TriStar Real Estate Acquisitions LLC has asked the city to help pay for extending Burkhardt Place through its development site.
The city approved a site development plan for approximately 16.82 acres that will include 105 single-family attached homes on the east side of Chesterfield Parkway West between Vista Place and Main Circle Drive.
TriStar’s original plan called for one road serving the residential development. This road would run north-south through the project, connecting the planned Vista Place extension on the east side of Chesterfield Parkway with Park Circle Drive.
The development would also have access to Chesterfield Parkway via Burkhardt Place. The single road would feature a 50-foot right-of-way and 26-foot pavement.
However, the city asked TriStar to add a second road that would provide public right-of-way. This second road would connect from the Vista Place extension on the north to the original proposed road at Burkhardt Place on the south.
The city also requested that the second road have a 33-foot-wide pavement to allow for parallel parking for Downtown Chesterfield and Central Park.
TriStar estimates the additional costs for the city’s request at $1.42 million. The company is willing to build the road and provide the right-of-way if the city allocates up to $750,000 from the tax increment financing (TIF) fund after the second road is completed.
According to the Public Works Department, only direct costs for the wider road—including street costs and earthwork/retaining wall costs—qualify for consideration.
The applicant must provide a separate cost estimate showing the expenses for the narrower road design to justify the additional costs for the two-road layout.
At the April Planning & Public Works Committee meeting, John Nations, the applicant’s attorney, presented the project and advocated for reimbursement. He explained the street design history and the shift from a one-road to two-road design. Nations noted that TriStar is requesting reimbursement for only 50% of the additional two-road design costs.
The committee forwarded the project to City Council without a recommendation.
At the May 4 council meeting, Nations outlined the options in his memo to the city.
One option is to change the regional boundaries to include TriStar in RPA-1 instead of RPA-3. Another option is to approve an agreement allocating $750,000 from the RPA-3 special allocation fund to help pay for the additional road.
“If the city would like to have it, we’re willing to put up half the cost and partner with the city to make sure that it gets done,” Nations said.
The third option is to return to the one-road design, which does not require TIF funding.
“Even though the public roads in the redevelopment areas of the TIF are all funded by TIF dollars, they’re (TriStar) willing to build their development with the one road plan without the allocation of TIF dollars,” he said.
Nations informed the council that TriStar would grant the city construction easements to build the grand staircase if the agreement is approved.
If the council approves the agreement, TriStar would need to restart the approval process for the one-road plan, which could take several months.
Nations asked the council to approve the agreement if they want the one-road plan, but no vote occurred. A motion for a first reading of the bill failed due to lack of a second. A motion to postpone the vote until July 20 also failed to receive a second.
The current two-road plan remains under consideration, but it will not qualify for reimbursable costs. Any new plan would require Planning Commission approval.
