CID zoning issue sparks quarrel among members

by Eric Olson

SBJ Reporter

eolson@sbj.net

City Council rekindled a smoldering fire surrounding downtown Springfield's self-taxing Community Improvement District at a Jan. 12 public hearing.

A bill that would reclassify three Zone 1 properties owned by Patti Penny 445 S. Patton, 435 South Ave. and 447 South Ave. to the lower-taxed Zone 2 has reignited an argument that dates back to the CID's inception.

Penny, whose Penmac business has operations in the three properties, said her buildings were incorrectly placed in Zone 1 at the formation of the CID three years ago and she requested a change at that time.

According to an Oct. 9, 2003, letter sent to then-CID Board Chairman Greg Burris, steering committee members Jim Anderson and Brian Fogle promised Penny that her properties would be reclassified if she signed a petition for creation of the district. The letter is signed by Anderson, president of the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce, and Fogle, vice president of community development with Great Southern Bank, and recommends the CID Board approve the changes.

"We both pledged that we would do all we could to first change the enabling legislation that would allow for such a change in benefit zones, and also work with the local CID Board to effect that change whenever possible," the letter said.

The Missouri legislature authorized the change last session its third attempt sending the issue to Springfield City Council. Council will decide Jan. 26. The CID board approved the change unanimously in November.

Longtime CID adversary Dudley Martin raised legal and ethical questions at council's public hearing, and continues to question the change, which would save Penny $2,500 in taxes annually.

In a Jan. 19 letter faxed to SBJ offices, Martin wrote, "If this council bill passes, then the city of Springfield will have two Zone 2s; one for Patti Penny and another one for everyone else."

Later in a telephone interview, Martin said, "My argument is one for equality. I support downtown. I just don't like one person getting a favor when the rest of us are not offered the same favor."

Martin is an attorney at 435 E. Walnut St. in CID Zone 1 and typically pays about $1,100 in CID taxes.

City staff said Penny's situation is unique, and scoffed at the legal issues Martin raised during the meeting.

"I need to be in Zone 2 because I'm not needing the services and I'm not in the high-traffic area downtown," Penny said. "We have our own maintenance of our buildings, our streets. We don't need their services. But I have neighbors that do and so that's why I support it."

Despite City Manager Tom Finnie's telling City Council that Penny's properties sit on the edge of the two zones, the motive for the change is not geographic, according to Mary Lilly Smith, Springfield economic development director and liaison to the CID Board.

Penny's properties sit on the southern edge of the CID footprint, while Zone 2 wraps around Zone 1 to the west, north and east. There are no CID properties south of Penny's properties or adjoining Penny's properties.

"We think that Patti's situation is unique because she requested in the very beginning that she be provided Zone 2 services instead of Zone 1," Smith said. "It's on the edge of the CID. If (the bill) is approved, it does redraw the boundary. It creates a Zone 2 on the south side."

CID member Pat Flanigan, owner of Corner Printing at 400 W. Walnut St., will have a hard time swallowing that should it occur.

"My feeling is that if (Penny) is let out, than everyone over here should be let out," said Flanigan, adding that he had doubts about the district but signed anyway because his properties were to be in Zone 2 where taxes are lower and services are fewer.

However, when his first assessment arrived, Flanigan said he was charged Zone 1 rates. Flanigan said Zone 1 ended at Campbell Avenue when he gave his approval; today it is bordered by Main Avenue and wraps around Springfield Brewing Company.

"Once it passed, they just kind of drew it the way they wanted is what I think happened," he said. "The whole thing was screwed up from the start."

Flanigan's property sits on the southwest corner of Campbell and Walnut. He pays more than $1,000 a year for services that he said are nearly nonexistent.

"We pick up our trash. We sweep our sidewalk," Flanigan said. "For $1,000 a year you should get a maid of some sort."

CID Board Chairman Tim Rosenbury, who began his one-year term Jan. 1, said the CID works more for the property owners who don't take care of their buildings. "The CID is there to make sure that the public areas around these buildings are clean and safe," he said, comparing the fees to common area maintenance paid by strip center tenants.

"That's what this is. This is CAM. The CID is providing some of the services that savvy suburban developers have provided to their tenants for years."

And Rosenbury has a message for those property owners who claim the reclassification is unfair: "The CID comes up for renewal in two years. Downtown has changed quite a bit since the CID was formed three years ago, in part because of what the CID has done. It is entirely reasonable to re-examine how a CID would be organized when the CID comes up for renewal."

A review process will begin later this year, he said, and continues into next year. Rosenbury encourages property owners to get involved.