Trustee: Davis Place Parking Survey Results Being Reviewed

The results of a parking survey conducted earlier this month in Clayton's Davis Place neighborhood are being processed, trustee Debra Rabinovich said Monday.

No additional information about the outcome of the survey was immediately available.

On Wednesday, Clayton Board of Aldermen member Steve Lichtenfeld said he and fellow member Mark Winings had not yet seen the survey results. Responses to the online questions were due Tuesday.

"This is a process driven by the Davis Place trustees, and the leadership of it is by the trustees themselves," said Lichtenfeld, who along with Winings is a Ward 3 representative.

The recent survey restrictions in exchange for the preservation of three houses owned by . The church has discussed razing the buildings so that one of its parking lots can be expanded. People who received the survey were asked to respond by Tuesday of last week.

Patricia Johnson and her husband, Tim, no longer live in 's Davis Place neighborhood. But the couple have owned a house there since 2000, and they have tenants and pay taxes there.

She is among the .

In an Aug. 30 email to Lichtenfeld and Winings, Johnson expressed her frustration.

"Our message should be that a church should not have the right to destroy homes in a neighborhood," Johnson wrote. "This is an entirely separate issue from the parking restrictions which are based on safety concerns as well as problems for residents being able to park near their own homes."

Winings responded in an email that while he and Lichtenfeld have met periodically with church representatives and Davis Place trustees, no decision has been made.

"The City controls the parking restrictions in Davis Place; the church controls whether they remove the houses they own," Winings stated. "The church does not need the City's approval to remove the houses, nor, as a technical matter at least, are they required to demonstrate that they need the extra parking space (as opposed to simply wanting it).  The church has asked us to consider a compromise, pursuant to which the City would return to the parking restrictions in Davis Place which were in effect about a year ago before the current restrictions were imposed on a trial basis, and the church would keep the houses intact until they move forward with a possible future expansion of the church building itself."

Johnson said the church has shown itself to be unwilling to come up with real solutions. She thinks the church should have to publicly justify its request for additional parking space before receiving approval.

"All of this is putting the cart before the horse, in my opinion, because they have not proven a real need," Johnson said. "They admit that the people don't use their own parking lot. They admit it. They say that people are afraid to walk down Hanley (Road) because of the whizzing traffic. Whether or not that is a valid point, that still can be addressed."

The church has two parking areas, one of which lies across Hanley Road from the building.

Johnson and her husband suggested in their email that a series of short barriers known as bollards could be installed on the sidewalk along Hanley Road to alleviate those safety concerns.

But Winings indicated in his email that wouldn't be a simple task.

"Installing barriers is probably not feasible given the width of Hanley Road and the narrowness of the right-of-way on each side," he stated. "The matter is further complicated by the fact that both Hanley and the rights-of-way are owned by St. Louis County, not the City of Clayton."