The St. Charles County Council’s decision to delay a vote on the planned Missouri Bluffs development near Katy Trail was entirely correct, though it is not sufficient. The proposed location for the 221 residence development is currently public land owned by the University of Missouri that is undeveloped is a poor location, that should the development be constructed would perpetuate the continued encroachment on undeveloped land in St. Charles County.

All over St. Charles, especially in areas west of downtown St. Charles, land that was previously unoccupied or farmed has turned into bland, generic housing developments and subdivisions. All of these new subdivisions appear even as houses in others are still unsold or incomplete, thereby making the continued development of more subdivisions unnecessary, and the continued encroachment on the rapidly depleting undeveloped land in St. Charles pointless.

Further, the attendance at the meeting demonstrates just how unpopular this development is. Those who did attend the meeting to argue in favor of the development were those who stood to profit, according to the  St. Louis Post Dispatch. Otherwise, everyone attending the meeting over the development were there to oppose it. Even when the development was first announced last year, the announcement was met with boos. Developing Missouri Bluffs is not popular, and so the county council should vote the way the citizens of St. Charles County want and block the development.

The Missouri Bluffs development is a terrible idea. It would encroach on the rapidly shrinking undeveloped land in St. Charles County all to build more houses that are not needed as already existing subdivisions are still incomplete. For these reasons the St. Charles County Council should block the development project.