A group of Kirkwood residents and neighbors is working together to show our support for maintaining residential zoning in Kirkwood by asking our Council Members and Mayor Liz Gibbons to deny the latest request to rezone 1120 Earl Ave from R-4 “Single Family Residential” to B-3 “Highway Business.”

Please join us by signing this petition if

• You care about preserving the integrity and character of Kirkwood’s neighborhoods
• You are against setting a precedent that Kirkwood’s residential lots can be rezoned for commercial use
• You care about development worsening flooding and water issues in Kirkwood

And read on for details…

Petitioner Bobbi Baker, owner of Namaste Yoga (10921 Manchester Rd) is requesting to have 1120 Earl Ave (which she also owns) rezoned from R-4 “Single Family Residential” to B-3 “Highway Business” so she can pursue a parcel merger (making ~half of the current residential property an extension of 10921 Manchester) and place a parking lot on the land behind the yoga studio.

This rezoning request goes to City Council on Thursday, March 6, 2025 at 7 PM. The last time we ran a petition to protect the residential zoning of Earl Ave and adherence to Kirkwood’s EnVision 2035 Comprehensive Plan and the Future Land Use Map, Preferred Scenario (more on this below) we collected 1,576 verified signatures! Please share widely!

Residential neighbors have been delighted to welcome the petitioner and her husband as property owners and developers in the neighborhood, in large part because their ownership and business developments have, thus far, respected the current zoning of the properties they own, which include

• 1120 Earl Ave—the property the petitioner wants rezoned
• Namaste Yoga (10921 Manchester Rd)
• The 3 rental homes on the west side of Earl Ave
• The former Painted Zebra—10907 Manchester Rd, currently being redeveloped as a restaurant/cafe
• 10939 Manchester Rd/"the big white house" that’s set back behind Snarf’s.

That said, we are firmly set against the rezoning of this or any of the petitioner’s properties from R-4 to B-3 for any reason and ask that City Council and Mayor Liz Gibbons work to protect our neighborhood and the zoning of all Kirkwood’s residential neighborhoods by honoring Kirkwood’s EnVision 2035 Comprehensive Plan and the Future Land Use Map, Preferred Scenario, by denying this rezoning request.

Why? Rezoning, even for this seemingly minimally invasive project (especially compared to the most recent proposal by Western Oil in 2019-20) proposed by a business owner we’re happy to have in our neighborhood, will undo decades of Kirkwood zoning policy by encroaching into the residential area north of Manchester Road, opening the door for additional projects and setting a precedent that we’re set against not only for our neighborhood but for all of Kirkwood.

• Kirkwood’s zoning laws are intended to protect its citizens, and the integrity of its neighborhoods is something business owners and residents alike love about our city.
• When homeowners on Clay and Avery purchased their residences, they did so with a residential buffer in place, and they expected it to stay that way.
• The petitioner’s choice to purchase business lots with limited room for expansion (parking or otherwise) does not necessitate or warrant a decision that would be made at the expense of residents’ expectations of zoning that is good for their families and the investments they’ve made in their properties.

To grant this rezoning request is to open the doors to rezoning from residential to business throughout Kirkwood.

The History & Additional Drawbacks of Rezoning

There is a yearslong history of attempts to develop this land for commercial use. Since 2008, proposals have included a multi-office medical building, an EZ Storage, and a gas station, among others. Some proposals have been recommended against by Planning & Zoning; others have gone on to and been denied by City Council. In at least one case, in response to neighbors’ opposition, the prospective developer never even filed a petition for rezoning.

As in all previous rezoning attempts, approval of the petitioner’s rezoning request would mean that should she sell her property to another owner, they would have the legal right to put a different, potentially more intrusive business on an expanded business lot. It could set a precedent for rezoning the adjacent residential properties on the west side of Earl, creating an even larger business rift in the neighborhood.

It also sets a precedent for business owners buying up relatively more affordable homes/residential lots in Kirkwood, being granted rezoning requests, and carving out this and other neighborhoods in order to expand businesses and parking.

Additionally…

• Adding a business along Manchester that emphasizes short visits (yoga classes), and therefore frequent entrances and exits, will make that stretch just west of Kirkwood Road (Lindbergh) even more dangerous for drivers.
• If granted, this would be the only commercial development on the north side of Manchester between Lou Fusz and the city limit more than 150 feet deep. This development will be about twice as deep as anything else.
• The proposal implies light pollution from parking lot lighting’s spill light, glare zone, direct upward light, upward reflected light, and headlights (from patrons pulling in for and exiting after yoga classes before dawn and after dark) that will cause significant (and potentially 24-hour) light trespass on residential properties.
• The project will have an impact on stormwater drainage in an area that experiences significant flooding and drains into Twomile Creek, which drains into Deer Creek. Twomile Creek is a major contributing stream, meaning this project will have an impact on the area’s watershed.

The petitioner has suggested to neighbors that if she’s granted her request to rezone, she’ll work with MSD to mitigate the flooding. We maintain that MSD and Kirkwood must do what’s necessary to protect residents and their homes and mitigate flooding, even if 1120 Earl Ave remains zoned residential.

Planning & Zoning Recommendation

On Wednesday, February 5, 2025, Planning & Zoning voted to recommend the approval of the petitioner’s rezoning request on the grounds that the property isn’t usable or valuable for any other purposes (because of the creek that runs through it and various water-related infrastructure that make it extremely difficult and/or costly, if not impossible, to build on from a residential development perspective).

This is a distorted assumption given

1. The value the current residential zoning of 1120 Earl Ave holds for all neighborhood and Kirkwood residents,
2. The possibility of a residential property buyout for water retention as a potential solution to the Avery flooding problem, AND
3. The fact that in April 2023, the owners of an adjacent residential property approached the petitioner with an offer to explore purchasing the property from her in order to maintain it as a minimally developed residential lot/nature space/potential lot consolidation or parcel merger with their own residential property—proof that the lot has value, no rezoning or development necessary.

The petitioner’s request for rezoning goes to Kirkwood City Council at 7 PM on Thursday, March 6, 2025. We invite you to sign our petition to show our Council Members and Mayor Liz Gibbons our support for maintaining the current, residential zoning of 1120 Earl Ave AND to protecting residential zoning throughout Kirkwood.

The last time we ran a petition to protect the residential zoning of Earl Ave and adherence to Kirkwood’s EnVision 2035 Comprehensive Plan and the Future Land Use Map, Preferred Scenario, we collected 1,576 verified signatures! Please share widely!