Dardenne Prairie aldermen agree to defer federal road grant applications to back county request

Dardenne Prairie aldermen voted at a Jan. 21 work session to support a county request to defer the city's federal Surface Transportation Program (STP) grant applications for several road projects and to direct staff to pause applications due Feb. 6.

Kathy Pratt, a city staff member, told the board the county's request came through Steve Ellman and that deferring would shift the city's pipeline by roughly one year. Staff member Matt said the city had four projects under consideration for this cycle — Walden Springs Phase 2, Beringhaven Boulevard, a citywide Safe Routes to School project and Hanley Road — and that moving applications would better align construction years with staff capacity.

Alderman Blake Nee moved that the city "support the proposal and defer ours till next year," and the motion was seconded and approved by voice vote. The board directed staff to decline filing STP grant applications at the East-West Gateway deadline of Feb. 6 and to pursue county maintenance funding opportunities the board can apply for in March.

Mayor Witterman announced he would abstain from votes tied to the federal funds because of a conflict of interest with his day job, stating the funds were federal and that he would not vote on related actions.

Supporters of the deferral said coordinating with neighboring municipalities and the county could help the region secure funding more effectively; some aldermen expressed concern that repeatedly deferring could allow larger cities to dominate discretionary funding allocations, a competitive dynamic staff described as part of the point-based STP award process.

Next steps: staff will notify East-West Gateway of the city's decision to defer this cycle and will prepare a March application for county maintenance funds as discussed at the meeting.