CHESTERFIELD, Mo. – After a council and public works meeting Thursday, the Chesterfield community still has no idea what will happen to the soon-to-be redeveloped Chesterfield Mall.
Kelli Unnerstall is part of the Citizens for Developing Downtown Chesterfield. She moved to the area a few years ago.
“I was looking into the Chesterfield community when I was considering moving here, and I saw there was a plan for downtown Chesterfield,” Unnerstall said.
Now, it’s the reason Unnerstall has started the page, Preserve Chesterfield, gaining nearly 1,000 supporters in just a few days.
“They could build 2,880 multifamily units and call it a day, and that would meet the ordinance,” she said.
Currently, they plan to develop almost 100 acres with what they’re saying, will be the heart of Chesterfield, which includes nearly 3,000 residential units, retail shopping, a central park, walking and biking paths, and more. The biggest issue is what the current ordinance states about the master plan, with no real clarification on whether they plan to keep the design as it has been presented.
The old mall sparked a heated debate at the meeting about what will take its place in the future.
“All we’re trying to do is to have guidelines and standards following the concept plan,” said Councilman Dan Hurt of Ward 3.
One of the most serious concerns is that it would allow the development to deter from the current plans. Nonetheless, the meeting was dominated by back-and-forth banter about the current ordinance.
“They’re seeing if they all agree on the areas, they don’t,” said Paul Kalil, a resident.
Unnerstall and others are concerned that a high-density population will have an impact on traffic flow and school districts that are already struggling.
“We’ve just asked that the right inputs are used, we just want to make an informed decision,” Unnerstall said.
The ordinance doesn’t clearly state how the hotels, restaurants, residential living, central park, or retail stores could be developed, despite the design plans they have sketched out.
“Tonight, we got through most of the details of the ordinance itself that have to be addressed, but there’s two primary concerns,” Hurt said. “One is the preliminary concept plan… there is the density plan on the multifamily type units.”
Hurt estimates that it will be about two weeks before any real decisions can be made while they work out more zoning details.
“I think we’re gonna get there it’s just gonna take some time to get there,” he said.
Unnerstall stated that after years of planning, it is time to make some serious decisions.
“Now, we’re at the eleventh hour, and the decisions are being made,” she said.