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Politics & Government

Council Live Blog: Residents Protest Tree Bill; No Booze for Sullins

Up-to-the-minute coverage of Tuesday night's meeting of the Webster Groves City Council.

Blow-by-blow of Tuesday night's Webster Groves City Council Meeting.

7:30pm: Welcome. Meeting called to order.

7:35pm: Several community members speak on behalf of Remy Javed, owner and operator of Cafe Nura coffee and hookah lounge. Javed was applying for a conditional use permit to allow outdoor seating at her establishment.

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7:48pm: Council conducts first and second reading of conditional use permit for Cafe Nura. Final vote scheduled for the next regular meeting to approve additional seating.

8:12pm: Residents James and Anita Allen address council regarding Bill #8717, which would permit alcohol and liquor sales at at 3157 S. Brentwood Blvd. "I do not think it is appropriate to allow alcohol sales at this establishment," Allen said. "We have plenty of places in walking distance and we don't need the young kids in the community becoming even more disenfranchised."

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8:17pm: "We said when we passed the ordinance permitting conditional use of alcohol sales at certain gas stations that we'd look at each application and weigh the pros and cons," Mayor Gerry Welch said. "I have to give an ear to members of that part of the community, who seem to be against this ordinance." 

8:20pm: The ordinance to allow alcohol sales at Sullins is defeated, 4-3.

8:25pm: Representatives from Planning and Development present Bill #8719 for a first and second reading. The bill is a 46-page ordinance regarding the preservation of trees and landscape within the community. It would require commercial developments to create a "tree plan" for preservation, stop clear cutting for commercial purposes, and impose certain regulations on tree preservation for private property.

8:35pm: Earl Sepe and his father Tom, both of Webster Groves, spoke to the council urging them not to continue with this ordinance until several provisions could be addressed. "The way it looks now, if I add a 20-by-20 foot garage on my property, I might suddenly fall under new requirements to draw up a tree preservation plan and hire a professional landscaper," Earl said.

Both Earl and Tom Sepe urged the board to separate commercial and residential requirements for the new tree preservation into separate ordinances.

"Frankly, I don't think the people of the community have had a real say in this process," Tom said.

Welch told the Sepes that the ordinance had been on a publicly available agenda for discussion at least four times and that the council was not attempting to hide anything in the provision.

8:45pm: A contractor in attendance left during discussion of the tree plan when he continued to argue with members of the board after his time to address the board was finished.

8:50pm: Because of the intense deliberations from citizens, Welch and the board decide to table the second reading of Bill #8719, so the city council can reconsider certain provisions, specifically those regarding private property single-family residences.

8:53pm: Meeting adjourned.

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