Construction is set to begin on a new restaurant in Clayton. The City of Clayton Board of Aldermen approved unanimously Tuesday a conditional use permit that will allow Smoothie King to open its first Clayton location at 25 N. Central Avenue.
The 1,380 square-foot building is set to open in mid-to-late January. Smoothie King will be open from 6:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday, Saturday from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
“We’re excited to be in Clayton and we look forward to opening up for the community,” co-owner of 98 Smoothies Chase Mathis said.
The Board of Aldermen wrapped up its bi-monthly meeting by tabling the final two issues on the agenda, the first of which was a resolution urging the St. Louis County Council and St. Louis Board of Aldermen to oppose any and all legislation authorizing a statewide vote regarding the changes in the government structure of St. Louis City and St. Louis County.
Alderman Ira Berkowitz moved to table the resolution in order to clarify the verbiage in the resolution.
“I just wondered if maybe we should make a clearer statement that this is not the city imposing an opinion about whether or not the city-county should at one point in time merge with each other,” Berkowitz said. “We need to have some kind of verbiage that would indicate that by doing this we are not taking any kind of a stand one way or another. It needs to read clearly that the state should not be telling us what to do.”
The City Council also considered a motion from a group of concerned Clayton citizens under the name Protect Clayton Neighborhoods, which is appealing the Board of Alderman’s September 12 decision to grant Centene Corporation a conditional use permit application to operate a child care and employee educational center at 7510 Maryland Avenue.
The group alleges the Board approved an illegal zoning decision to allow Centene to operate as a “College or University” on a property that is located in a residential district and sandwiched between two residential streets, which would infringe upon a City Ordinance.
The City Planning Commission recommended that Centene provide green space for public use during non-business hours, however, the Board of Aldermen has stated it does not have authority to require Centene to grant such access to private property.
The Board docketed the appeal for consideration Tuesday night, but City Attorney Kevin O’Keefe has recommended it be denied without reaching the merits because the neighbors cannot show they are “harmed” by the Board’s decision.
The group, represented by about 25 residences, asked and was granted a motion to delay in order to adequately respond to the legal recommendations by the Board of Aldermen until the next City Council meeting on November 14.
“We certainly are not going to cut off any of your needs to come back with additional information,” Clayton Mayor Harold Sanger told the 15 members of Protect Clayton Neighborhoods in attendance. “I think we’re happy to hear what you have to say and I think you should take into consideration the advice we have from our counselor.
“We’re all citizens here and we’d like to hear what the issues are.”
The City Council also unanimously approved an amendment to the conditional use permit for Kol Rinah, a Jewish Community Center requesting an increase in the square footage of its early child care center, before unanimously voting to retain a one-year service agreement with Commerce Bank.