer development?

— What will happen when construction stirs up toxic chemicals in the soil and creek from Parkway's non-regulated reclamation facility?

— Why isn't the mayor insisting an environmental impact statement be done?

— There are legal appeals and lawsuits pending, so what happens when the deadlines for federal funding can't be met?

— St. Louis County and MoDOT have not acquired all the land needed; how are they able to start construction and how much land are they planning to condemn and take by eminent domain?

— How can they start construction when all permits needed are not secured?

— Do Chesterfield residents know they are paying $15 million for this extension, $10 million for prettier bricks and $5 million for the northern section of the road itself. That is on top of the money they are paying as a resident of the county. How much more are we going to take? The mayor of Chesterfield tells us not to fight because that makes it easier for him, but it doesn't mean we shouldn't fight. The question isn't why we would fight; it's why wouldn't we?

Kim Cuddeback — Maryland Heights
Co-founder, Maryland Heights Residents for Responsible Growth