Mid Rivers Newsmagazine 5-5-21

8 I NEWS I
May 5, 2021
MID RIVERS NEWSMAGAZINE
@MIDRIVERSNEWS
MIDRIVERSNEWSMAGAZINE.COM
Former Cottleville mayor Jim Hennessey (center) has been honored with a city trail in his name.
news
briefs
COTTLEVILLE
Trail named in honor
of former mayor
The multi-use trail along the north side
of Hwy. N, west of Weiss Road has been
named the Jim Hennessey Trail in honor of
Cottleville’s former mayor, who was first
elected to that position in 2013.
Hennessey, who did not seek reelection
in 2021, served the city as mayor for eight
years and served as an alderman for six
years prior to that.
In the proclamation establishing the
name of the trail it is noted that Hennessey’s
length of service to the city of
Cottleville includes the completion of
the City Municipal Building; McAuley’s
Playground, which is the city’s first allinclusive
playground; completion of the
Hwy. N reconstruction; the establishment
of Great Rivers Greenway trails throughout
the city and many other road and park
improvements.
O’FALLON
Apartment rezoning tabled again
Concerns from nearby residents have
made a 99-unit apartment development
proposed for a location near the intersection
of Hwy. K and Route 364 controversial
and resulted in a pause from its developer.
The development, located adjacent to
the existing Pheasant Pointe single-family
home subdivision, would include two
27-unit buildings, three 15-unit buildings,
a clubhouse and a pool.
The development would be named
“Highway K Apartments.”
At its April 22 meeting, the O’Fallon City
Council was scheduled to vote on legislation
(Bill No. 7302), sponsored by Ward 2
council members Tom “Duke” Herweck
and Lisa Thompson to authorize the rezoning
of the proposed 7.07-acre apartment
site. However, at the request of the developer,
ILI Communities, the public hearing,
second reading and vote were tabled until
the May 13 council meeting.
Pheasant Pointe residents have opposed
this development via statements made in
numerous emails, citizen comments and
statements during public hearings. Objections
include belief that the narrow land
parcel is insufficient for such a large apartment
complex, the intersection at Hwy.
K would be too busy and dangerous, and
property values in Pheasant Pointe would
decline.
ILI Communities previously developed
the Altair brand, including Altair at the
Preserve on Phoenix Parkway in Winghaven,
and Altair at the Heights in Richmond
Heights.
City recognized as ‘most livable’
According to a 2020 Gallup survey,
almost one in two Americans (48%, to be
exact) prefer to live in a town or rural area –
up from 39% in 2018. And while 27% still
say that they want to live in a city, almost
two-thirds of that group (16%) prefer a
small city to a big one.
Armed with this information, financial
technology company SmartAsset compared
almost 300 cities with populations
between 65,000 and 100,000 to identify
and rank the nation’s most livable small
cities for 2021 – and the winner is …
O’Fallon, Missouri.
To develop its list, the company analyzed
data from 291 cities across the following
metrics: concentration of entertainment
establishments, restaurants, bars and
healthcare establishments, Gini coefficient
(a measure of income inequality), home
affordability, housing costs as a percentage
of median income, percentage of residents
below the poverty line, unemployment
rate percentage of residents without health
insurance and average commute time.
The Midwest ranked high among those
surveyed with eight of the top 10 cities
being located in midwestern states. In
fact, coming in at No. 7 was the city of St.
Charles.
According to Smart Asset, here’s how
O’Fallon faired in specific survey categories:
The city ranked 11th for low income
inequality, with a Gini coefficient of 0.36.
It ranked 30th for its relatively low proportion
of residents living below the poverty
line, at 4.0%. Median housing costs equal
just 16.93% of median household income
in O’Fallon, ranking 19th for that metric in
the study overall.
Smart Asset assessed St. Charles as
having median housing costs amounting
to 16.33% of median household income,
ranking 15th in the study. Additionally, St.
Charles has the 39th-highest concentration
of healthcare establishments at the county
level (13.44%) and the 55th-lowest, as
of December 2020, unemployment rate
(4.7%) – both top quintile rankings.
Shred-It Day scheduled
in mid-May
O’Fallon’s Environmental Services
Department is offering a Shred-It Day
from 8 a.m.-noon on Saturday, May 15 at
the Environmental Services building, 1550
Progress West Lane.
Documents should be placed in cardboard
bankers’ boxes, or cardboard boxes
of a similar size, and dropped off at the
drive-through event. Boxes should not be
too heavy to lift or filled to overflowing.
The service is free for residents for up to
five bankers-sized boxes. Additional boxes
will be accepted for a cost of $5 per box
for any over the limit. Additionally, nonresidents
can drop off their paper for shredding
for a cost of $5 per box.
Residents must bring photo identification
showing O’Fallon residency and all
trash customers must have their account
in good standing in order to receive the
free services. All of the material will be
shredded including the boxes if they are
not wanted back. The event is indoors, so
it will be rain or shine.
If you can tear it, then you can shred it
with this complimentary service. It is OK
for documents to have staples or paper
clips. Computer discs and hanging file rods
are not permitted.
For questions, contact Environmental
Services at ofallonrecycles@ofallon.
mo.us or (636) 272-0477.
LAKE SAINT LOUIS
Contract awarded for
roundabout project
The Missouri Highways and Transportation
Commission awarded Gershenson
Construction Company a $3 million contract
to construct the Lake Saint Louis
Boulevard/I-70 roundabout project.
The commission awarded the contract
at their monthly meeting on Wednesday,
April 7. Gershenson Construction
Company submitted the lowest bid in the
amount of $2,956,107.23.
Gershenson Construction Company
will replace traffic signals at Veterans
Memorial Drive and the eastbound I-70
ramps and their intersections with Lake
St. Louis Boulevard with a single roundabout.
Construction is anticipated to start
May 2021.
MoDOT partnered with the city of Lake
Saint Louis for this cost-share project. The
entire project is expected to be completed
by summer 2022. Additional information
regarding timelines and impacts to traffic
will be released prior to the start of construction.
Motorists are encouraged to sign up for
project updates by visiting MoDOT’s webpage:
modot.org/lake-saint-louis-boulevardroundabout.
The latest construction
impacts can also be found on the Lake
Saint Louis webpage at lakesaintlouis.com.
ST. PETERS
City turns waste into ‘gold’
The St. Peters’ Earth Centre combines
biosolids from wastewater with the yard