West Newsmagazine 8-15-18

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By JIM ERICKSON
By JIM ERICKSON
The scheduled second reading and vote
on a controversial rezoning request didn’t
happen after all at the Chesterfield City
Council’s Aug. 6 meeting. However, those
opposing the measure were out again in
force, and the council’s decision to agree
to the proponent’s request and delay the
action until Sept. 17 sparked disagreement.
Dr. Doug Pernikoff, a veterinarian who
wants to relocate his practice from the
nearby Clarkson Wilson Center to a new
site at the Clarkson Road-Clarkson Woods
intersection, asked the council to delay
final action on his request until the September
meeting. He told West Newsmagazine
he wanted the extra time to see if he and
opponents could resolve their differences
The concept wound up having a lot of
moving parts, which often is a recipe for
failure or a less-than-satisfactory result.
Not this time.
“I think everyone involved was convinced
this was an idea that could be made
to work,” said Bob Marshak, who with his
wife, Dianne, was and still is among the
leading proponents of an effort to provide
affordable housing for the homeless and
others in need.
Seattle, Detroit and Madison, Wisconsin,
are among cities that have shown the concept
is a workable way to address a social
issue that has many ramifications.
So, why not St. Louis?
Answering that question ultimately
brought together a diverse group of organizations
and individuals from both St. Louis
City and County. Included in the collaboration
were:
• North Grand Neighborhood Services
[NGNS], a nonprofit that has been working
with the North Grand community in
St. Louis since 2005 to promote development
activities benefiting the physical,
economic and social environment of that
neighborhood.
• Social Justice 4 All [SJ4A], a faithbased
organization formed in 2016 by St.
Louis County residents to foster greater
understanding of the negative impact of
racism and economic injustice. The organization
also has focused on community
efforts and projects to improve the lives
of those adversely affected by racism and
social inequities. Dianne Marshak is the
project coordinator and represents Incarnate
Word Catholic Church in Chesterfield.
• The Rockwood School District, whose
leadership and faculty recognized an
opportunity not only to show how geometry
concepts have real-life applications but
also to build teamwork and problem-solving
skills among their students by building
tiny houses.
• Numerous merchants, contractors and
other volunteers, who provided materials
and expertise either as a donation or at
greatly reduced prices.
It soon became clear that most of the
ingredients needed for the project either
were in hand or, with some determined
effort, could be arranged.
NGNS owned property in the 3600 block
of N. Market and committed the lot for
the first three tiny houses to be built. SJ4A
agreed to lead the fundraising effort and
coordinate the donations of materials and
other assistance.
Rockwood pledged the student manpower
and faculty involvement needed to
build two of the tiny houses, one each at
Eureka and Summit high schools. The third
and agree to changes regarding the proposed
building and site usage.
The .9-acre parcel currently is zoned
R2 residential and C-8 planned commercial.
Pernikoff is seeking a change to PC
planned commercial.
During the public comment period, several
opponents objected to the rezoning.
Three weeks ago, more than two dozen
residents of the adjoining Clarkson Woods
subdivision spoke against the change,
citing loss of property values, traffic and
related safety issues as well as posing
questions about how the land potentially
could be used if it were rezoned.
Dr. Dennis Ganahl, an active opponent,
took Mayor Bob Nation to task at the Aug.
6 meeting for his responses to a request
from Ganahl to clarify a comment Nation
house will be built later this year on the N.
Market site, also with volunteer labor.
On a pro bono basis, a well-known architectural
firm volunteered to complete the
tiny house design and specifications and
handle the permitting process with the city
of St. Louis.
Without knowing how students would
respond, Rockwood developed a twosemester
course on Geometry in Construction
[GIC] that included the same math
concepts as in regular geometry classes but
with the added element of applying what
was being learned to the process of building
a tiny house.
When the course was announced and
promoted before the 2017-18 school year,
faculty members Dave Luecke and Mike
Hanna were pleased when some 30 students,
including nine girls, signed up at Eureka.
Most were sophomores, the rest freshmen.
Luecke, who teaches metalworking and
woodworking, oversaw the construction
had made at the earlier session that there
had been “a lot of misinformation” on the
issue. Ganahl alleged the mayor’s replies
were incomplete and inaccurate and also
amounted to misinformation.
Later, on a 6-2 vote and after a brief
debate, the council approved a motion to
delay final action on the rezoning until
the September meeting. Councilmembers
Michelle Ohley and Tom DeCampi, both of
Ward 4 where the property up for rezoning
is located, objected.
As the meeting neared an end, DeCampi
questioned whether it was proper to delay
the rezoning issue for such a long period.
He said he saw no reason to delay a vote and
proposed a motion to reconsider the earlier
move. That request sparked a much longer
discussion about whether it was right to
August 15, 2018
WEST NEWSMAGAZINE
I NEWS I 11
West County residents, educators successfully start tiny house program
Dave Luecke, part of the teaching team for Eureka High’s Geometry in Construction course,
checks plumbing connections in the tiny house built by students in the course.
[Jim Erickson photo]
part of the course while Hanna, a math
teacher, handled the geometry instruction.
Except when weather or other factors
required changes, the teaching schedule
alternated daily between the math classroom
and work on the tiny house.
By any number of measures, the new
course has been a resounding success.
Luecke noted that, except for one class,
GIC participants’ geometry test scores
were as good or better than Rockwood students
in regular geometry classes.
“The amount of understanding of geometry
concepts has far exceeded my expectations,
but all my students have learned so
much more than just geometry,” said Gayle
Piepho, the GIC math teacher at Summit,
where 24 students took the course. “I have
seen students grow as leaders and communicators
and become more empathetic
toward others.”
Bob Marshak, of Social Justice 4 All, checks
the tiny house built by geometry students at
Eureka High. [Jim Erickson photo] See TINY HOUSE, page 23
Chesterfield Council delays vote related to veterinarian’s rezoning request
bring up the issue after all those interested
had left the meeting following the earlier
postponement vote. Concerns about transparency
or lack thereof and whether or not
the council would be viewed as “pulling a
fast one” flew back and forth.
During the debate, City Attorney Chris
Graville and DeCampi huddled to discuss
the latter’s belief that the council had acted
inappropriately. The ultimate call was that
the council’s decision to delay had been
improper, leaving the question of what could
and should be done about it after the fact.
In a flurry of motions to reconsider, to
suspend the rules and permit the requested
delay and a final vote to do so, the council
wound up with the same result as before: a
6-2 vote to take up the rezoning Sept. 17 –
Ohley and DeCampi again voted “no.”