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Alderwoman Florida To Discuss Proposed McDonald’s

I recently commented on the land swap that would mean the construction of a new McDonald’s fast-food franchise on the site of the former Sears store on Grand at Winnebego. An upcoming conditional use hearing is reportedly to be held on the 16th but I have not been able to confirm the date, time and place.

However, I have received word that Ald. Florida will be fielding questions from the folks in Dutchtown:

As per the request of the DSCC Board of Directors, Alderwoman Jennifer Florida will meet with the DSCC Board of Directors and Commercial District Committee to discuss the McDonald’s on Monday, February 13, 2006 @ 4:30 PM @ Dutchtown South Community Corporation.

Sunshine Laws require this meeting be open to the public so be sure to attend if you have an interest in this project. The Dutchtown office is located at 4204 Virginia (@ Meramec), 63111 (map)

In short I feel the McDonald’s should not be allowed to build on the site. The fast food structure surrounded by parking and a drive-thru lane is an incompatible use in an urban environment. This section of Grand is becoming increasingly urban and has the potential to extend the feel of the area to the north. Allowing this former Sears site to become a low-use sprawl project is a careless use of resources that will make it increasingly difficult to finish the residential development directly behind the site.

But we are not alone in dealing with dreaded drive-thrus.

McSpotlight.org is a world-wide resource for fighting McDonald’s restaurants. Another great resource is No McDrive-Through!, a Toronto group that successfully prevented a McDonald’s drive-thru from being constructed in their pedestrian neighborhood.

– Steve

 

Currently there are "2 comments" on this Article:

  1. Joe Frank says:

    I still think this project is an ok, albeit not great, trade-off. We get a new senior apartment building potentially with street-level retail on a key corner location at Grand and Chippewa. The McD’s drive-thru relocates to a much less visible location, Grand and Winnebago.

    Customer access to McD’s is improved because it’s not at such a busy corner; and we have street-level entry commercial at three of the four corners of Grand and Chippewa: Nettie’s, Pulaski Bank, and the new building.

    Hopefully customer service and cleanliness will be better at this new McD’s too!

    Anyway, while I would prefer to see a street-fronting retail building on that site, that hasn’t happened in the years since the Sears was demolished. This is not a great deal, but it’s better than, say, the ‘new’ Gravois Plaza.

    [REPLY – Look again at the google map and the drive in & out of the Aldi’s. That area is already a traffic mess and it will only get much worse when we have a McDonald’s there. We simply shouldn’t be building large drive-thru restaurants in such a potentially urban area. This will further erode the potential of these blocks.

    The site has been sitting vacant not because nobody is interested but because Pyramid all but walked away from the Keystone development. – SLP]

     
  2. Nate says:

    I think they should flood the site and bring back the McRiverboat.

    [REPLY – LOL!!! Or they could beach it like the Noah’s Ark place in St. Charles! Good one! – SLP]

     

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