10 I NEWS I February <strong>21</strong>, 20<strong>24</strong> WEST NEWSMAGAZINE @WESTNEWSMAG WESTNEWSMAGAZINE.COM Environmentalist retires after 33 years of leadership in Chesterfield By CATHY LENNY Darcy Capstick would rather talk about butterflies and bees than she would herself. Perhaps that’s why she has been so successful as the 33-year chair of the Chesterfield Citizens Environmental Advisory Committee (CCEAC). The CCEAC participates in city and regional events to promote resource conservation and environmental awareness. It develops educational materials on topics such as recycling, composting and proper disposal of household hazardous waste. It also sponsors events like the city’s annual Earth Day celebration, national and state arbor days, and America Recycles Day. The CCEAC has helped the city achieve its 26th Tree City, USA designation and has hosted 32 annual Earth Day events. Capstick has been involved in all of them. “All of these things come from a devotion to the quality of nature,” she said. “All of us have something we can give back to the community.” Under her leadership, the CCEAC has received numerous grants in the pursuit of conservation of natural resources. It has established relationships with not-forprofits, schools, Scouts and businesses. The CCEA has helped the city develop 278 National Wildlife Federation (NWF) certified habitat gardens and become one of 158 NWF certified community wildlife habitats in the country. “Reciprocating stewardship with fellow partners is what makes the world go Darcy Capstick with Mayor Bob Nation and council members (from left) Gary Budoor, Merrell Hansen, Mary Monachella and Dan Hurt (Elaine Collins photo) around,” Capstick said. Capstick was a teacher in the Lindbergh School District. She graduated from Lindenwood University and received a master’s degree in linguistics education from Northwestern University. Then, she began attending Saint Louis University to earn a doctorate. She was involved in the financial sector as an auditor for a time, but when she got married, she stopped working on her doctorate and moved to Chesterfield where she has been since 1979. Capstick said she has always been interested in ecology and the interrelationship between animals and nature. While a student in grad school, she had the opportunity through the National Audubon Society to travel to study prairies by native societies. The work was important. “Prairies have given rise to many of our foods, and animals help to perpetuate native floral, which help to sustain us,” she said. But times have changed, and Chapstick is concerned that the diversity of food choices has greatly diminished. “Through our own lives, I’ve noticed a certain amount of degradation of natural systems – air, water, soil, everything that’s alive,” she said. “We need to seriously focus on putting back some of the plants and native flowers.” The CCEAC was founded in 1990, and Capstick has been its chair since the beginning. Now, she is stepping down. Last month, she was given a reception, along with a mayor’s proclamation and gifts from the Butterfly House and the National Wildlife Federation. The reception was attended by CCEAC members, city aldermen and parks, recreation and arts staff members. Capstick is a member emeritus of the parks, recreation and arts advisory committee, “It has been quite a ride,” she said. “There are lots of things we were able to accomplish. Many bars were raised very high in our community.” Capstick said she was humbled and flattered by the reception. “She’s the most passionate person ... selfless, tireless,” said fellow CCEAC member Rob Kilo. “(Her retirement) will be a huge loss to the group from that standpoint. She’s a true leader, not only for the committee, for the community.” Kilo and his family created a sanctuary for butterflies at the Sophia M. Sachs Butterfly House in Faust Park and donated a butterfly sculpture in Central Park in honor of his mother. Like Kilo’s mother, Capstick had an interest in butterflies, a passion that was on full display at her reception. Kilo said he is hopeful that Capstick will still stay involved, even if she’s not leading the committee. CCEAC still has a lot on its plate, he said, including growing the Stellar Green Youth Team, promoting Chesterfield’s biodiverse pollinator conservation gardening paradigm, and encouraging the community to add native/natural flora garden habitat areas to the city’s certified community wildlife habitats. Chesterfield gears up to use power of eminent domain at mall By CATHY LENNY The city of Chesterfield is one step closer to using the power of eminent domain to acquire properties for the Chesterfield Mall redevelopment project. The Staenberg Group (TSG) is planning a major redevelopment of the mall that will include residential units, office space and a hotel. At the City Council meeting on Feb. 5, four bills were introduced that would authorize the city to initiate condemnation proceedings on specific properties and real estate interests. One of these is The Cheesecake Factory Restaurants, Inc. TSG Downtown Chesterfield Redevelopment LLC is the current landlord under the lease. Although the property is already owned by the developer, the lease will be terminated by the city through its powers of eminent domain. The city also needs to acquire a fee simple interest in the “Twist” parcel that used to be referred to as the old theater, said City Administrator Mike Geisel. “That parcel is particularly critical because the concept plan requires those parcels adjacent to the Parkway be connected with the downtown development on the mall site proper and that site is where the roundabout and the connectivity occurs,” Geisel said. “There’s a significant grade difference between the mall property and Chesterfield Parkway <strong>West</strong>.” The next one may be more complicated and involves an agreement with St. Louis <strong>West</strong> Joint Venture, Sears, Roebuck and Co., Construction Developers, Inc., The May Department Stores and Dillard’s Department Stores, Inc. – collectively referred to as a reciprocal easement agreement (REA). An REA occurs when the property is owned by more than one entity and a developer wishes to develop the property as an integrated shopping center. The city has determined that it is necessary to terminate the REA through its powers of eminent domain. Recognizing the intense ongoing negotiations with Dillard’s, Geisel added, “hopefully that will get resolved independently, but we still need to proceed with that eminent domain.” Dillard’s currently has a lawsuit against the city for what it claims is an improper “blighted” designation for the mall area and in its implementation of the use of tax increment financing (TIF). A trial date has been scheduled for April. The TIF area includes approximately <strong>21</strong>6.39 acres of property bounded by Wild Horse Creek Road and South Outer 40 Road to the north, Clarkson Road to the east, Chesterfield Parkway to the south and a riparian corridor to the west. The final piece of legislation involves the redevelopment agreement between the city, the TIF and the developer. “It not only defines what is happening, but how the relationship occurs, how communications occur, what obligations the developer has to initially finance the project, how they would pursue reimbursement, the documentation they have to provide the city and when,” Geisel said. “It describes the relationship and how this process will move forward from here.” The council was expected to take a final vote on the four bills at its meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 20, which occurred after press time.
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