West Newsmagazine 2-7-18

8 I NEWS I
February 7, 2018
WEST NEWSMAGAZINE
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A water main break created a
winter wonderland on Wetherburn
Road in Ballwin on Feb. 2.
daily, the heavy and awkward gear also
requires at least two staff members for its
set-up and take-down.
“This is not only hard on the equipment
but staff as well,” Bruer said in a memo
recommending the purchase. The city’s
2018 operating budget had earmarked
$17,000 for the acquisition.
With the new system, the volleyball net
will be raised or lowered from the ceiling
by activating a switch, much in the same
manner as the multiple basketball nets in the
gymnasium area are put in place or removed.
CREVE COEUR
news
briefs
BALLWIN
Ice, ice everywhere
Despite an absence of snow, a small
portion of northwest Ballwin took on the
appearance of a winter wonderland early
Friday, Feb. 2, thanks to a water main break
that sent water shooting skyward as temperatures
were well below freezing.
The geyser quickly covered nearby lawns,
a large segment of Wetherburn Road and
nearby trees with ice thick enough to break
off tree limbs. One tree in the front yard
of a residence where the break occurred
resembled a large ice sculpture.
Missouri American Water workers and
members of the Ballwin Public Works
Department arrived on the scene to repair
the main, remove broken tree limbs and
clear as much ice as possible from the
street and stormwater drain grates.
The break occurred on the south side
of Wetherburn Road just east of Clarkson
Road. A portion of Wetherburn Road was
closed due to the ice and the equipment
brought in for the repairs and cleanup by
Missouri American and Ballwin.
Brian Russell, a Missouri American
spokesman, said by late Friday morning
repairs had been completed and service
restored to the “small number” of customers
affected by the break.
Mental evaluation ordered for
alleged Flamion assailant
The man accused of shooting Ballwin
Police Officer Michael Flamion will
undergo a mental evaluation to determine
if he is fit to stand trial.
St. Louis County Circuit Court Judge
Ellen Ribaudo has ordered the examination
of Antonio Taylor, 33, who has been
held in the St. Louis County jail since July
8, 2016, when he was arrested soon after
Flamion was shot.
Taylor, a St. Louis resident with a lengthy
criminal history, will be examined at the
Metropolitan St. Louis Psychiatric Center
on April 25. Ribaudo ordered that the examination
report include opinions as to whether
Taylor has a mental disease or defect, his
ability to understand the proceedings
against him and participate in his defense,
and whether he should be held in a suitable
hospital for treatment pending a court decision
on his mental fitness to proceed.
Due to the Ribaudo order, an earlierordered
April trial date has been set aside
and a counsel status hearing has been
scheduled instead. Taylor’s legal counsel
is from the public defender’s office.
Taylor reportedly has complained that
the public defender’s office is representing
him without his consent and that he has
been mistreated in the county jail.
Flamion was shot from behind by a man
he stopped for speeding on New Ballwin
Road. Based on a description of the
assailant’s car, police arrested Taylor in a
Manchester residential area soon after the
shooting.
Flamion has undergone extensive rehabilitation
but remains paralyzed from the
neck down.
Taylor faces charges of assaulting a
police officer, armed criminal action,
unlawful possession of a firearm and resisting
arrest for a felony.
New net system coming
to The Pointe
The city of Ballwin will install a ceilingmounted,
retractable volleyball net system
at The Pointe fitness and community center.
Approval for the $14,795 purchase from
Bulte Company, Inc., of St. Louis, came at
the Jan. 22 meeting of the Ballwin Board of
Aldermen. Bulte was the lower of two bids
received for the project.
According to Linda Bruer, Ballwin’s
director of parks and recreation, the current
manual volleyball set-up has become
increasingly problematic due to the frequent
need to put it in place and remove.
With the differing and competing uses
for The Pointe’s gymnasium floor area
P&Z considers hotel
rezoning request
Plans to renovate the HBE Corp. building
at 11318 Olive Blvd. into a Hilton Tapestry
hotel are under review by the city of
Creve Coeur’s Planning and Zoning Commission.
The proposal includes a request
to rezone the almost 10-acre site at the
southwest corner of Olive Boulevard and
Mosley Road from CB-Core Business District
to PCD-Planned Commercial Development
District.
If approved, the developers will renovate
the six-story, 180,000-square-foot building
into a 260-room hotel featuring a restaurant,
fitness room and outdoor swimming pool
for hotel guests. The renovations would
involve constructing a six-story addition to
the east elevation for new service elevators
and an approximately 1,929 square-foot
addition in the back of the property for
dining and seating. The developers also
have proposed an open space feature on the
property that will include a fountain, statuary,
landscaping and seating.
The proposal features several updates to
the exterior of the building including covering
portions of the existing brick with
an EIFS material that simulates brick on
the lower floors and a simulated aggregate
finish on the upper floors. The developers
plan to build a new entry canopy at the
main entrance with additional landscaping
throughout the property.
In addition to the design quality of the
site, P&Z is considering the impact on
adjacent residential properties, pedestrian