Hearing On Proposed Retirement Community Continued

Spectrum Retirement Communities, LLC's plan to build a 43,000 square feet, four story, 90 unit assisted living and memory care facility on Decker Lane in Creve Coeur will have to come back to the city's Planning and Zoning Commission before the project can move forward.

Mike Longfellow, an executive with the Denver-based firm, told the Commision need for facilities like this one "is off the charts nationally and in the area," and that the company has had Creve Coeur in its sights for a while.

Longfellow described a facility that would offer high-end amenities for residents who, in the assisted living portion, would be free to come and go, while being "heavily monitored".

While the project technically has what might be considered enough parking to go along with it under city code, there were enough questions raised in the hearing to wonder if that was really the case. Paul Langdon, Creve Coeur's Director of Community Development said "just because a regulation is met doesn't mean a need is met."

Longfellow said that on other Spectrum properties, the company had reached out to neighboring properties to assist on high traffic days, like Mother's Day, but that it was too early in the process for that to have happened in Creve Coeur yet.

Residents representing property owners at the neighboring Summit Loft also voiced their concerns about privacy questions. The condominiums would be located immediately next to the facility and two men who spoke on behalf of the Loft's Property Owners Association said they had only learned Monday that a hearing was being held. They reported progress being made in the brief discussions they were able to have with Spectrum officials on issues of buffers and privacy, but asked the panel to continue the hearing without making a recommendation.

After Langdon conceded that public notice as it applied to the project's neighbors left some room for improvement, a unanimous 5-0 vote moved the project to the next Planning and Zoning Commission meeting scheduled for August 20.