Actions Requested
- Write East West Gateway about wasting stimulus funds. (see below)
- Write everybody and say this: We want a comprehensive Environmental Impact Study (an EIS) instead of the Environmental Assessment (EA) done for the project, because the EA is just inadequate. And, treat the Olive/Page Connector and the 141 Project from Ladue to Olive as ONE environment. It is, in effect, one road, one segment. Note: all the subdivisions’ trustees should write this letter to MoDot, and as many residents as possible.
- Read all the updates on nohighwayhere.com. Keep informed! It’s your home, money, taxes, and air! Who is more concerned and closer than you?
Reviewing May 2009 by the Road Warriors
The May 14th meeting brought out 600 residents affected by plans for the Olive Page Connector road plans and the Ladue to Olive highway plans. Opponents were plentiful.
Let’s keep in mind that the County does Olive to Page; the state does Ladue to Olive.
Nevertheless, it’s one road, basically, and one ecosystem. Almost all the road is in Chesterfield.
Over 115 residents signed petitions to stop the projects because of issues such as cost, waste, and environmental destructions. We continue to say don’t hand us one useless road for millions in stimulus funds (most of the 170 million cost); fix roads and bridges in all the county! That’ll keep the money for Missourians, give jobs, do something USEFUL.
There are ripples of support for the project — people who felt the road would make it easier to turn left or right from our side of Wood Lake onto Woods Mill Road. One man said he could get to the casino faster on a new road! Wonderful; that’s a great reason to tear up wetlands and wild acres, isn’t it?
Worst of the Meeting
The plans call for a TUNNEL under Ladue Road, and a TUNNEL under Olive. Can they really be doing the New Jersey Turnpike for 1.7 miles? What are these people thinking?
The plans for the Woodlake portion call for a “basin” near Land O Woods where the curb joins the grass. This basin will catch rainwater, since the meadow will be cut in two.
People are incensed at this “basin” to catch rainwater since that’s what the meadows and forested wetlands already do!
People who live along Olive to Page roadways were completely puzzled by being told the County would move the wetlands temporarily during construction, then move them back.
This, I want to see!
Residents on Toreador have some flooding now; with a new road running water off every rainstorm, they are afraid they’ll be flash flooded once a week.
Best of the Meeting
Lots of opponents met and gathered. The Coalition for the Environment sent an alert to all its members to make comments unfavorable to the road and submit them to MoDot.
We were joined by people from Toreador, Greentrails, Terra Vista, Mill Ridge, and our Woodlake road warriors. We’ve covered the whole length of the two 141 projects.
We’ve found out that Riverbend (west of Woodmill, north of Olive, stretching down to Waterworks Road along River Valley Road) will lose common ground to the project, and are stirred up about it. The county is going to blast down there!
Since May 14th
We found that a Federal Highway Administration manager is the guy to review all citizens comments on the proposed road, so we sent him a firm letter and our petitions. His name is Gregory Budd, and you can email him at gregory.budd@dot.gov. He’s in Jefferson City. We’re not sure if comments are closed forever as of 5/24 or if they are open continually for questions and comments: I asked, and haven’t been answered.
Do we have to shut up for good? Don’t believe it!
We discovered that the guy who can give or withhold stimulus funds is the Director of the East West Gateway Coordinating Council. We are going to blitz them this week and next. Without stimulus funds, there’s no party! Look up their mailing address on the web, or use this link to make comments on the themes of no wasting stimulus funds on one or two rich suburbs; any plans for development won’t work — never have in that area of floodplain; one useless road; overkill for the brief congestion periods of 10-15 minutes on Woods Mill; and most important environmental destruction of wild acres and wetland ecosystems of creek, forest, meadows, and wetlands; destruction of historical Native American sites.
East-West Gateway Council of Governments
One Memorial Dr., Ste 1600. St. Louis, MO 63102 phone:
(314) 421-4220 or (618) 274-2750 fax: (314) 231-6120
http://www.ewgateway.org/
They say they want to engage the community — so let’s get engaged!
Melissa Heberle of Riverbend sent me this link to make comments on the East-West Gateway website.
http://www.ewgateway.org/stimulusapp/stimulusprojcomments.asp
Make a commitment to email once a week for a month!
Environmentally
The Coalition has a bird specialist listening and looking for bird species in our woods. A bird watcher who was a Woodlake resident has a formal log of the birds she has counted over the years. We’re hoping this shows further environmental study is needed. We should all demand a good Environmental Impact Study.
The coalition has posted the very important current environmental assessments of the two parts of the project. Coalition consultants and lawyers are objecting and challenging the assessments, and firmly acting for a full and valid environmental impact statement, an EIS. A recognized wetland law specialist has written to St Louis County regarding her objections I read her report, and honestly, if I were MoDot/St Louis County, I’d pull those stakes up now and go home.
Here are the websites for the two environmental assessments done so far, both of which require further study and consideration for all the environmental impacts, according to their own authors and to the Coalition.
The first website is about the MoDot Ladue to Olive project, our 141 Project that makes a new Woods Mill Road. Dan Sherburne of the Coalition writes………….
the only EA we got from MoDOT was an electronic version that they allowed us to download. I have since put it on a doc sharing website, from which you (and others–feel free to pass the link on) can download it:
http://www.4shared.com/file/106227653/ea6292f6/Environmental_Assessment_location_study_dec_2002.html