SLDC Pushes for New District Surrounding Future NGA Site
Date Posted: August 31, 2018
Posted In: News,
From St. Louis Public Radio: Residents gathered Wednesday night at Vashon High School to hear about a proposal for a Special Use District surrounding the future site of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency in north St. Louis.
It was the second of two public meetings organized this month by the St. Louis Development Corporation’s Project Connect to discuss the proposal.
The Special Use District — or SUD — would encircle the NGA site, roughly extending one half mile outward from the perimeter of the 97-acre development as shown on this map.
At the public meeting, Jay Watson, manager of Project Connect, outlined the purpose of the proposed SUD. Additional or “overlay zoning” requirements in the district, he said, are needed to address “NGA’s concerns about potential security risks from unconstrained development around the site.”
According to Watson’s presentation and a draft of zoning regulations, the SUD is needed to protect the NGA site from:
- Incompatible hazardous or toxic land uses including motor-fuel pumping stations
- Incompatible heights of structure for radio frequency, microwave or other emitting towers
- Incompatible heights of structures for the transmission or receipt of information and signals by or through electronic, radio, satellite or other medium
- Facilities or improvements financed, sponsored, owned or operated by adverse government which pose a threat to National Security
The proposed bill, which SLDC wants introduced into the Board of Aldermen next month, lists 10 categories of businesses or operations that would be prohibited in the district. They include restrictions on the height of cell or other types of communication towers to no more than 65 feet. Certain welding activities also would be prohibited because they emit significant radio frequency energy.