BK&M submits new zoning application to city

Last edited 2:08 p.m., Aug. 8, 2025 [Editor's note: The date the application was received by the city has been corrected.]

Developer BK&M LLC has submitted a new zoning application to the city of Springfield for land the company owns at the corner of Sunshine Street and National Avenue.

Ralph Duda, president of BK&M, said via email the request seeks a rezoning of the property to general retail with a conditional overlay district from residential-single family. Springfield Business Journal additionally received a copy of the application from Springfield Planning and Development Director Steve Childers, who noted it was submitted to the municipality on Aug. 4.

"We are significantly reducing the allowable use cases ... which guarantees the neighborhood that only a low intense development can occur on this property," Duda said.

He pointed to the following as allowable uses under the rezoning application: medical/professional office, assisted care, senior living, hotel, restaurant without a drive-thru, multifamily, bank, school and park.

Duda said a successful rezoning would guarantee the installation of an 8-foot-tall fence with a 20-foot buffer yard abutting the University Heights neighborhood, and BK&M intends to gift 10 feet of right of way to the city for a second turn lane on southbound National Avenue. The application also states that any building constructed on the property could be no taller than 50 feet, allowing for a maximum of four stories, and that five speed cushions and a landscape island would be constructed for traffic calming, Duda said.

A neighborhood meeting on the proposed rezoning is slated to be held this month, likely Aug. 21, Duda said, noting the application would go before the Planning & Zoning Commission on Sept. 11 and City Council on Oct. 6.

BK&M first introduced development plans for the site at the busy intersection in 2022, and several iterations of the proposal have been introduced amid pushback from University Heights residents. A group of the neighborhood residents filed suit against BK&M in an attempt to block the development, and this year they have sought an appeal after Greene County Circuit Court Judge Derek Ankrom ruled in favor of the developer last year. 

The most recent rezoning proposal from BK&M for the site was rejected by council in October 2024, according to past reporting. Councilmember Brandon Jenson in December sponsored and then withdrew a bill for a BK&M rezoning measure amid a six-month wait required under city code for a new application to be brought back before council.