CREVE COEUR, Mo. — Creve Coeur city council members voted unanimously to move forward with a plan to transform the former Bayer campus into a mixed-use development.
With an 8-0 vote, the first phase of Olia Village located at 10300 Olive Boulevard will move forward.
Phase One means crews will now start to clear and grade the site along with installing utilities and roadway construction.
The bill also rezones the old 96-acre Bayer campus from office space to mixed-use development for future restaurants, hotels and apartments.
During two hours of public comment Monday night, it was clear not everyone was happy.
Frank Scaduto wants changes, including a higher retaining wall, more green space, and smaller buildings.
"It's completely unacceptable to allow development to move forward without addressing residents' concerns and particularly those residents who live adjacent to the proposed development," Scaduto said.
He and others who live along Spoede Woods signed a petition against the current project plan.
"We needed to get at least 30% and we actually got 62% of the residents that are adjacent to the property and that includes 100% of the residents along Spoede Woods that are within that 185 feet," Rachel Protzel said.
Protzel, a resident of the city, says developers and city council members didn't visit her home and other adjacent homes until last week to inform them of project changes.
She says only one of her council members for her district had a meeting with residents on October 8, the day before a city council meeting.
Resident Danielle Singer, a resident of Creve Coeur, says she signed the petition.
"There are important unanswered questions," Singer said. She's concerned about the safety of pedestrians, on the already busy road and the cost of revenue for residents.
Mayor Robert Hoffman said the project is exciting.
“We came to a mutual agreement about what we could do to help what residents were concerned about," Hoffman said. "Which was the buffer [retaining wall], we added 20 feet of greenspace, it went from 35 feet to 50 feet in planning and zoning and we got it to 70 feet last night. We made progress."
Some residents, like Tate Skinner, are in favor of the project.
"It's a really good golden opportunity for Creve Coeur to develop a business district that is dense along the Olive Boulevard strip which we're already seeing is becoming more and more busy," Skinner said.
City council members said only one phase of the project will come up for a vote at a time. The next phase would include new construction and repurposing some older Bayer buildings.
To view Monday's meeting agenda, click here.