Soap Box: Crosscreek vote raises question: If not here, where?

by Larry Schuster

March 21,2008

Now that the City Council has embarrassed itself in regards to the Crosscreek Center development at the east end of Stadium Boulevard, one must ask: Where in our city limits could we situate a new car dealership?

Is this not typically considered a "highway" business? High traffic counts are generally desirable. This site, for the most part, is one of the more isolated sites within the city. Certainly there are more remote areas. However, developing
a new car dealership on Rock Quarry Road or Bearfield Road does not seem likely or suitable to anyone.

Neighbors in the Shepherd and Timber Hills neighborhoods could not have asked for a more practical arrangement of the site in regards to their neighborhoods.

The Crosscreek site is in a topographical depression that lends itself to being one of the most unobtrusive new commercial developments within the city. Both the Shepherd and Timber Hill neighborhoods are separated by significant rises in the landscape. Shepherd is several hundred yards away, with Highway 63 presenting a substantial visual and sound barrier.

For both neighborhoods, as traffic volumes on Highway 63 continue to increase, Crosscreek would be the least of human interference. The Timber Hills neighborhood is not even visible from Crosscreek. With several hundred yards of wooded separation, development on the depressed site again will not have any diminutive effect on its northern neighbors.

I can personally attest to the noise level produced by Highway 63 traffic on a cold winter evening. When trees are bare, sound is not attenuated to any serious degree. Conversations are better held indoors.

Within 150 feet of my backyard lies R-3 multi-family housing and a C-P development. From my kitchen, I can see a lit UPS sign across Paris Road. Now this is development in your backyard. I can hear Highway 63 at my kitchen counter as I write this column. This is the city intruding into my home. My home was here first, before an expanded Highway 63 or widened Route B. Should I have opposed both to preserve the solitude of my Hill Haven? Perhaps in an idyllic world.

Perhaps in a wealthy suburb of St. Louis or Chicago I could expect such solitude within a bustling city. But here in Columbia, any expectation of this sort is nonsense. We are an affluent community not only monetarily but in regards to our time. However, we are not so affluent as to be able to insulate ourselves from the realities of a freestanding, vibrant college town. Our very success in education, medicine, business and public amenities attracts more folks.

Unless we adopt the early attitude of St. Louis, our city limits will continue to grow. St. Louis drew an artificial line in the sand and declared that it would not grow beyond that limit. Most likely this was an effort to control the cost of growth at a time when city planning was not terribly sophisticated. Unfortunately, like many creating the "best laid plans of mice and men," those city fathers did anticipate the germination of smaller cities in every direction about St. Louis. Now the St. Louis area is more like the Baltic States of Europe. Many small entities with fierce political pride exist without the resources to function as independent municipalities. We must not commit theSt. Louis error.

We must come to grips with some fundamental facts of life. Change is inevitable. There will never be enough money to meet man's grand desire to build a better life. By no means does this relegate us to sitting on our hands.
However, we must choose our battles carefully, making wise choices that balance vibrant community living with humanity.

Logic must be given more credence in our urban planning. In the case of the Crosscreek debate, neighbors and certain council members have dangerously tread near the precipice of insignificance.

Paul Albert was an intelligent and thought-provoking individual.

However, he enjoyed the fight too much and diminished the impact he could have on he community he loved. He grew to love the fight more.

So have our neighborhood associations lost sight of the fact that they are a part of the city and not the city.

I hope the Crosscreek Center proposal comes back to the council. A "do over" would be proper at this location.

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