Central Newsmagazine News

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Des Peres, residents grapple with city’s first side-street curb cut

By Casey Godwin

The St. Louis Eye and Surgery Center in Des Peres will have to rely solely on a new monument sign to help patients find its location after the Des Peres Board of Aldermen recently voted down a requested curb cut. The vote came at the city’s April 28 meeting.

The center, located at 12990 Manchester Road, requested a curb cut on Sarala Drive to make it easier for patients to turn around if they missed the entrance on Manchester.

Elmer Wind, representing the eye center, said there was concern for the safety of patients making a U-turn at Sarala and going the wrong way into oncoming eastbound traffic.

Residents who live on or near Sarala believe the safety issue is the children who play on the street.

Bruce Williams, of Wood Valley Court, said a school bus stop less than 200 feet from the center would put young children at risk during busy times of the day.

Williams and other neighbors are concerned that placing a curb cut on Sarala would only encourage drivers to cut through the neighborhood.

At the time of the meeting, he said there were three tire tracks from cars jumping the curb off Sarala Lane that indicated drivers were coming from the opposite direction of Manchester Road.

“How long will it take before drivers realize they can come a back way through our neighborhood to avoid Manchester Road,” Williams said. “There is no way to police this.”

Anne Curran, who lives on Grandview Heights, said there is a simple solution for those who are having trouble finding the center.

“If you don’t know where you’re going, you need to go a little slower than the speed limit,” Curran said.

“When the original master plan for this building was before the Planning and Zoning Commission, the curb cut was part of the plan,” Williams said. “Mr. Wind agreed to take the curb cut out of the plan because of opposition of the neighborhood. It is now two years later and it is back on the table.”

The revival of the curb cut came after an ambulance that had been called to the center had difficulties turning around in the rear parking lot. At the request of the fire marshal, the Planning and Zoning Commission approved the curb cut. To date, Des Peres has never approved a curb cut on a side street.

The St. Louis Eye and Surgery Center would not comment on whether changes to the parking lot would take place, instead, issued a statement: “Patient safety is number one. Anything we’ve requested or needed has been our complete focus.”

Wind said, while the center has made extra efforts to help patients find the center, including bold signage and extra large street address on the building, and mailing maps to new patients, there are still those who miss the entrance. He is concerned that the new monument sign will not be visible because of several signs already in the area.

The center had commissioned a study from Crawford Bunte Brammeier to determine the best placement of the sign.

The center had yet to place the monument sign and had no foreseeable date set for when the new sign would be erected at Central Newsmagazine’s press time.