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Councilwoman urges quick study for Spanish Lake ahead of Wildcare Park opening; bill perfected for study
Summary
Councilwoman Webb moved to perfect a bill to fund a Spanish Lake small-area study to coordinate development around the Wildcare Park project; she described a timeline and urged use of the study to hold departments accountable.
Council members debated a small-area study for Spanish Lake on July 8 as Councilwoman Shalonda Webb argued for a focused planning effort tied to an upcoming Wildcare Park (zoo) opening in 2027.
Webb said the study would give planning staff an “intentional focus on Spanish Lake” and help coordinate infrastructure, access and economic development ahead of the Wildcare Park opening. She told colleagues the study would be used to “hold departments and our county executive and me as a council member representing that area accountable to the people of St. Louis County Spanish Lake to get things done.”
The council voted to perfect Bill 141 (the Spanish Lake small-area study) on July 8; perfection advances the bill in the legislative process but is not final passage. Webb said she had decoupled the study from a larger climate action plan so the study could proceed independently and stressed a sense of urgency tied to other planning efforts (East-West Gateway street study and realtors’ housing studies).
Webb said stakeholders including the zoo, labor unions and developers would weigh in between perfection and final reading. “We're on a timeline here,” she said, and asked colleagues to permit perfection and allow final action after further input.
No final appropriation was recorded at the July 8 meeting; the bill moved forward at the perfection stage and will return for final passage in a subsequent meeting after additional outreach and refinement.
