Developers win damages for city’s left-turn ban

A St. Louis County jury found the city of Chesterfield liable for $2 million in damages to the owners of a gas station and convenience store whose efforts to redevelop the property had been blocked by the city over the past decade.

Energy Marketing 709 sued the city in 2017 over a restriction put in place three years earlier that prevented left turns from the property’s easternmost access point onto Chesterfield Airport Road near its intersection with Olive Street Road.

The development group wants to rezone the triangular, 5.2-acre site, known as the Wedge, and add four new buildings on the property, including an expanded gas station-convenience store with a car wash — a project the developer’s attorneys say will now proceed.

Attorneys for the city of Chesterfield, which cited public safety in its 2014 rezoning decision, did not respond to a request for comment.

The developer had argued that the city lacked authority to impose such a requirement because St. Louis County, not Chesterfield, has control over the county arterial road. They cited support from county officials and two traffic consultants it hired at the city’s request to bolster their support that a ban on left turns wasn’t necessary.

In a 2019 ruling, Judge Kristine Kerr concurred, with the case continuing to resolve damages sought by the plaintiff for due process violations and an unconstitutional taking of property.

The jury delivered its unanimous verdict at the conclusion of a five-day trial.

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$2 million verdict

Real estate, civil rights

Venue: St. Louis County Circuit Court

Case Number/Date: 17SL-CC01389/Oct. 20, 2023

Judge: Kristine Kerr

Caption: Energy Marketing 709 LLC v. City of Chesterfield

Plaintiff’s Attorneys: Gene Brockland, Brad Goss and Christopher Miller, Amundsen Davis, St. Louis

Defendant’s Attorneys: Christopher Graville and Nathan Burns, The Graville Law Firm, Des Peres