The City of St. Louis has released the first drafts of neighborhood recovery plans for the last two planning areas still waiting on them, covering 10 neighborhoods battered by the tornado that tore through the city on May 16, 2025. The documents tackle everything from housing and safer streets to walkability and stronger commercial corridors, and residents now have a window to weigh in before anything becomes official.
According to stltoday.com, Plan Area 4 spans seven neighborhoods: Hamilton Heights, Wells-Goodfellow, Kingsway West, College Hill, Fairground Neighborhood, Penrose and O'Fallon. Plan Area 5 covers three more — Academy, Fountain Park and Lewis Place. Jonathan Roper, a city official involved in the recovery process, told FOX 2 that the first drafts are now available online and at community meetings, and that the plans cover housing, transportation, traffic conditions and overall quality of life.
City officials have been careful to stress these are only drafts. Per FOX 2's report, officials emphasized that the documents remain open to change so residents can suggest revisions before anything is finalized, and the stltoday.com report notes that community feedback will help shape the final plans and guide future neighborhood investments.
What's Actually in the Plans
Each neighborhood plan is meant to address both basic infrastructure needs and broader community goals, FOX 2 reports. The same report says the drafts focus on high-quality housing, safer streets, walkable neighborhood designs, stronger commercial districts, and recreational options and gathering spaces for residents. The stltoday.com article frames the key topics a bit differently, listing housing, recreation and activities for all ages, neighborhood safety and walkability, local businesses, and welcoming, active public spaces — essentially the same priorities residents have been asked about since the planning work began.
That engagement did not start recently. The planning processes began shortly after the tornado and incorporated early feedback from residents and community organizations to identify neighborhood priorities, challenges, opportunities and long-term goals, the stltoday.com account notes. A related engagement page for Plan Area 4 described a fourth round of public input focused on draft projects before the plan was finalized, according to engagemksk.mysocialpinpoint.com, which also states the Plan Area 4 draft includes three catalytic sites and 13 transformative projects spread across six topic areas: Housing, Parks & Community Life, Sustainability, Mobility, Jobs & Workforce, and Retail & Services.
How Residents Can Weigh In
Three in-person review opportunities for Plan Area 4 were set for Nov. 12, Nov. 16 and Nov. 17, at 4234 N. Grand Blvd., 4415 Natural Bridge Ave., and 5555 Page Blvd., respectively, the stltoday.com report states. Review sessions for Plan Area 5 had not yet been scheduled as of that reporting; the outlet says those sessions will be announced at a later date. Residents, organizations and community members are invited to review the drafts and provide feedback, and the materials remain accessible both online and through those community gatherings.
This two-area release follows a similar process the city ran elsewhere in north St. Louis. fox2now.com reported that the city presented a draft neighborhood plan for Baden and North Pointe during a PlanSTL open house and sought resident input before finalizing it. Separately, firstalert4.com has described a broader north St. Louis planning effort meant to guide development over the next 20 years, underscoring that this recovery work is tied to a longer horizon than just rebuilding what the tornado destroyed.
Rebuilding Beyond the Blueprints
The planning documents are only one piece of the recovery picture. A City of St. Louis announcement describes five organizations in north St. Louis repairing 250 tornado-damaged affordable rental units for families earning up to 80 percent of area median income, backed by $4 million in city funding, according to the city's own tornado recovery portal.
For now, the drafts for Plan Area 4 and Plan Area 5 remain works in progress, and city officials have framed this stage explicitly as an invitation rather than a final word. Residents can help shape the future of their communities before the plans are finalized, giving the 10 affected neighborhoods a direct say in how the next phase of rebuilding takes shape.
