Metropolitan Sewer District will hold a meeting for University City residents on June 20 regarding their plan to build two 30-to 40-foot tanks to hold raw sewage in a residential area in Ward 3.
A few weeks ago, University City homeowners were surprised and upset to learn of MSD’s plan to place the sewage tanks in a residential area not far from a school to address a bottleneck of three large underground sewer pipes that converge in that location. Flooding and raw sewage backups are ongoing issue in the area, located around Hafner Court and Hafner Place, north of Olive Boulevard and south of Canton Avenue. MSD is looking at two possible locations in that same area to put the tanks.
Residents don’t like that they had no input, what it may do to property values, or how it may affect U. City’s revitalization efforts along Olive Blvd. And, they don’t like the fact that MSD told them there was nothing they could do about it – the sewer tanks were going to happen.
“The current mayor may not have known about the above ground tanks, but she knew about Project Clear and didn’t say anything to the council about it,” said Ward 3 Councilman Bwayne Smotherson.
Project Clear is a plan to resolve the sewage overflow into its water system that is backing into basements, the River Des Peres and the Mississippi River.
Lance LeComb, spokesperson for MSD, told The American that it is a sewer project, not a flood control project, but it could solve both issues for a specific area.
“If we do this work, we can take some folks who have had problems with flooding out of the danger zone,” LeComb said.
A $4.7 billion agreement with Environmental Protection Agency and the Missouri Coalition for the Environment calls for 23 years of spending projects to improve the wastewater system, he said, due to sewer overflows.
“In terms of this project in particular, we have three very large sewer lines that run through that area and University City is certainly one of our older communities,” LeComb said. “It’s a community that has a lot of infrastructure.”
Collectively, LeComb said the two tanks could store more than 9 million gallons of raw sewage.
LeComb said, “The tanks will not be full all of the time. It will only be used during moderate to heavy rainfall.”
MSD considered putting a short, underground storage tunnel, LeComb said, but it was deemed unsafe from an engineering or flooding perspective.
MSD said it has been in discussions with University City officials for two years. However, word about this sewage storage plan never got to Ward 3 and Smotherson, whose constituents would be affected, or to other elected leaders and community residents.
“It was the current mayor and the former city manager,” Smotherson alleged. “The former city manager instructed the staff, based on what MSD asked, to not inform the council, or not inform anybody.”
MSD denied that they told U. City leaders to keep quiet. “It was not a secret,” LeComb said, adding although it wasn’t announced publicly, they didn’t want “unscrupulous buyers coming in” and purchasing affected properties to jack the price up.
University City Mayor Shelley Welsch told the American, “I had no prior knowledge of MSD’s proposal to build above-ground wastewater tanks in University City. My colleagues are saying that without any basis in fact. I found out about this plan at the same time all members of council did – which was when we received the information packet for our study session on May 22.”
Welsch does not want the tanks either.
“I do not support the idea,” Welsch said. “I know of no one in University City who likes the idea. However, I have heard from a number of residents who have said they understand the need for the tanks.”
For nearly an hour, MSD board members heard from dozens of U. City residents and elected leaders during its board meeting on June 8. The proposal was not an agenda item.
“Why are you treating University City differently?” asked Ward 2 Councilwoman Paulette Carr. “The St. Ann tank is set back from homes 500-feet, rather than the 100 feet proposed in University City. Hazelwood and Crestwood tanks are in industrial areas and not in residential areas.”
“You have disrespected me, you have disrespected my family and you have disrespected my community and I think it was deliberate,” said Mary E. Weston, a 42-year resident. “I think you saw us as vulnerable and quiet and easy to manage. Wrong answer.”
Resident Aaron Ginsburg said, “We understand that MSD has to use those tanks, but it can be done without disrupting residential neighborhoods.”
MSD reps also met with the residents in a separate conference room to air additional concerns.
“Instead of looking at two, big, massive, above-ground tanks, consider smaller tanks underground in other areas other than University City,” one resident suggested.
“This is where the project needs to take place from an engineering perspective,” LeComb said.
LeComb said MSD will have more information and answers for U. City residents on June 20.
A public meeting on “Project Clear” by MSD takes place on Tuesday, June 20, 6:30 p.m. at the Mandarin House Banquet Hall, 8008 Olive Blvd., University City.
