YOUR BUSINESS AUTHORITY
Springfield, MO
YOUR BUSINESS AUTHORITY
Springfield, MO
Developer Ralph Duda wants to divest the 2.6-acre property his company owns at the corner of Sunshine Street and National Avenue.
Asked if his intention is to sell his University Heights neighborhood property to the highest bidder, the BK&M LLC partner who has served as the company’s spokesperson confirmed that selling it is his current goal.
“I’ve exhausted all efforts for us to develop it ourselves,” Duda said. “I hope we have someone come in and want us to develop it for them – we’re open to that – but I have no intention to develop the property.”
Duda made his comments at a public meeting yesterday afternoon at TownePlace Suites by Marriott in Springfield. That meeting was conducted by Chris Wynn, senior engineer and environmental scientist for CJW Transportation Consultants LLC, a consultant to BK&M.
Wynn outlined the newest proposal, which is to rezone the corner to an Office 2 designation with a conditional overlay district.
As recently as one day before, BK&M had planned to propose a general retail designation for the property, and that was the proposed change neighborhood residents were alerted to via a mailed meeting notice dated Aug. 8.
Wynn said the restrictions being voluntarily offered by BK&M had already brought them pretty close to O2, and the designation could be achieved by simply removing the few remaining allowed retail and entertainment uses.
Wynn said the most likely uses would be a general or medical office or an assisted living facility.
The proposed O2 designation allows 10 uses under city code:
The most likely options – identified as something like an optometrist’s or architectural office or nursing home – signal a departure from BK&M’s vision for the property, where last year Duda said Trader Joe’s had completed a site visit and engaged in negotiations with his team. Contacted at the time, Trader Joe’s would not confirm that Springfield was under consideration for a store location.
Previous ideas for the site also included a food hall with pickleball courts and a boutique grocery store.
Duda had little to say during last night’s meeting, which was attended by some 60 neighborhood residents, plus Springfield City Council member Bruce Adib-Yazdi, who represents the neighborhood’s Council Zone 4, and Dan Scott, a member of the Planning & Zoning Commission.
A few feet away from Duda sat Dixie Sleight, lead plaintiff of Dixie Sleight et al. v. BK&M LLC et al., a case that is currently under appeal. Last year, 31st Judicial Circuit Judge Derek Ankrom ruled for Duda’s team that neighborhood deed restrictions banning commercial development were not enforceable.
The people who gathered had a history, with numerous attendees having participated in previous neighborhood meetings stretching back to Aug. 18, 2022. That’s when Duda and his partner Anthony Tolliver first introduced themselves and distributed stapled-together handouts listing multiple ideas for a mixed-use establishment.
That lack of specificity was deliberate, the developers said at the time. Tolliver said the purpose of the meeting was to brainstorm with neighborhood residents.
Duda agreed: The two sought to engage, he said during that first meeting, adding, “We want to build something that fits the character of University Heights.”
The handout at that first meeting said BK&M wanted to build something positive for the city. Options listed included “professional office space,” a “fun restaurant,” “medical” or “other.”
Yesterday’s meeting made it clear that many neighborhood residents still want the property’s designation to remain single-family residential. One person in the audience said any nonresidential use opens the entire neighborhood up to more of the same.
Zoning has been the bugaboo for the development, with the most recent general retail rezoning request denied via a 4-4 vote of City Council last October.
Wynn acknowledged that has been frustrating for Duda’s team.
“I don’t necessarily want to speak for Ralph, but I’d say if he could do it all over again, he would probably approach it differently,” said Wynn. “I guess I am speaking for Ralph. Let’s just say, in general, looking at the situation, looking how it’s come out, looking back on it, maybe it would have been nice to get the zoning before he closed on the properties.”
At this point, Wynn said, BK&M is trying to work with the neighborhood, with concessions, donated right-of-way and sidewalk easements and more.
“We’re trying to make an effort to make this development work,” Wynn said.
Some neighborhood residents described BK&M as predatory.
“To look at a map and see this house, this house, this house … and say if I can have all those, what a great place to develop,” said Sara Hollis at the meeting. “They’re all residential – and to have that kind of vision before it’s zoned properly to do that is, in fact, predatory. There’s no other way to describe it.”
She wondered how Duda would feel if people came into his neighborhood and bought up houses around him and then asked for the property to be rezoned.
“I’m sorry – I don’t know you as a person; I don’t have anything against you personally. I just think that it was misguided for you to think that you could do this and not get any flak from it,” she said. “It’s a nice idea; it’s just in the wrong place.”
Duda countered that 70,000 cars pass the site daily, leading Hollis to ask why the number of cars is the issue.
“Because that’s what has caused this. Traffic has caused this situation,” he said.
Hollis said, “You’re making the situation worse, then.”
Duda replied, “No, I think I’m actually going to be improving the situation for the neighborhood and the city of Springfield.”
About 40 minutes into the meeting, Duda stood to leave, telling Wynn he could finish the meeting without him.
“I’m doing the best I can,” he said as he strode toward the door. “I’ve been called a predator; I’ve been called naive. You know, I’ve had enough. Three years of this? I’ll talk to you later.”
The rezoning is scheduled to go in front of the city’s Planning & Zoning Commission Sept. 11 before hitting the City Council agenda for a first reading and public hearing in October.
Resident Jeff Vandenberg said the city is in the midst of a Sunshine Corridor study, and the BK&M proposed development is part of a bigger issue.
“We can’t undo the rezoning; once that happens, it’s done,” he said.
He noted that neighbors are concerned, in part, about the domino effect development could trigger.
“I would encourage the city when it gets to it to remember this is a big development question that’s far beyond one intersection or one property,” Vandenberg said.
Wynn said the study is more than a year out.
“You can’t stop all the development along Sunshine for a year,” Wynn said.
But Vandenberg said his advice would be to postpone the application.
“Wait until we receive a cohesive, comprehensive look at what that zone is going to be like, that corridor’s going to be like, and then that’s going to give great direction to anyone who wants to do anything with that property,” he said. “I’m afraid we’re doing it in the reverse direction … and then the whole point of the development planning process goes away because it’s just done.”
A trio of brothers own Southway Storage LLC, which opened Oct. 7 and has 289 units to serve customers in Ozark, Nixa, Springfield and elsewhere in southwest Missouri.