City Beat

by Karen Culp

City Council at its Nov. 9 meeting held a first reading on a bill to rezone an area in the 200 block of North National, on the edge of the city's proposed Civic Park area, for a new Walgreens store.

The bill is the result of a compromise between the city and the developers of the new Walgreens, represented at the meeting by Joseph Hurwitz.

"This development was viewed as a key entryway to the Civic Park area and center city and so we looked at it a little differently than we had other developments," said Fred May, director of Planning and Development for the city.

The Planning and Zoning Commission has not yet made a recommendation on the zoning issue, and May presented a plan that was a compromise between the "suburban-style store" Walgreens had originally proposed for the site, and a style that will fit with Civic Park.

The plan calls for a sign tower on the corner of St. Louis Street, which the store will face. The sign tower will incorporate the identity of Civic Park and Walgreens, May said. The design also includes a fence wall with a hedge, and an 8-foot-tall sign at the other corner of the property.

The proposal is predicated on city participation in the development of items such as the sign tower, fence wall and sidewalks. May said the city staff will bring forward a developer agreement proposal to deal with those issues at a future council meeting.

City Council took comment on the bill, and then continued the public hearing for two weeks hence so the Civic Park Advisory Committee could have a chance to review the proposal and comments.

Hurwitz, who represented the Blackstone Group, a group that has already built two Walgreens stores in Springfield, said the group is planning to tear down "what I think most people would agree is a marginal building" and making a substantial investment in the future Civic Park.

Councilwoman Teri Hacker said she was concerned about what the cost to the city ultimately would be as a result of this development, and asked for more information on that. Councilman Conrad Griggs offered a direct comment to the developers: "I feel that we've been scolded by the developers ... if we've inconvenienced Walgreens tough." The comment was in response, he said, to the attitude he felt the developers exuded.

"The people of this community have given us the money, and they have seen a vision of what can become of this. We have a responsibility as stewards of their money. ... We're giving (Walgreens) the opportunity to be a trendsetter and develop the kind of store they can brag about in their corporate report," Griggs said.

Hurwitz said the developers were "not trying to be combative" and that he would be "happy to meet with anyone who had concerns over the way Walgreens representatives had handled the matter."

"This is going to be a $3 million project that we're excited about, that we're eager to get going on. I think we've come to a good compromise, and I hope we can get working on this soon," Hurwitz said.

A resolution recommended by the Board of Public Utilities was approved unanimously by City Council. The resolution authorizes the board to make payments in the amount of 0.75 percent of gross operating revenues with collection to begin on April 1, 1999, and the amount will be increased each year provided the payments do not exceed 4 percent of gross operating revenues. The payments will go toward a city project to extend sewer service to the rest of the city.

Teri Hacker, who has devoted some time this summer and fall to water issues, said she was reluctantly voting for the proposal because a compromise was reached.

"I really feel the full amount of the (payments) should have been put into place in November of 1997. It shouldn't be phased in over a four-year, now a five-year, period," Hacker said.

The council also unanimously approved its 1999 legislative policy with no amendments. Two proposed amendments failed during the meeting.

Council also passed an infrastructure agreement with Lowe's Home Centers, and two water bills to extend sewer and pay for phosphorus removal at the city's wastewater treatment plants.

A resolution dealing with unrelated persons living in a home failed. The resolution was to have Planning and Zoning review the definition of family in the zoning ordinance to allow more than three unrelated persons to live together as a single housekeeping unit other than in an Urban Conservation district.

This was a response to a request from a group of unrelated college students who share a home. The resolution failed with only Mayor Lee Gannaway and Councilman Bob Chancellor voting for it. [[In-content Ad]]