Nassim Benchaabane
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
(TNS)
Sep. 20—WILDWOOD — A St. Louis County judge has given the go-ahead for a fire protection district to begin construction on a new fire station after more than a year of disputes between the district and the city.
The ruling Friday by Judge Richard Stewart allows the Monarch Fire Protection District to begin construction of a new station in Wildwood. City officials had quarreled with the district over the station's impact on traffic, noise and firefighting services.
The new fire station, planned for a 3-acre plot at 18304 Wild Horse Creek Road, would replace a 52-year-old facility on the roadway about a half-mile east of the new site. Chief Cary Spiegel has said the current station is out of date and can't accommodate larger, modern firefighting equipment, ambulances and staff.
Wildwood issued a conditional use permit to the fire district in March 2021 but later required the agency to guarantee it would keep emergency call response times within the standard four minutes set by National Fire Protection Association, a nonprofit organization that studies firefighting best practices. A traffic study found that call response times could be about 10 seconds longer for some homes.
But Monarch officials argued the rural topography and roadways of the area made it impossible to meet the city's demand. Officials said the new fire station would decrease response times to most other homes in Wildwood and would allow the district to buy an ambulance and provide better emergency medical service. The district sued the city in May.
Stewart, in an order issued Friday, said the new fire station would produce an overall benefit for the area and that Wildwood failed to provide evidence to show the district could be required to meet its desired response times.
"It appears the City is enforcing this requirement of the CUP only because of a belief that it can," Stewart said. "If this Court allows the City to enforce the call time goal, it would thwart the legitimate interest of the public."
Wildwood Mayor Jim Bowlin said Monday that the city is considering an appeal.
The district bought the site on Wild Horse Creek Road in April 2020. Two months later, fire district residents voted to approve a $14.9 million bond issue to help pay for renovations and new infrastructure and technology. The bond, to be repaid through a 7-cent tax levy, gives the district three years to spend most of the money.
But Bowlin said the district didn't advise officials of the plan to build a new station on the rural road or do "due diligence" to make sure it could receive required permits for the new building before buying the site.
The Planning and Zoning Commission voted in March 2021 to recommend that the council deny the district a conditional use permit. The council voted 11 days later to override the decision but required the district to conduct environmental, archeological and traffic studies.
Stewart said Friday that the district had met the city's other requirements.
Wildwood is one of several cities that receives firefighting and emergency medical services from Monarch, which covers almost 63 square miles including all or parts of Ballwin, Chesterfield, Clarkson Valley, Creve Coeur, Maryland Heights and unincorporated St. Louis County.
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