Developers won unanimous Creve Coeur city council approval Monday for a site concept plan that would transform 96 acres of the former Bayer West campus into a mix of residential, retail and commercial uses.

The vote came after some late compromises and despite a protest petition signed by 62% of residents living in adjoining neighborhoods.

Olia Village’s proposal includes attached townhomes, commercial buildings, restaurants, hotels, ground floor commercial units with apartments on the upper floors, office and research space.

It would repurpose some Bayer buildings into office and residential spaces as part of the plan. 

Developers had already agreed to several concessions after a series of public hearings in front of the city’s planning and zoning commission, including a 50-foot minimum residential buffer zone from the property line when that property is next to a district zoned for single family residential housing. 

Further compromises announced Monday include reducing the heights of some buildings in the development and extending buffer zones.

The project could only house two drive-thru restaurants, on specific building lots. 

Residents in the area said they wanted the city to take more time to tweak the plan, which they said they’d only learned about over the last few months.

“If you feel that this is the best development we can get then by all means vote for it. But you do so knowing that you don’t have our full complete support. We still have a lot of concerns,” Rachel Protzel, a Creve Coeur resident who signed the petition, told council members. “We think the development could be better. It’s gonna be great in the end but it could use more work.”

The petition meant that the vote for approval of the project would need a two-thirds majority of the council. It passed 8-0.

“Remember that we’ve only approved a site concept plan in phase 1 today. Every building, every building will be re-evaluated for approval as it comes up to the city council over the next four to five years,” Mayor Robert Hoffman said after the vote. “You will have all your input.”