Maplewood Council, School Board Agree on QuikTrip Changes

A month after Maplewood voters approved Proposition Q, allowing QuikTrip to relocate to the northwest corner of Manchester and Big Bend, the agreement is on its way to being changed.

QuikTrip may no longer buy the property on Big Bend for a cut-through street to the school. Southbound traffic may be allowed on Martini Drive, rather than being totally blocked, and solar-powered lights may warn motorists of pedestrians at crosswalks.

The Maplewood city council Tuesday made the first two votes out of three to amend the planned unit development (PUD) unanimously and without discussion. The council was minus Mayor James White and Ward 3 Councilman Shawn Faulkingham.

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Ward 1 Councilman David Cerven said after the meeting that QuikTrip’s contract on the property planned to be a cut-through had expired.

“Since nobody wanted it, we had to amend the ordinance,” he said. “The ordinance, the way it stood, was going to force us to make them buy that when it wasn’t a possibility. If nobody wants it, we don’t want it either.”

He said the traffic change to Martini and the warning lights were added because “it makes the most sense for the most people; that’s why we were unanimous on it.”

"With the process of the referendum, and the amount of public input we received over the past year and a half, there’s a lot of things that looked like we could work it out,” Cerven said. “We vote on things that we as a council think are right.”

Maplewood Richmond Heights School District President Francis Chmelir said the way the PUD was passed, the buses didn’t have a way to exit, and the cut-through exit onto Big Bend would have disrupted the neighborhood.

“We appreciate the council realizing that and coming up with this solution,” Chmelir said. He also said the school board is starting to work with QuikTrip to make the intersection safer.

“We’d love to be a part of that discussion, and the city seems to indicate that’s going to happen,” he said.

Chmelir also said the board is meeting Thursday, and they may talk about issuing a public letter of support for the project.