ALDERMAN NEWSLETTER 35
September 26, 2009
From: John Hoffmann
DEER MEAT…DEAD MEAT: I am not sure what the purpose of Mayor Dalton’s Deer Herd Management Program Implementation Task Force actually is after attending the first meeting.
The meeting on Thursday 9/24/09 at the Longview farmhouse apparently didn’t involve the Task Force actually doing anything. They reviewed the deer management ordinance led by Alderman Fred Meyland-Smith, who likely doubled the time needed for the review.
Police Officer Chris Hunt is the press liaison for the Task Force and the city during the deer control field work. Every landowner and resident will be given 24 hours notice before deer sterilization or hunting takes place on their property or adjacent to their property. Member Susan Feigenbaum PhD, a deer hunting foe, asked why the location of the hunting would not be posted on the city’s website and made public in advance.
That’s similar to the police posting on the website when they were going to stake out a suspect’s house or do enforcement stings. No homeowner wants angry people picketing or protesting in front of their house. There is an obligation to make available and post all reports of the deer management program, but certainly not when they were going to work in advance. Since they will be setting up feed stations…the where part will not be much of a secret, but it still does not need to advertised in advance.
WHOSE THE BOSS?: The meeting started late because Fred Meyland-Smith waited to see if his boss, Mayor Dalton would be there to say a few words. I do not know what kind of deal mayor Dalton and Fred made during the campaign this spring…but I have news for Fred…the mayor is not his boss, is not Lynn Wright’s boss nor my boss. The mayor is the head of the executive branch of city government and Fred, Lynn and I are in the legislative branch.
GOOD WORK: ON his late arrival the mayor did praise the Task Force for their hard work. For the life of me I missed the work part. Everything had already been decided and was in a lengthy contract with the contractor. This was pretty much an information only meeting.
CITY BUSINESS OR PERSONAL BUSINESS: The mayor did show up a little after 8pm. Fred immediately stopped the meeting and asked Jon Dalton if he had any words. He said he was sorry he was late but he was at other meetings on city business. Well I know one meeting was the St. Louis County Municipal League meeting in Florissant. Mayor Dalton is a registered lobbyist and contractor to the St. Louis County Municipal League…so I have a hard time figuring out if he is on his lobbying firm’s business or the city’s business when he attends these meetings.
THE TIMELINE: Here are the dates when the T&C OBGYN and hunting will be done:
October: Feed bait equipment will be transported to T&C.
First three weeks of November: Feed bait stations will be set up in areas where deer sterilization and killing will occur.
Fourth week of November: At some sterilization bait stations capture nets will be installed.
December: Over the first three weeks in December the contractor, White Buffalo, will complete the deer sterilization and deer kill. White Buffalo is working on an hourly rate schedule. They hope to kill 100 deer and tie tubes or remove ovaries of 75-100 deer.
PROBLEM: Some deer population estimates from a few years ago for T&C had as many as 800 deer. With the population increasing by 25% a year with does averaging twin births every year…that should put the deer population as high as 1,000. Will you even notice a reduction of 10-percent?
STATE REQUIRES A SECOND VET: The Missouri Veterinary Board held a hearing on the issue of a veterinarian from Wisconsin cutting open deer in Missouri. The Department of Conservation backed White Buffalo’s vet Steve Timm to do the sterilization. The Veterinary Board thought otherwise. They have required that a licensed Missouri veterinarian be present at all times when Dr. Timm is working in the field. So added to the cost for the deer control operation is the hiring of a vet from the St. Louis Zoo, who has taken vacation time for this operation.
I asked at the meeting about the expense of a second vet and how much was it going to cost. Fred told me that it was going to come out of the $150,000 appropriated for the deer control project. The Task Force members had this “deer in the headlights” look because I don’t think they were up to speed on the licensed vet issue.
It seemed to me as if Fred was spinning my question. Of course it was coming out of the $150,000 appropriation…but what does it replace in the deer budget to pay a Zoo vet for 3-weeks?
GUESTS? Fred drives me crazy when he continues to refer to people attending the meeting as guests. It is a public meeting in a public building. The people attending own the building and they are not guests.
ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW BOARD 9/13/09:
TREES… WE DON’T NEED NO STINKIN TREES…OH WAIT WE ARE A TREE CITY: There was an interesting request at 15 Summerhill, to remove 17 trees to construct a new home.
Frankly, at the time I had not looked at the lot. But apparently no one else had either. This amazed me. The 17 trees perhaps were small trees. The land owner said they needed to be removed for engineering reasons. However the new house will be built on the existing footprint of the tear down house.
My issue wasn’t that the trees should come down. My problem was that no one on the ARB went and looked at the trees nor did they send a city staffer to look at them.
I spoke and mentioned we accepted the designation of “Tree City USA”. If we have pro-tree requirements on the books and then do nothing to enforce them aren’t we accepting this designation under false pretenses? If we decide to allow trees to be cut down without at least looking at them first, we should stop claiming we are a “Tree City.”
I did walk the lot, that sits on top of a large hill and have to agree with the new owners…the trees in the side yard need to be thinned out as they have overgrown the driveway. But at least I looked.
I DON’T LIKE YOUR LOOKS: The ARB did not like the looks of masonry they wanted to use. It is the same stuff they have on their ranch house on N. Mason Road in Creve Coeur. One member said it looked like a material used for retaining walls.
SOMETIMES SIZE MATTERS: The ARB Chair Phil Behnen then mentioned that there was some concern from a couple of residents about the size of the house to be built. The concern was that it was going to be TOO SMALL! Go figure…most subdivisions are upset about 12,000 sq ft monsters blocking out the sun.
The owners will have their 98-year-old father and 88-year-old mother living with them. They wanted a ranch house that will be easy to get around, adding they did not need a lot of room. It is nice change to see someone building a new house that isn’t a McMansion or just a plain old Mansion.
The ARB decided to continue their decision until they can look at the masonry on the couple’s current house on N. Mason which they want to copy and to look at the trees.
This is one of my problems with ARBs in general. If building material meets code, I think a property owner should have the right to build something they will have a hard time selling 10 years later. The old “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder” should be allowed to some degree.
WELCOME TO WARD 2: Dennis Marschuetz, owner of the road construction and home building companies had three lots in the Thornhill Estates subdivision. On two lots the Marchuetz Company built spec houses which they sold. The Marchuetz family is planning to move from Ward 1 to a new house on the remaining lot the ARB was told. .
The first two houses had storm water issues. The one closest to Topping Road has water runoff issues toward houses on Fiddlecreek Lane and the new homeowner’s east side yard is often a swamp for a week after a rain.
The other house is on the corner of Thornhill and Karlin Drive. A homeowner behind this house on Karlin has experienced new storm water problems after this house was built. You double or triple the roof area and double the driveway size…that water has to go someplace. Currently new construction requirements are in place dealing with storm water issues…however these houses were under construction three years ago were not affected by the new rules.
The lot in between the two Marchuetz houses was going to see another spec house, but then the market went south and a “Lot of Sale” went up. The original ranch had already been torn down.
MEET YOUR NEIGHBORS: At the ARB meeting five people from Fiddle Creek Lane where waiting to speak. They all complained about past water runoff from the Marschuetz home near Topping Road. They also complained about runoff that began at this lot after the original house was torn down.
Then the alderman (me) who also lives in the subdivision spoke. I complained that the Marcshuetz job on Thornhill and Karlin had no rock parking surface causing construction workers to park on the street and made it difficult and dangerous for motorist getting through the intersection. I then pointed out the new site is on a hill and workers’ cars and trucks parked in the street would force eastbound motorists to drive on the wrong side of the street up to a blind hillcrest.
The ARB listened and approved the plans but added requirements of no parking on the street, installation of gravel parking surfaces and erosion control to be monitored at the rear of the property abutting homes on Fiddle Creek. The architect commented he would pass on the requests to Mr. Marschuetz, apparently unaware the requirements will be part of the building permit…regardless what the homeowner/builder thinks.
Interestingly after the plans were approved the “Lot for Sale” sign remains up.
BOARD OF ALDERMEN MEETING September 14, 2009
DON’T TELL ME WE DON’T HAVE TOO MANY DEER: So far this year the city has spent $2,716 to remove dead deer from people’s property and we have run out of dead deer money. A bill for $1,500 to maintain the service to the end of the year was first read. It costs between $180 and $210 to remove a dead deer from someone’s yard.
The deer have died from natural causes or injuries, including getting caught on pool fences, being hit by a car and surviving for a couple of days before dying. Going over budget in this area reinforces the fact, the deer population has gotten too large.
ANOTHER $10,000 FOR THE T&C SYMPHONY: Sooner than later this grant needs to be drastically reduced. Our revenue shortfall for next year should be the driving force to do just that. Last year we put another 10 grand in the budget for the local symphony. On September 14, that money was released to the symphony. These $10,000 grants are examples of the city raising too much tax money.
Would you rather pay a little less at the 141 and Clayton Road Schnucks and the Target store or keep giving $10,000 a year to the symphony? How many other municipalities are giving $10,000 a year to amateur musicians? (But, John, the symphony puts on such a nice Christmas show… Give me $3,000 and I can put on a Christmas show with a nine or 18 piece big band and two or three of the area’s top singers and put $7,000 back in the treasury.)
I guess what gets me is that unchecked storm water is damaging a number of local homes but we don’t have the money for any storm water projects until 2012 or 2013, but we can give $10,000 a year to the symphony.
CITY MAY PAY SUBDIVISION FOR NEW TREES: Earlier this year under the chairmanship of then alderman Bill Kuehling, the Conservation Commission voted to stop recommending beautification grants for anything other subdivision entrances. This was after they voted a beautification grant to the Chatsworth subdivision off of Clayton Road to make improvements at a cul-de-sac located one-quarter of a mile from Clayton Road. They took a tough stand and voted…”No more.”
WELL MAYBE JUST ONE MORE: I was told by a Conservation Commission member there are three different subdivisions HOA (homeowner’s association) off of Takara Road south of Clayton Road. Like the three subdivision in Mason Valley, only one HOA is actually at the entrance off the main road.
In this case one of the interior subdivisions in Takara wanted to plant trees across some common ground no where near Clayton Road. They applied for a beautification grant apparently because the city was not offering any Forestry Grants.
MINORITY RULES: At the July meeting of the Conservation Commission only four commission members plus Alderman Steve Fons were present. They voted 3-1-1 to recommend the grant. The four members plus Steve Fons equaled a minority quorum. Although their minutes on the city website incorrectly claimed there was no quorum, they did take a vote.
A vote for this beautification grant was Mariette (money is never a consideration) Palmer, Adrienne Biesterfelddt, Sandra Murdock – Yes; Don Barr - NO and Steve Fons – Abstain.
Okay so from a commission that has 11 seats, the recommendation received 3 votes. This proposal wasn’t good enough to get the vote of all the members present. The chairman didn’t think it was good enough to vote for and abstained. 3-votes should not rule.
At the Board of Aldermen meeting Fons stated he was for the grant. “I fully support it,” was the statement with gusto from Fons at the BOA work session. If he was for the grant why didn’t he vote for it at the commission level?
Don Barr is by far the member of the Conservation Commission with the most common sense and at some meetings the person with the only common sense. He voted against this.