November 26, 2014

OLD TOWN MEETING ANNOUNCEMENT: Meet developer of proposed N. Central at Maryland project on December 10th

WHEN:  Wednesday December 10th, 6:30 PM
WHERE:  St. Joseph Parish Hall
                 106 N. Meramec Avenue

Our neighborhood community has the unique opportunity to meet some members of The Opus Group, the developer who is planning a redevelopment of the properties located at 25 and 111 N. Central.  This is intended to be an introductory short meeting and presentation for those Old Town residents who are interested in hearing first-hand about preliminary plans for the project.  Your feedback is encouraged and will be valuable to the developer as they go forward and seek city approvals.

November 24, 2014

Message Alert to Old Town Clayton Residents

Chief Thorp asked me to relay the following message regarding some questions neighbors had about road closing and police presence. Please feel free to distribute this throughout your own communication channels.

"You may be aware that the building at 7501 Maryland is being used for various activities by the Clayton Police Department. Because of this, you may see an increased police presence nearby.  The Police Department did go door to door in the area to let the neighborhood know they would be using the facility, but we may have missed some of you. In addition to the use of the building, the city does anticipate temporarily making some of the roads in this area local access only, but you will still be able to get in and out of your homes.

As you have probably heard, there are other traffic and parking changes in downtown Clayton.  We will continue to communicate about overall issues through these updates, on claytonmo.gov/news, via Twitter @cityofclayton and on Facebook at City of Clayton, Missouri.  Any updates or changes regarding your neighborhood will be sent just to you.  We are doing everything we can to minimize any inconvenience will still taking every step possible to create a safe environment for our community through the demonstrations that we can reasonably expect, and therefore these steps are prudent.
As always, thank you for being a part of Clayton."

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Regards,
Cheryl Verde
President, Old Town Clayton Neighborhood Association

November 21, 2014

Message to Old Town residents

As we all await the Grand Jury announcement, Pastor Mark Fulmer of The Gathering - United Methodist Church, located at the corner of Bemiston and Maryland, requested that the following  letter be shared with our neighborhood.  Whatever your religious persuasion, Pastor Fulmer's message is a public service invitation to reach out to our Old Town Clayton community.



Contact: Matt Fulmer, Clayton Site Pastor
matt.fulmer@gatheringnow.org
(314)646-7172
 

As Clayton and the St. Louis region anticipate the Grand Jury decision regarding Darren Wilson, we all seem to be holding our breath waiting. We are waiting not only to hear the Grand Jury’s verdict but also to see how our community will respond. The air of waiting is full of division, tension and anger across our community. It’s in these situations especially that Christ teaches us to offer grace and peace to others. At this particular time, that practice is essential.

As people wanting to follow Christ’s example, we at The Gathering United Methodist Church want our church to be a place that responds to the pain we are all experiencing. We are opening our doors to be a place for prayer and respite. We are inviting anyone that would like to have a place for prayer to come join us.


We will offer two prayer services the evening the Grand Jury announcement is made at 6pm. The
services will be held at the Gathering Clayton, 101 N. Bemiston, and at our city location, 2105
McCausland. In addition, our Clayton site will be open in the days following as a place for people to
come for prayer and rest during the tension packed times. The church will be open from noon to 6pm
and we will hold a brief prayer service at the top of each hour.
 

As neighbors and community members, I want to invite you to join us for any of the services. If you
have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me directly.
 

Peace,
Matt Fulmer

November 11, 2014

Letter regarding Maryland School Development



With the intent to help keep our neighborhood informed about the Maryland School Development, I have been asked by Susan Ryan from SC Ryan Consulting, LLC to share the following letter from Bruce Korn with our community. 
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November 2014

Dear  Neighbors:                                                                                                                              

On Monday, October 20th , my colleagues Larry Schiffer, Gyo Obata and I appeared before the Clayton City Plan Commission/Architectural Review Board for the first time to present the current plans for the Maryland School Town Homes. This Conceptual Review meeting was the first in a series of public meetings on the proposed development. We participated in open dialogue with board members, and we answered questions regarding the public demand for newly constructed homes that are efficient, easy to maintain and uniquely designed to specifically accommodate professionals and empty nesters. The development documents reviewed at the public meeting are available on the City of Clayton website for the public to review.

Since last spring, we have met with number residents of the Old Town Neighborhood to seek your feedback and ideas. We appreciate your time, as these meetings have been productive and have resulted in several plan modifications we wanted to share with you.  Recent changes include:

·         We have reduced the number of proposed units from 45 to 36 single-family town homes to add more green space to the neighborhood.
·         We have modified the setbacks for the townhomes. The Westmoreland setback was 20 feet and is now approximately 34 feet to the property line and 47 feet to the curb.  The Jackson setback was 10-12 feet and is now approximately 11 feet to the property line and 21 feet to the curb.  The Maryland setback was 17 feet and is now approximately 23 feet to the property line and 31 feet to the curb. These setbacks have been designed to better blend into the current look and feel of the neighborhood.
·         Access to the development is now limited to Jackson and Maryland Ave. The Westmoreland entrance has been removed. As with the original design, each building will provide secure, underground, out-of-sight parking for two vehicles per unit and no home has an individual driveway. We have created a high-hedge along Westmoreland within a landscape setting.
·         As residents of this community ourselves, we know there is a lot of affection for the Maryland School and the memories created there over the years.  We plan to honor those memories by retaining and integrating special architectural features of the school, such as the school’s entrance frieze and urns into the design of the neighborhood.  More information will be forthcoming as plans are solidified.

Unlike other development proposals, the Maryland School Town Homes does not seek tax breaks from the City of Clayton. The development also has many added benefits to the Clayton Community. The Maryland School Town Home community will:

·         add new neighbors who will bring new energy, support and revenue to Clayton restaurants, shops, services and businesses that will help drive our local economy.
·         result in millions of dollars to the Clayton School District that will add more life into the Districts 2003 tax levy, further delaying the need to return to voters for a tax increase.
·         generate nearly $400,000 in annual tax revenues for the Clayton schools and Clayton city services, which will help the school district and city retain their hard-fought AAA bond ratings.
·         bring $17-$20 million in construction spending into our local economy.
·         provide the needed incentive for improvement of the retail area on Forsyth.

We are currently reviewing the feedback received from the ARB and preparing information for the next step in the development process.  For updated photos of the plans, visit www.marylandschooltownhomes.com.

Again, we appreciate your openness, and if you have any questions please feel free to give me a call. 

Bruce Korn
314-575-5898
Maryland School Town Homes