During the Feb. 17, Warrenton Board of Aldermen meeting Director of Operations Jon Struckoff announced that the Marshall Tucker Band will be the featured entertainer at this year’s Fall Festival.

During a fairly quick Board of Aldermen meeting, Struckoff made the announcement during his portion of the meeting. Struckoff said that the Marshall Tucker Band will be the center stage performer to close out the night of the event and there will also be other acts performing at the other stages that will be set up for the event. The date for the event has been set for Sept. 19.

In other matters, the board heard from two residents during the public comment portion of the meeting regarding issues relating to housing in the community.

Resident Mikal Schlenther spoke regarding R-III zoning in the city's code. She said originally the R-III zoning district allowed for the highest density residential needs such as multi-family and other similarly situated dwellings.

“Over time R-III has been reshaped through a series of policy decisions,” she said, noting that minimum housing sizes increased, setbacks expanded and a 35 percent lot coverage cap was added. She said the R-III district still exists, but smaller homes and multi-family homes are now harder to build under the restrictions of the code. Schlenther said on similarly sized parcels a duplex generates more tax revenue than a single family home.

Schlenther said she was requesting the board schedule a work session to review how the high-density residential R-III district is currently functioning.

Resident Clifton Woolf also spoke to the board in support of Alderman Brandon Lang’s request to help the homeless in Warrenton. Specifically Woolf spoke in support of Lang’s presentation of a proposal of tiny homes at the board’s Feb. 10 work session. Woolf said tiny homes serve a purpose by providing a place to live for residents. Woolf also spoke about the R-III zoning in support of his granddaughter Schlenther’s request. Woolf said the board of aldermen made a decision in 2022 that made changes to the R-III district to allow only single-family homes in a multi-family district. He asked the board to revisit that decision.

The board also voted unanimously to reappoint Chris Kline and Franklin Sears to the Warrenton Commons CID Board with terms expiring Jan. 16, 2030.

The board also voted to approve Warrenton Police Department Chief Larry Ellard’s request to allow his department to apply for two MoDOT grants, the Hazardous Moving Violation Enforcement Interstate 70 grant and the DWI Saturation Enforcement grant.