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Source: St.迷你倉西貢 Louis Post-DispatchDec. 15--ST. CHARLES COUNTY --Breaking ranks with other area leaders, St. Charles County Executive Steve Ehlmann complains that a new regional plan favors improving existing roads over building new ones in expanding areas like his.Ehlmann cast the only vote against the plan when it was endorsed Wednesday by the board of the East-West Gateway Council of Governments."Future projects must have an equal ability to compete for available funds to meet the needs of growing communities in the region," Ehlmann said in a 18-page written response submitted to East-West with St. Charles County Councilman John White.Ehlmann added that "the population will quit moving outward only when all of our older communities have good schools and safe neighborhoods."He also faulted various other parts of the 197-page OneStL plan, which sets goals for regional cooperation in a wide range of subject areas.It was put together over three years using a $4.7 million federal grant, with input from 55 organizations, numerous local officials and 61 public meetings.Ehlmann complained that the education segment doesn't deal with the current controversy over transfers of students from unaccredited school districts or with teacher competence.Moreover, he said the plan says little about crime. For example, he said the plan has no reference to limiting the sale of pseudoephedrine-based cold medications used to make meth. St. Charles County did that in 2011 but most other areas haven't followed suit.Ehlmann and White agree with some other goals in the plan. But they complained that the authors believe they know best "where people should live, and local governments, along with state and federal bureaucracies, should cooperate with them to make sure they live there."In response, Jim Wild, assistant executive 迷你倉將軍澳irector of the Gateway Council, said the plan's priority for spending federal dollars on existing roads and bridges is no change from the Gateway board's own policy for the past 19 years.He said that hasn't kept the Gateway board from approving hundreds of millions of dollars over the years on new construction, such as extending Page Avenue into St. Charles County.St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay, who spoke for the plan at the Wednesday meeting, said putting priority on existing infrastructure, buses and MetroLink "will lift our region" and improve access of poor people to jobs.He added "that doesn't mean there won't be investment in new infrastructure."As for school transfers, Slay said that's "more than a regional issue" and should be addressed by Missouri state government.Florissant Mayor Tom Schneider agreed with Ehlmann that more input is needed in the plan on failing school districts and crime.Schneider, who represents the St. Louis County Municipal League on the Gateway board, also complained that the plan doesn't address urban sprawl.Among 16 others at the meeting, Wild said, were St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley, the mayors of Belleville and East St. Louis and top elected officials in Jefferson, St. Clair, Madison and Monroe counties. The plan was approved on a voice vote.Among other things, the plan calls for more regionwide projects and information sharing among governments, coordinated economic development efforts and more bicycle lanes, tree planting and community gardens.The plan advocates investment in previously developed land and buildings and revising local zoning laws to require "affordable units" in new housing developments.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Visit the St. Louis Post-Dispatch at .stltoday.com Distributed by MCT Information Services迷你倉尖沙咀