BK&M asks for rezoning request to go back to P&Z

BK&M LLC, the development group behind a contested project at Sunshine Street and National Avenue, is asking for its rezoning request to be remanded back to the city of Springfield’s Planning & Zoning Commission.

Springfield City Council is slated to hear the rezoning request at its May 22 meeting. Ralph Duda, a partner in BK&M, is asking council members to instead send the issue back to P&Z, according to a news release from the city of Springfield. P&Z voted 7-1 last month against recommending the proposal to council.

If remanded to P&Z, commissioners would be asked to review a series of developer changes that include a reduction in total height of the building to 55 feet from 75 feet; the construction of a masonry wall instead of a 6-foot wooden fence along the perimeter; and the planting of up to 70 evergreens in the buffer yard.

University Heights neighbors have been starkly opposed to the development, initially unveiled as a project that could have as many as six floors and up to 200,000 square feet of space, according to past Springfield Business Journal reporting. A civil lawsuit filed by a group of University Heights neighbors has challenged the development based on deed restrictions that were set in 1925.

Duda last month told SBJ that high-end restaurants or a boutique grocery chain are now the top candidates for the development.