Plans for a Schnucks grocery store in Warrenton have been given final approval from the city’s board of aldermen.Aldermen voted 6-0 during a meeting Jan. 16 to approve the site plan for the 36,000-square-foot store and 35,000 square feet of additional retail space.The site of the new store is adjacent to Walgreens on Veterans Memorial Parkway and Highway 47.Schnucks anticipates employing 15 to 20 full-time staff and 40 to 50 part-time staff, most of which will be new hires, said Robert Klahr, an attorney for the developer.The city also approved a special sales tax, limited exclusively to the 15-acre Schnucks property, to help reimburse $2.5 million in development costs.A sales tax of up to 1 percent will be applied to purchases within the property, and used to pay back costs for grading, paving, lighting, utilities and other improvements.Developers had originally estimated that those improvements would cost $4.3 million, but revised that estimate prior to approval.Warrenton aldermen voted unanimously to allow the tax by establishing a small political subdivision called a community improvement district, which will be governed by a five-person board of directors.Work to clear the property began in January. Schnuck Markets Inc. purchased the land in November.

A site map for a planned Schnucks development in Warrenton shows the size and basic layout of the property, including the grocery store and 35,000 square feet of additional retail space on the west side of the lot. To the north is Interstate 70, east is Highway 47, and south is Veterans Memorial Parkway.

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