U-Gas Approved, But Traffic Concerns Remain

A U-Gas convenience store with an attached drive-thru restaurant will be going in on Chesterfield Airport Road but questions remain about how drivers will access the development once it is complete.

Several council members said they would like to see the gas station, which is accessed from Chesterfield Airport Road and located near its intersection with Long Road, be limited to a “right in/right out.”

Left turns mean drivers would have to cross several lanes of traffic to enter or leave the station. Council member Connie Fults described such maneuvers as “dangerous” given the high volume of traffic on Chesterfield Airport Road.

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The council debated inserting language into the zoning ordinance governing the development that would prohibit left turns, but Fults said she was concerned a simple sign warning against it wouldn’t be enough.

Instead, she hopes that the results of a traffic study from St. Louis County, which maintains Chesterfield Airport Road, will find that its median near Long Road should be extended far enough east to prevent left turns in and out of the U-Gas.

To this end, the final version of the ordinance approved at council meeting Monday by a vote of 5-3 was amended to state the city of Chesterfield and St. Louis County reserve the right to require that the developer extend the median.

Council members Nancy Greenwood, Barry Fleichsbart and Bruce DeGroot all opposed the ordinance. For Greenwood, the issue was the convenience store’s proposed location.

“I have always been opposed to building gas stations close to Highway 40,” she said, adding that she was also concerned by the fact that the ordinance required several amendments.

Speaking in a work session before the meeting, Fleichsbart said his objection was based on the number of “uses” granted to the development under the ordinance. It allows for 19 total, ranging from general office to bakery to animal grooming shop, which Fleichsbart said are too many.

Despite the opposition, the 5-3 vote means the project, which was also recommended for approval by the city’s planning commission, will move forward.