University City residents got to ask questions and express concerns during a public meeting on June 20 to hear Metropolitan Sewer District’s latest proposal for putting raw sewage storage tanks in the residential area near Hafner Place and Olive Boulevard. The proposed tanks would have a combined capacity of more than nine million gallons of raw sewage. The MSD plan calls for an odor control system as well.
Rather than being above-ground, MSD took into consideration the feedback from residents and made the commitment to put the two 30-to 40-foot tanks below ground, with about five feet above ground, to be covered by berm and landscaping.
“We have identified that it shouldn’t be a problem,” Lance LeComb, spokesperson for MSD told The American. “There’s going to be a lot of work that needs to be done with the community, in terms of looking at what’s the appropriate buyout area, what’s the appropriate buffer space, but we think we can address a lot of the concerns and questions tonight.”
MSD presented visuals — photos, aerial maps, a video of how the tanks would operate, and renderings of how sewer tanks look or will look in Crestwood, Hazelwood and St. Ann. However, none of them is located in residential areas.
MSD engineer Brad Nevois and MSD spokesperson Lance LeComb fielded the questions, but for community members, they did not provide enough answers – or enough of the answers they wanted to hear.
“My concern is if it’s going to be a healthy thing, and why do they want to put it in a residence area when they got all this area surrounding – you got Ladue, Creve Coeur, Town and Country. and they say it’s for St. Louis City and St. Louis County,” Leon Hayes said. The 47-year-old U. City resident attended the meeting to replace hearsay with facts – and suggested they put the sewage tanks “someplace else.”
“They have always found a zip code to know where the average black man lives – and that’s where it won’t be a problem,” Hayes said.
And while MSD said it is several months away from putting a formal proposal before its board for approval, James Harrell, who has been in his home for 48 years, said the relocation timeline process outlined on handouts they gave to residents attending the meeting moves too fast.
“They are only giving us eight months to do what they are going to do,” Harrell told The American.
“How can they do this this fast? We don’t know anything,” Hayes added.
Many residents said they would rather see smaller tanks placed around the area, spreading the sewage around to other neighborhoods and communities. MSD insists it has to happen in that location.
“We can’t send the problem downstream anymore, we’ve got to take care of it right away,” said Brad Nevois, assistant director of Engineering for MSD.
Lifelong resident Sonya Pointer urged the city council not to grant MSD a special use permit for the tanks.
“This project is massive; it’s invasive, it has health issues related to it,” Pointer said. “And no matter what they say, this project should not be in our neighborhood, and the end-all, be-all lies with us, the people, as well as MSD board of trustees.”
Although it is not the preferred course of action, MSD said it has the authority to move forward without community approval or that of elected U. City leaders.
“You can come in here with arrogance – you want to talk to us in a condescending way – but this is an emotional investment for all of us,” Pointer told MSD representatives. “University City residents – they leave, they come back, our family still stays here, we come here after school and buy houses. This is our community. Do you want it in your neighborhood? This is not right. This is inhumane.”
LeComb asked how many people there had basement backups.
Residents jeered angrily.
“We don’t have a choice about where to go,” LeComb said over taunts.
Tuesday’s meeting was one of many MSD said it would hold with University City residents. In a future meeting, it will have a representative attend to answer questions regarding health and safety concerns.
