Oakville Residents Furious Over Senior Housing Vote

Construction on the senior housing complex on Telegraph Road in Oakville will likely continue as planned after the St. Louis County Planning and Zoning Commission voted to deny a request to change the complex's zoning.

Oakville residents yelled angrily after the 6-1 vote to deny the request to change the zoning, comparing the commission's decision to communism and Nazi Germany.

Only Commissioner Bill Sneed voted to approve the request.

"From my perspective, the most overriding issue is that due process was not given to residents of Oakville," Sneed said. "I can't believe that 300 or more people would come here to tell us they didn’t receive notification. That is part of the process, and it failed."

Sneed said he was confident the senior housing project would either not have been approved or would have been approved with some changes had Oakville residents been able to share concerns before the project was approved by the St. Louis County Council.

The Planning Department staff gave six reasons why the senior housing complex should not have to have their zoning changed:

1. The senior housing project is compatible with the child care facility to the north.
2. The senior housing project will not compromise the privacy of the adjoining monastery.
3. The use is functionally less intense than either the child care center to the north of the shopping center to the south, as it will generate less outside noise and activity and less pedestrian vehicular traffic.
4. The site coverage, setbacks and lighting are comparable to abutting developments.
5. Senior housing facilities do not create public safety issues. 
6. The development is consistent with the Oakville Community Area Study.