With an ongoing wave of new housing development in Wright City expected to continue for the foreseeable future, city leaders are engaged in a review of how the city’s neighborhoods could have been made better, if they were built all over again.

Problems like parked cars crowding the street, difficulty of snow plowing, and lack of accommodation for future growth have all been discussed in the runup to what the Wright City Board of Aldermen says will be new rules for residential subdivision developers. By understanding what difficulties currently exist, city leaders want to avoid repeating those same mistakes in new neighborhoods, and maybe head off some other growing pains along the way.

For the past few months, aldermen have been moving toward a vote on amendments to the city’s standards for subdivision development. Proposals have included restricting parking to one side of the street, requiring developers to create a certain amount of shared recreational green space, and requiring cul-de-sac areas to have designated “snow plow areas” where piles of snow can be pushed in the winter.

City leaders have also discussed mandating easements for future road expansions, or even levying developer fees that would help pay for various public improvements.

Wright City’s current elected officials have universally stated a goal of regulating and planning the city’s growth so development doesn’t cause unending headaches in the future. But they’ve been discussing, debating, and tweaking proposals for new subdivision rules for months now, because they haven’t settled on what regulations are appropriate, but not overly burdensome.

Alderman Karey Owens, for example, has said she is hesitant to force developers to designate part of their land as undevelopable green space. On the other hand, Alderman Nathan Rohr, who works in construction, said developers are already comfortable with such requirements, particularly home builders who have been working nearby in St. Charles County.

Alderman Ramiz Hakim, meanwhile, has said he is most concerned about new developments’ impact on existing and future city roads and infrastructure.

“I’d like to find creative ways to get all these new developments to somehow pitch in on the impact that they’re having on our roadways,” Hakim commented in March. He said he didn’t want to create too many other requirements, on top of that, which would make building in Wright City so expensive as to be unattractive.

Part of the discussion has been to compare what requirements developers are willing to comply with in neighboring counties. According to City Attorney Paul Rost, who works with various municipalities, the standards that Wright City is considering now are still more lenient than other municipalities in St. Charles and St. Louis counties.

If Wright City intends to enact new standards for subdivisions, Mayor Michelle Heiliger said it’s important to establish those expectations now, before a surge in outside home builders come looking for projects in Wright City.

“They’re not going to do it out of the kindness of their heart,” Heiliger commented. “The builders that live in this community and have to see these people at a basketball game or grocery store, they’ll think differently. But these folks that are coming here to build and then leave, (community) isn’t relevant to them.”

During the most recent discussion of the topic in late March, aldermen said they had met with local developers to understand how different proposed regulations would impact their projects.

Alderman Hakim asked for a final decision to be withheld until aldermen can take a mobile tour with developers to see how the regulations would impact the style of subdivision that they’re currently building in nearby areas.

The board of aldermen’s next public meeting, where the subdivision regulations are likely to be discussed again, is scheduled for April 14 at Wright City Hall.