Politics & Government

Kirkwood City Council Votes in Favor of New Requirements for Liquor, Tobacco, Carwash Businesses

The council voted in favor of the new requirements in a first reading of the amendment to the code. A second and final vote will be held at a Jan. 17 council meeting.

The Kirkwood City Council held a public hearing at their Jan 3. meeting to discuss adding an amendment to the city's zoning code that would require owners of liquor, tobacco or car wash businesses to secure a special use permit before developing. If passed, business owners would need to go before the Kirkwood Planning and Zoning Commission and Kirkwood City Council to obtain this permit.

The amendment comes after the city council recently updated their zoning code, which, according to council members at the meeting Thursday night, needed some “tweaking.”

“We went through major changes in amending the zoning code, then we came back and tweaked it,” said council member Iggy Yuan. “I think this is for the betterment of Kirkwood and there will be further tweaking as we go. It’s not a perfect document.”

Jim Berthold, a former council member and longtime Kirkwood resident, spoke in opposition to the amendment during the public hearing.

“The changes you are proposing tonight are causing me some difficulties,” said Berthold who, with his sister, own a lot at 915 North Kirkwood Rd., where a U-Gas gas station was recently denied a special use exception permit by the city’s planning and zoning commission to develop there.

Another store, Dirt Cheap, also filed for a commercial occupancy permit on that land, but their permit was revoked as the U-Gas station appeals planning and zoning’s earlier decision.

Berthold said the proposed amendment only came about because residents complained about U-Gas, not because the zoning code needed to be revised.

“This council had a taskforce that did a very thorough, I hope, in-depth study of zoning codes...” Berthold told the council. “...the ink was hardly dry, and you started making changes to it.”

Berthold said the amendment would hurt businesses because it adds time, expense and difficulty in operating them.

“I really would strongly urge you to step back from this, reconsider it and table it, frankly, permanently,” Berthold said.

No other residents spoke on the matter at the public hearing, and the council unanimously gave it a favorable vote on a first reading, with another vote pending at the next council meeting before implementing the amendment to the code.

After the meeting, Mayor McDonnell said he believed the amendment would be ultimately beneficial for the city.  

“The city council wants to provide some degree of oversight to what happens in the community for the protection of the citizens,” McDonnell said.

RELATED STORIES:

  • Dirt Cheap Not Coming to Kirkwood Until Council Votes on U-Gas
  • U-Gas to Appeal to Kirkwood City Council After Opposition From Planning Commission
  • U-Gas Voted Down by Kirkwood Planning Commission
  • Flier Tries to Rally Residents Against Proposed U-Gas
  • U-Gas Looks to Build Station in Kirkwood
  • Kirkwood U-Gas Meeting Expected to Draw Residents Opposed to Development

 


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