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 inpatient component would include mostly short stays (about five to seven days) and a smaller number of longer residential beds, with outpatient clinics in repurposed buildings.

On safety, the applicants submitted a written security plan and said they met with Webster Groves police and fire leadership. Stock noted the plan was revised after those reviews and that the police and fire chiefs had concurred that the plan addressed their concerns. The design shows controlled patient arrivals through a covered “sally port,” interior courtyards and two fencing systems: a non‑scalable, 12‑foot interior fence protecting inpatient outdoor space and a 6‑foot fence around school/play areas. Stock said new exterior lighting would use cutoff LED fixtures and would be dimmed 50 percent after 10 p.m.

Traffic and pedestrian safety were the other major themes. The applicants hired Lochmuller Group and CBB to revise an earlier study that used typical acute‑hospital trip rates. The updated traffic impact evaluation concluded no Webster Groves intersections would drop to a lower level of service; the report noted a negligible effect (two‑second delay affecting a handful of vehicles) at one intersection in the neighboring city of Rock Hill. Myers said the revised study showed “no substantial increase of traffic hazards or congestion” in Webster Groves.

Supporters at the public hearing included physicians, nurses and parents who said additional pediatric behavioral health capacity is urgently needed. Dr. Cynthia Rogers, Division Director and Vice Chair of Child Psychiatry at Washington University, said the joint venture of KVC and St. Louis Children’s would provide a full continuum of care: “These are all of our children. All of our children have the risk for mental health disorders,” she said. Joan McGruder, identified at the hearing as a BJC group executive, urged council members to consider the project’s “betterment” for children and families and reiterated the applicants’ commitment to ongoing collaboration with city public safety officials.

Opponents questioned whether a hospital use is compatible with the surrounding single‑family neighborhood, raised concerns about lighting and noise, and asked for clearer, neighborhood‑facing protocols in the event a patient leaves the site. Several neighbors said they regularly walk Rock Hill Road and worry about pedestrian safety if traffic grows. One resident who lives across the street said, “We are very much on the same page. I do oppose this. I am a NIMFI — not in my front yard.” Another nearby resident described ongoing noise and lighting issues that predated the current application and asked the council to weigh the immediate impacts on adjacent homeowners.

The city planning commission held three public hearings and unanimously recommended approval on Nov. 4, 2024. Myers and the applicant repeatedly noted the site’s long history of children’s services dating to the 19th century and argued the proposed use is consistent with that institutional legacy and with the comprehensive‑plan land‑use designation for the campus. The applicant said the project reduces total overnight placements compared with some prior approvals and that impervious coverage and building footprints would be lower than the older plan.

After public comment, the council closed the public hearing, accepted the staff and applicant materials into the record, and took the bill through its first and second readings. The ordinance on rezoning and CUPs (Bill 9274) was not finally adopted Jan. 7; council members scheduled the third reading and a final vote for a future meeting. Council members also moved other unrelated items later in the meeting: a resolution authorizing bond sale procedures and a consent agenda item that passed by roll call.

What’s next: The council will consider any amendments and take a final vote on Bill 9274 at the required follow‑up meeting (third reading). If the ordinance is approved, the applicants and the city said conditions in the CUPs will define operating parameters and that any materially different uses, expansions or changes in ownership will require return to the planning commission and the council for review.

Votes at a glance: - Bill 9274 (rezoning and two CUPs for 33 North Gore Avenue): public hearing held, bill received first and second readings Jan. 7; final vote scheduled for a later meeting (no outcome recorded at this hearing). - Resolution 2025‑01 (authorizing bond offering procedures): adopted by roll call Jan. 7 (affirmative votes recorded from Mayor Arnold and council members Bliss, Franklin, Smith, Alexander, Hickson Shepherd and Hasson Meyer). - Consent agenda: approved Jan. 7 by roll call.