Scenes from ONSLRG’s Annual Meeting & Potluck Supper

On Monday night we hosted a full house of residents and friends for Old North St. Louis Restoration Group’s Annual Meeting & Potluck Supper.

Board President Tino Ochoa discusses the plans for the Old North Grocery Co-op.

Kathleen Parvis, Marketing Committee Chair, announced plans for a bigger and better Old North House & Community Tour, scheduled for Sat., May 8.

In addition to a slide show of highlights from the past year and a preview of coming attractions, ONSLRG’s members elected 5 individuals to serve on the Board of Directors for the 2010-2012 term.  Re-elected to the Board were Tino Ochoa, John Burse, Johnnie Owens, and Kathryn Bentley.  Also elected was Brian Krueger, one of the most active volunteers at the 13th Street Community Garden and the North City Farmers’ Market. 

The meeting also was an ideal occasion to recognize neighbors who have made significant contributions to the quality of life in Old North over the past year.   Good Neighbor Awards were presented to Graham Lane and Ben Sever, who tirelessly gave of their time to numerous projects, including the Macho Action Group clean-ups, set-up at the North City Farmers’ Market, service on multiple committees, and opening their homes for tours on a regular basis; and to Kathleen Parvis, who took the lead on last year’s House & Community Tour and recruited scores of SLU students to assist with neighborhood clean-up and garden projects as part of their law school orientation week.

As usual, though, the highlight for many was the feast of casseroles, cakes, biscuits, and salads from the kitchens of neighbors and friends, and the chance to share a meal with new and long-time neighbors on a cold, wintery evening.

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ONSLRG’s Annual Meeting & Pot-Luck Supper Next Monday, Feb. 15

Next Monday, February 15, the Old North St. Louis Restoration Group will hold its annual meeting and put-luck supper at the ONSLRG office and gallery.  If you’re a member of ONSLRG or just a friend who cares about Old North and want to show your support for the community-based, not-for-profit organization that serves the neighborhood, come on out and join us for a review of the highlights of 2009 and preview of plans for the rest of 2010.  And if you’re not yet a member, you can join now by clicking right here.

Click here to download a PDF of the flyer for this event so that you can print and share with your friends or neighbors.

Above: ONSLRG Board President Tino Ochoa discussed some of the plans for 2009 at last year’s annual meeting.

Above:  a highlight of this annual event is the opportunity to taste some of your neighbors’ favorite recipes.

If you have any questions, just give us a call at the ONSLRG office (314-241-5031) or send an email to info@onsl.org.

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A Neighborhood that Cares about Affordable Housing & Design

Old North St. Louis Restoration Group has always maintained a commitment to the ideal that current and prospective residents, from across the economic spectrum, should be able to find high quality housing opportunities appropriate and affordable for their individual circumstances.  With that said, we were excited to learn that Habitat for Humanity was interested in adding some of their homes to our efforts to ensure that the market in ONSL includes high quality, affordable ownership opportunities.  Last week ONSLRG hosted a community meeting to allow neighborhood residents to hear from Habitat for Humanity staff about their plans to build 17 new, energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly homes in Old North this year.

The large turnout and lively discussion demonstrated that Old North residents are passionate about design related issues.  A lot of conversation focused on whether the contemporary design of the new homes would blend well with the historic character of the neighborhood.  Most historic neighborhoods that have been around for nearly a couple hundred years, however, include a range of housing styles that reflect the diversity of the population and the evolving tastes and construction methods.  While Old North is well known for its red brick, Victorian-era townhouses, the neighborhood is also home to buildings with facades of other materials and colors, as well as variation in size and setback.

It’s worth noting that Habitat’s staff and architects took the time to come up with designs that represent a significant departure from previous homes they’ve built in St. Louis - and with features that reflect characteristics of other homes in Old North, including the neighborhood’s sampling of flounder houses and one-story homes, especially in the northwest part of the neighborhood.

The rendering above shows one of the two-story flounder-style models adjacent to one of the one-story models.

The plan at the moment is for some of the preliminary development work to get started as early as the next month with volunteer crews to be on site for build days in two different waves, one from April through June, and the second from July through September.  The homes are to be built on the 1900 blocks of Hebert and Sullivan, and the 1400 block of Dodier (between Blair and 19th), as shown below.  As the site plan indicates, Habitat’s plan has attracted the interest of EcoUrban, another private developer with a track record for high quality, award-winning green buildings.

For information about how to get on the list for homeownership or to volunteer to help build these homes, contact Habitat for Humanity at 314-371-0400.  To offer your thoughts about how this development fits into the overall redevelopment of Old North St. Louis or for other general neighborhood questions, contact ONSLRG at 314-241-5031 or by email at info@onsl.org.

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