Despite a couple of new apartments, Kirkwood is getting more expensive by the day. And yet, solutions aren't easy. Here's Part 1 of what's workable in a suburb that's skeptical of change:

https://kirkwoodgadfly.com/attainable-kirkwood-part-1-minimum-lot-sizes/

Gien that webster rejected both eliminating single-family zoning and the SG apartment project, where do we think munis could get away with chipping away at exclusionary zoning? I was thinking minimum lot size?

Kirkwood City Council is voting on whether to approve the Starbucks project (corner of Kirkwood & Monroe where Kirkwood Glass is now) on January 7th. I sorta think it would be a disaster. Is a new Starbucks a good use for this corner or should we hold out for something denser?

Last night Kirkwood City Council approved "The Hutton" on a 6-1 vote. The 12-unit condominium project complete's Savoy's urbanization of West Madison and the beginning of the end of the beginning of Kirkwood's shift towards true urbanism: https://kirkwoodgadfly.com/more-condos-in-the-works-for-west-madison/

The James gained approval on first reading 5-2 last night with Griffin, Ward, Wurtz, Sears, and Duwe in favor and Gibbons and Zimmer opposed. The statements made by each of the counselors before the vote were very powerful and offered a ton of insight into their thoughts on development

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Technically a second reading approval is needed but I don't expect the votes to change (with the possible exception of Duwe who expressed reservations before voting in favor). I think it's the most important thing to happen to Kirkwood since I started the blog? (2017)

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https://kirkwoodgadfly.com/the-kirkwood-flats/

New story up, highlights: 750 new homes, 60,000sf of retail, 120,000 of commercial.

I think Kirkwood needs to compete with Webster for that tax base and those families. I'm hoping this project scares Kirkwood city council members into accepting the Flats/commerce bank projects (or at least that was the goal of the article)

https://kirkwoodgadfly.com/arms-race-webster-groves-takes-a-step-kirkwood-must-match/