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Rock Hill to Trade Namesake for Gas Station & Convenience Store

Pretend for a moment the modest stone church at the the NE corner of Manchester & McKnight was built in 1945. It would be old enough to be historic just based on age. In reality, though, the church was built by slaves in 1845. The City of Rock Hill, where the church is located, took it’s name from the church. Serious history!

Rock Hill has foolishly agreed to allow a developer to raze the recently vacated church for a gas station and convenience store. Seriously.

The 1845 limestone church, located at McKnight and Manchester roads, could very well be razed to make way for a gas station and convenience store. Rock Hill Presbyterian Church is one of the earliest churches to be established in the greater St. Louis area. Until August 2010, it was the oldest Presbyterian Church west of the Mississippi to hold worship services on a continuous basis in the same structure, according to a history from the Rock Hill Historic Preservation Commission.

U-Gas, based in Fenton, has reached a purchase agreement with the property owner, Presbytery of Giddings-Lovejoy Inc.

Adjoining the church on the same property is the city-owned Fairfax House. The house was built between 1839 and 1842.

Plans call for the house to be moved to the northern end of the two-acre tract, with the move paid for by U-Gas. Bill Biermann, the attorney representing U-Gas, spoke at the July 5 board of aldermen meeting. (Source)

Incredibly shortsighted! It sounds like the purchase agreement is contingent on being able to build the gas station, so it may be possible to save the last bit of history in the area.

ABOVE: The modest church was rebuilt following a fire in the early 20th century

However, the developer must wait  6 months to see if someone can be found to relocated the stone structure. In the meantime, those seeking gas in the area will have to hope they have enough fuel to drive 825 feet further west, or another 1,200 feet beyond that.

ABOVE: Former gas station across McKnight to the west

The Fairfax house has been moved three times already, the most recent in 1997 from property across Manchester Rd.

The lovely timber frame home known as Fairfax is built to fit the Golden Mean in architecture. The appealing structure of four rooms joined with a central hallway is held together with tenon joinery, its frame resting upon massive oak sills hand hewn on site. Each window and door is delicately held together with a series of carefully placed hand carved wooden pegs. Delicately carved muntins lay across the panes of glass in the double hung window sashes. A brick lined food cupboard reaches floor to ceiling in the dining room and two massive Rumford Chimneys reach from cellar floor through rooftop. The hand turned newel post is still pinned underneath the first floor visible from the basement after being in constant use for some 160 years! (source)

The house would be moved a fourth time.

ABOVE: in the background is the 1950s addition designed by P. John Hoener & Associates and the Fairfax House

To see the architect’s sketch of the addition click here.

ABOVE: Fairfax House

I propose that, if the church is razed, the city change it’s name to one of the following:

  • U Gas Hill
  • Gas Hill
  • Sprawl Hill
  • Un-Rock Hill

Driving through Rock Hill is pretty depressing, these two structures are the only thing pleasant along this stretch of Manchester Rd. Take them away and there will be no relief from the sprawl.

– Steve Patterson

 

Poll: Thoughts on the Regulation of Food Trucks & Carts?

ABOVE: Customers lined up to buy pizza from Pi on Locust St recently

Saw this bit of information last week about a new regulation regarding food trucks in the St. Louis suburb of Maryland Heights:

The code requires rolling merchants to operate within health regulations and have a trash receptacle available. They may operate only on occupied properties, with the owner’s permission, and only while the primary establishment is operating or for 12 hours, whichever is less. Also, they may not establish a stand within 25 feet of a public road. (STLtoday.com)

Unlike urban places, I don’t think Maryland Heights has any on-street parking, except maybe in residential neighborhoods. Still, food trucks are booming in St. Louis:

The food truck trend has hit St. Louis with a bang, with more trucks than ever now trolling the streets to serve up everything from pizza to tacos to cupcakes to hungry St. Louisans willing to track down their mobile meals on Facebook and Twitter. (Sauce Magazine)

Cities, including the City of St. Louis, are grappling with how to regulate food trucks and other food vendors. Health regulations seem a no-brainer but the issue of where they are or are not allowed to vend is the big issue.

ABOVE: Mangia Mobile at the recent GroupHugSTL event

Officials may long for the day when the most mobile food vendors just had a stainless steel hot dog cart.

There are 190 food-service establishments in downtown St. Louis, and some restaurateurs fear being pushed out of business. “Inherently, it starts out being unlevel, because of the cost to operate a food service in a truck versus an established lease,” said Maggie Campbell, president and CEO of Partnership for Downtown St. Louis. While food trucks reflect the vitality of the neighborhood, Campbell wants to make sure their presence doesn’t end up hurting brick-and-mortar restaurants. “The most ideal outcome would be for food trucks to enjoy being downtown and have a strong enough customer base to invest in a storefront,” she said.

So there you go, regulation isn’t about public safety, it’s about protecting other businesses. Pi has two locations in the City of St. Louis and will open a downtown location at 6th & Washington in the Mercantile Exchange bldg (formerly known St. Louis Centre).

ABOVE: Sarah's Cake Stop vending at a recent event downtown

I personally love street food from carts and trucks.  I’ve purchased food from all four trucks pictured in this post, but I understand the need to have some regulations in place so it’s not a free for all (like valet parking).

ABOVE: The Fire and Ice Cream Truck is often on 9th Street in Citygarden

I recently started a Street Food STL list on Twitter to help track the growing number of trucks and other mobile food vendors.  The newest truck on Twitter is literally the oldest:

The Fire and Ice Cream Truck beat the food truck trend by a few years, quietly selling locally made ice cream from a rehabbed vintage fire truck along the riverfront. But now the truck has joined the fray, moving to a semi-permanent location on Tenth [Ninth!] Street between Market and Chestnut, in the middle of Citygarden (Ninth and Market streets; 314-802-9571 or citygardenstl.org). And it couldn’t be more perfect. (Riverfront Times)

The poll this week seeks to find out reader’s thoughts on efforts to regulate mobile food vendors. The poll is in the upper right corner of the blog, results will be published Wednesday June 29th.

– Steve Patterson

 

 

Pedestrian Access Route Completed at Schlafly Bottleworks

Last October I posted about the lack of a pedestrian route to reach the Schlafly Bottleworks in Maplewood.  Pedestrians were forced to walk in spaces designed for cars, not people.  Pedestrians deserve their own route separate from crossing through automobile parking lots.  Furthermore, American’s with Disabilities Act guidelines requires such:

4.3.2 Location.

(1) At least one accessible route within the boundary of the site shall be provided from public transportation stops, accessible parking, and accessible passenger loading zones, and public streets or sidewalks to the accessible building entrance they serve. The accessible route shall, to the maximum extent feasible, coincide with the route for the general public.

Failure to provide this route is a civil rights violation, as well as being very anti-pedestrian.

I’m happy to report Schlafly has just completed constructing an access route!

ABOVE: new paving leads the pedestrian from sidewalk toward the building entrance.

Schalfly knows good  food & beer, not pedestrian access.  Responsibility to plan for pedestrian access falls to the architects & engineers hired by business owners. Unfortunately too many of these professionals fail their clients and the public by not considering how the pedestrian on the sidewalk will reach the front door.

ABOVE: Bottleworks in October 2010

I’m convinced that if design professionals actually informed their clients of the need to provide a route for pedestrians we’d see buildings get placed closer to the public sidewalk to reduce the expense of the concrete.  My preference, of course, would be for the buildings to abut the sidewalk — with no parking in between. Building codes must get caught up so this becomes something plan reviewers and building inspectors will check for.

In the meantime I’ve got thousands of business & property owners to persuade to do as Schlafly has done. I’ll probably start with Schlafly’s original location, The Tap Room, located in west downtown.

– Steve Patterson

 

Readers Split on New Urbanist Village at Nearly Dead Jamestown Mall

ABOVE: Two of four anchors remain open at Jamestown Mall; Macy's & JC Penny

As I expected, there was no consensus among readers on the poll last week:

Q: Thoughts on the Plan to Raze Jamestown Mall and build a New Urbanist Village?

  1. The sooner we rebuild auto-centric suburbs into walkable communities the better 23 [21.7%]
  2. Nice concept but will probably require too much public subsidy 18 [16.98%]
  3. Huge waste of time, money and energy to try to make the suburbs walkable 16 [15.09%]
  4. The mall is privately owned, St. Louis County shouldn’t be involved at all 14 [13.21%]
  5. New Urbanism is artificial urbanism 13 [12.26%]
  6. Other answer… 11 [10.38%]
  7. Government must change the zoning to do anything different with the site. 6 [5.66%]
  8. unsure/no opinion 4 [3.77%]
  9. Jamestown Mall should not be razed 1 [0.94%]

For a while the huge waste of time answer was in the top spot, glad to see it drop to #3.  The reason St. Louis County is involved is the property is located in unincorporated St. Louis County.  The county is taking a proactive step in figuring out what is best for the area so that zoning and other land-use laws can be modified to ensure what happens at the site is what the community wants.

  1. the development area is in a far corner of NoCo, right idea, wrong place
  2. Seems too far removed from major pop. to be worth the money.
  3. The plans formulated today will someday fail just as those of our forefathers.
  4. They should build an Ikea there instead
  5. Return it to greenspace
  6. Wrong location, location, location.
  7. If we don’t redevelope, we’ll soon be a community of empty shopping ce
  8. Turn it into something different.
  9. Downzone to agriculture/mix. Anything but this dumb idea!
  10. Location, location, location!
  11. Work with the active business owners to create a revitalization plan

To me the site is the ideal location for such a retrofit. I visited the mall before my original post, arriving on a MetroBus from the Hanley MetroLink station.  I was impressed how busy the bus was all along Lindbergh. I’ve visited the area again during the poll, this time I drove up 367 from North St. Louis and then south on Lindbergh (67) when I left. Google Maps is a great resource but it is no substitute for seeing a place first hand.

ABOVE: The area north of Lindbergh Rd is still pretty rural

To many living in a new home where they can walk to shops and be surrounded by a green ring is idea, very English.

ABOVE: New home under construction less than 3/4 of a mile west of Jamestown Mall

And new homes are being constructed very close to the mall, mostly along Lindbergh Blvd.  The above example is on Misty Crossing Ct, in the Misty Hollow subdivision.

Pure economics dictate the mall site will never be agriculture or green space ever again, the four concepts for the site included one that was pretty green.

ABOVE: The "Garden Suburb" is one of four concepts for the site. Click image for PDF report

The “Garden Suburb Plan” is the most green of the four, although most leave the SW tip undeveloped. Note the existing houses immediately to the south and west of the site (aerial view). Two dead end streets for the existing Fox Manor subdivision would be connected to the redeveloped site in this plan and two others. Currently the adjacent Fox Manor subdivision has only one way in or out – directly onto Lindbergh Blvd. These existing homes would now be connected to other homes and businesses.

The comments on the post were interesting but often way off base like these poll answers.

– Steve Patterson

 

 

Sprawl in South County 20 Years Ago

In 1991 I took these three pictures somewhere in south St. Louis County. The three pics were taken from the same spot rotating from left to right.

At the time it was a new subdivision.  Note that some homes have front-facing garages while others have rear-entry garages and paved backyards.

I just wish I could remember the location so I could return. Maybe it is best I don’t know, I’m sure they lovely rolling hills in the background has now been destroyed by two decades of “progress”.  I’m also pretty sure all those new streets still lack shade trees.

– Steve Patterson

 

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