Webster Groves holds public hearing on proposed KVC–St. Louis Children’s mental wellness campus; council takes first and second readings

Webster Groves — The Webster Groves City Council heard more than three hours of testimony Jan. 7 on a proposal by KVC Missouri and St. Louis Children’s Hospital to rezone the former Edgewood/Great Circle campus at 33 North Gore Avenue and to approve two conditional use permits (CUPs) to allow an institution and a hospital use for a new pediatric mental wellness campus.

Robert Myers, the city’s planning director, opened the staff presentation by framing the council’s charge: the decision must be guided by city ordinances, the 2017 comprehensive plan and state law. He summarized staff and planning commission findings that the applicants seek to revert the site from the 2013 “MEC” major educational campus zoning back to the underlying A‑3 (10,000‑square‑foot residence) district and to receive CUPs for an institution and a hospital. “The considerations that we use to decide this matter are defined specifically by our ordinances, by the comprehensive plan of Webster Grove’s previous use of the property and state law,” Myers said.

Applicants described the project as a one‑story, 77‑bed pediatric behavioral facility combined with outpatient services and a small residential program. George Stock, a civil engineer representing Saint Louis Children’s Hospital and KVC, said the proposal does not include an emergency room, surgery, imaging, parking garages or helicopter transport and emphasized the campus’s open space and security measures: “This hospital in this case is not an acute care hospital,” he told council members. The applicants say the…