Politics & Government

Kids Have More Summer Fun With Tree House, Swimming Pool in Ladue

Ladue's Zoning Board of Adjustment grants two variances for home recreation projects.

Sadie Strelow, age 8, student at Reed School in Ladue is going to have a great summer, thanks to the city’s zoning board of adjustment.

Her parents, Jake and Holly Strelow, No. 2 Westerly Lane off Price Road petitioned the ZBA for a variance to build little Sadie a boat-shaped tree house in their front yard. Seems there is not enough room out back to build either a tree house or a swing set. The location of the tree for the house was too close to the neighbor’s property line, requiring a variance to the code.

The five-member board felt this one was easy to handle. “I  see this as very low impact to the rest of the neighborhood,” said Liza Forshaw, a ZBA board member. Other members concurred. The final vote was 4-1 with only Chairman Stanley Walch objecting.

Walch wanted some kind of sunset provision that when little Sadie became of age (around 16 years old), her dad would haul down the tree house. Other board members felt that was arbitrary. No one was willing to second that motion. Board members felt there may be increased value to the tree house, and no good reason to call for any future removal of that.

So now, as soon as the cedar and pressure treated lumber tree house is complete, Sadie and her friends can hang out and enjoy the rest of the summer away from school playing in her new tree house.

A pool variance along Clayton Road.

The young children of Dr. Bruce “Kirke” Bieneman, a practicing pediatric radiologist who lives at 9043 Clayton Rd will also have an enjoyable summer too with their new in-the-ground simple but functional rectangular swimming pool.

Dr. Bieneman plans to tear up a portion of his driveway asphalt, and build the pool in such a location that it too required a property line variance. In reality, the ZBA thought this was very logical. Dr. Bieneman could have legally located the pool at the front door of a flag lot home behind his house with no issue by the city. That plan would have called for the cutting down of a 100 foot tree and removing a lot of green space.

In reality, a pool in the alternate location would have been visible to cars passing by on Clayton Road, and still within code. ZBA members appreciated the doctor’s plans to preserve the grounds and still locate a small but usable pool in his back yard. This case on the docket passed 5-0.


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