St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 4

r4 JAN 10 1331 THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 1991 ST.LOUiS FC37-DiSPATCH 5A Firm Seeks Local Taxes To Fund Cupples Project Westfall Nominates Three To Planning Commission 7T 'J- 1 By Tim O'Neil Of the Post-Dispatch Staff A company that wants to turn the Cupples Station warehouses into office buildings proposed Wednesday that local tax subsidies pay almost one-third of the project's cost. St. Louis has picked Williams Nichols a developer from Chicago, to save and renovate the 10 warehouses on the south end of downtown. Emory Williams, of the company, outlined financial details Wednesday to the aldermanic Housing Committee. The committee will vote on the plan next week.

Williams estimated the cost of renovation at $99 million. The company wants the city to finance a $32 million bond issue through a subsidy called tax increment financing, or TIF. TIF uses additional tax money generated by a development and puts it to use in financing the project. The city's TIF would divert all the increased revenue from the property tax and half of all other taxes, such as sales and earnings taxes, to the Cupples Project. The diverted money estimated at $4 million a year would pay off the $32 million in bonds that would be sold up front to finance the project.

Over the life of the 23-year bonds, about $90 million would be diverted. Williams and city officials say the deal still would generate more tax revenue by making use of property that now provides only about $60,000 annually in taxes. Renovating Cupples has been a top priority of Mayor Vincent Schoe-mehl Jr. since 1989, when be told Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc.

that the city would oppose its plan to use the property for parking. The mayor originally told the brewery that he would not stand in the way. Anheuser-Busch wanted the parking for its plan to build a $70 million arena just south of Busch Stadium. Schoemehl's switch prompted the brewery to drop its plan and started a lively public debate over the value of the warehouses themselves. The St.

Louis Board of Education is opposed to giving the project Tax Increment Financing. Sterling Miller, planning supervisor for the school system, told the aldermanic committee that the subsidy would divert property taxes intended for schools. "I believe voters intend for that money to be used for education, not development," Miller said. In the past, the school board has opposed property-tax breaks for other major developments downtown. By Virgil Tipton Of th Post-Dispatch Staff A member of the St Louis County Planning Commission who also is running for mayor of Frontenac has been nominated for a second three-year term on the zoning panel by County Executive George R.

"Buzz" Westfall. Three nominations to the planning panel that were announced Tuesday were Westfall's first since being sworn in as county executive Jan. 1. The incumbent renominated by Westfall is Douglas D. Morgan, president of Self Storage Systems Inc.

in Florissant and a former Frontenac alderman. The other two nominees are Wayne Hilzinger of South County, an insurance broker; and Norbert J. Shankin of Florissant, who works at McDonnell Douglas Corp. The nominations require confirmation by the County Council. Planning Commission members are paid $1,500 a year.

Morgan said he would drop out of the mayoral race if the county counselor says the law would bar Morgan from serving as mayor of Frontenac and as a member of the Planning Commission. Morgan faced a similar choice three years ago when he was running for re-election as an alderman. Then- County Executive Gene McNary picked him for the Planning Commission, and county officials told Morgan that he could not serve in both positions. Morgan dropped out of the al-dermanic race to take the planning spot. Morgan said he was hoping that county lawyers would come up with a different answer this time, an answer that would allow him to keep both posts.

He said he saw no conflict of interest in being mayor of a municipality and serving on the county's Planning Commission. The planning board has jurisdiction only over unincorporated areas, and no unincorporated areas abut Frontenac, Morgan said. Last month, Joan McGivney, a member of the Webster Groves City Council, resigned from her spot on the Planning Commission because the Webster Groves City Charter prevented her from keeping both posts. Shankin would replace Daniel E. Reuter, whose term has expired.

Shankin was the deputy treasurer for the campaign of Councilman Jim O'Mara of North County, D-4th District. O'Mara recommended him for the planning position. Hilzinger would replace Dennis Labantsching, whose term has expired. Wayne CrossnnPosi-Dispaich Clay Names Two St. Louisans To Posts With House Panel High Court Accepts Appeal From Retarded Man In Killing A state highway crew working Wednesday on a pitted stretch of road on Interstate 70 just north of downtown.

The relentless ice has caused numerous potholes all over. More Freezing Rain Forecast, And Then Just More Freezing interview Tuesday, Clay stopped short of denying he was considering a job for Bass. "I'm not ruling out anything," Clay said. If Bass would resign, it would leave open the possibility that Clay's son state Rep. William L.

Clay D-St. Louis would become the nominee in a special election to succeed Bass. Democratic committeemen pick the nominee for a special election, and Clay Sr. has influence in Bass' district in north and central St. Louis.

Bass said recently that he did not know anything about an offer from Clay Sr. Clay Jr. said Wednesday he knew of no plan for him to replace Bass. Rumors have floated for several years that Bass a former St. Louis comptroller and a longtime friend of Clay Sr.

would make room for Clay Jr. by taking a job at St. Louis City Hall. The latest round of speculation centering on a job with Clay Sr. was sparked last month when Clay was picked to head the Post Office committee.

By Robert L. Koenig and Mark Schlinkmann Of the Post-Dispatch Staff Rep. William L. Clay is giving a St. Louis stamp to the House Post Office and Civil Service Committee as he takes over leadership of its staff and its agenda.

Clay, the committee's new chairman, is hiring two St. Louisans Doris Moore-Glenn and Betty Lee to become, respectively, the committee's deputy staff director and public information director. Moore-Glenn is an administrator in the St. Louis public school system and a longtime community activist. Lee is leaving her job as communications director for the University of Missouri at St.

Louis. She is a former writer for the St. Louis American. Clay declined to confirm speculation in St. Louis and Jefferson City political circles that he would offer a job on his committee or his congressional staff to state Sen.

John F. Bass, D-St. Louis. "I can tell you that John Bass' name is not on the committee payroll I sent," Clay said. But in a telephone death penalty against him.

After Wilson began his sentence, Chris Brownfield, a murderer serving a life sentence in Kansas, confessed to involvement in the Martz murder. Brownfield said that Wilson had not been involved. At the time of the Martz murder, Brownfield was an escapee from another prison. He had been considered a suspect in the killing of Pauline Martz. In November, the appeals court denied Wilson a trial, ruling that Brown-field's admissions of guilt were not pertinent to Wilson's case.

The court also found that Wilson knew what he was doing when he entered the "Alford plea." Also Wednesday: The court affirmed, 5-1, the first-degree murder conviction and death sentence of Heath Wilkins, who was 16 when he fatally stabbed a convenience-store clerk in Avondale, Mo. Chief Justice Charles B. Blackmar dissented, saying that a special punishment trial should be held when the state tries to execute someone who was a juvenile at the time the crime was committed. By Terry Ganey Post-Dispatch Jefferson City Bureau Chief JEFFERSON CITY The Missouri Supreme Court agreed Wednesday to consider the case of Johnny Lee Wilson, a mentally retarded man convicted of a murder to which another man has confessed. Without comment, the court accepted an appeal of Wilson's case from the state Court of Appeals in Springfield.

Wilson, 25, is serving a life prison term for the murder of Pauline Martz in Aurora, Mo. Martz was found dead in the burned ruins of her home on April 15, 1987. Police believe that Martz was the victim of a robbery, and that robbers tied her up and set fire to her home to cover up evidence. Wilson, who lived In Aurora with his mother and grandmother, confessed to the slaying shortly after it occurred. Wilson entered an "Alford plea" before Jaspar County Circuit Judge L.

Thomas Elliston in Joplin. In an Al-fprd plea, a defendant admits there is enough evidence to convict him of a crime. Wilson entered the plea in return for prosecutors not seeking the should end at midday Friday, with the high reaching only 30, he said. Another cold Canadian front is expected to move through here Saturday morning, Trexler said, bringing light snow and a drop in temperature to the mid-20s. On Sunday, temperatures should fall slowly to a high in the low 20s, but gusts of wind could produce a wind-chill factor that will make it seem like 15 to 20 below zero.

By Monday, a high-pressure ridge over the Rockies will open up more Arctic air over the Midwest but will keep out the snow, sleet and rain, Trexler said. The 30-day outlook for the region, issued at the beginning of the month, calls for below-normal temperatures and above-normal precipitation. The winter weather forecast for the St. Louis area seems stuck in one position: lousy. Marty Trexler, meteorologist with WeaterData a private forecasting service in Wichita, saw no light at the end of the ice tunnel Wednesday as he predicted more freezing rain, sleet and even snow through the weekend.

As if that weren't bad enough, it will be even colder but drier next week, he said. Today should be the warmest day, with a high of 34. The day's forecast calls for a chance of freezing rain and sleet in the morning, changing to just rain by afternoon and back to freezing drizzle possibly mixed with snow overnight, Trexler said. The precipitation I ST. CLAIR CRESTW00D SOUTH COUNTY JAMESTOWN MID RIVERS NORTHWEST SAINT LOUIS GALLERIA CHESTERFIELD ST.

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