City Beat: Council approves Chimney Rock plat over member objection

Craig Hosmer: Litigation is likely with new Galloway Village development.

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By an 8-1 vote, Springfield City Council passed a measure at its Feb. 10 meeting to authorize the preliminary plat for the Chimney Rock subdivision at 3040 S. Arcadia Ave.

The project, proposed by JCRS Development LLC, seeks to subdivide 8.7 acres in Galloway Village into 40 lots for single-family homes. The development site is located near the intersection of Battlefield Road and Lone Pine Avenue and is adjacent to the Chimney Hills and Chimney Hill Place subdivisions.

At the Jan. 27 council meeting, City Attorney Jordan Paul advised council that their role was administrative, and they had no option but to approve the plat if they found that it met established subdivision regulations.

At the Feb. 10 meeting, Councilmember Craig Hosmer, who cast the lone vote against the measure to approve the plat, pushed back against Paul’s counsel and suggested council members take some time to ensure they reach the right decision.

Hosmer opened the discussion with an amendment to postpone the vote until Feb. 24. He cited a letter from an attorney representing the neighborhood. In it, Joshua R. Baker of Evans & Dixon LLC, representing neighborhood resident Tammy Fulk argues that a conditional overlay district passed in 2018 prohibits the use of the access roads.

Baker writes that the proposed plat includes direct access from the subdivision via two roads – Arcadia Avenue and Mimosa Street – and such access is prohibited by the existing conditional overlay district, COD 151.

In bold, underlined text, the letter states, “COD 151 … expressly provides that no access shall be allowed from the subject property to Arcadia Avenue or Mimosa Street or any residentially zoned property.” Because the proposed replatting violates this use limitation, Baker writes, the measure must be denied.

Baker writes that creating direct access points from two roads to the development would result in an undue burden and a safety risk for homeowners.

Hosmer said this argument should be considered prior to a vote. He also called on the developer and neighbors to work together to try to resolve their issues before a vote.

Hosmer also reminded council of a previous fracas with Galloway Village over a mixed-use housing development proposed by Elevation Enterprises LLC. That issue resulted in legal action against the city and a citywide vote in which 71% of voters rejected the development.

“We’ve had sort of a history with this neighborhood, and I think we should be very careful,” Hosmer said. “I’d rather do it right than do it fast.”

Hosmer’s motion failed by a 6-3 vote, with Mayor Ken McClure and Simpson joining him in support of postponement.

In debating the replatting, Hosmer said the developer could have proposed a 30-lot subdivision, and that would have needed only one point of access. Two access points are needed for the 40-lot plat.

He also pointed to the 2018 COD for a narrow band of general retail property to the north of the proposed development. That designation, which denied access to Arcadia Street, still applies to that property, he said.

Hosmer said there was no public hearing on the administrative replat that occurred last fall to offer an easement to the Chimney Rock developer, and Paul replied that public hearings are not held for administrative replats.

Hosmer said the 2018 COD and the predevelopment review of the property say all requirements must be followed, but Paul said zoning does not apply to right of way.

“That’s a fairly well-established principle when it comes to intergovernmental law,” Paul said.

Hosmer objected to the neighborhood residents being omitted from the administrative replat process that eliminated the no-access rule.

“The city and the developer make the change without notifying anybody. Now that no longer applies,” Hosmer said.

According to Hosmer, it should not be surprising that such processes anger neighborhood residents.

“Sometimes we wonder why neighborhoods get upset with the way the city’s process works,” Hosmer said. “I think this is fundamentally unfair to neighborhoods, to change what they thought was a prohibition against access to Arcadia.”

He added that litigation is likely, whichever way council votes.

“If the neighbors are right, we’re going to get sued. And if the developers are right, there’s probably going to be litigation anyway,” he said.

Manufacturer’s noise at issue
A neighbor of Paul Mueller Co. voiced objections to the proposed rezoning of 0.7 acres in the 2200 block of West Phelps Street to build an expanded parking lot with a shift to limited business district from residential townhouse.

Nicholas Falley said he was appearing on behalf of the West Side Neighborhood, where the impact of the stainless steel manufacturing company is felt through traffic and around-the-clock noise.

“It’s not good,” he said.

He questioned whether his complaints about 1 a.m. manufacturing noise are followed up on by the city. McClure confirmed that the company is subject to the city’s applicable laws and noise ordinances, and Acting City Manager Collin Quigley offered to meet with Falley to look into his enforcement concerns.

Falley objected to the incursion of the heavy manufacturing business further into the residential neighborhood, which he described as impoverished while noting the Mueller company is driving down home values and driving owners out.

“We’re just allowing Mueller to buy up property in one of the last affordable neighborhoods in our fine city, and I just don’t understand why we’re just letting them do what they want,” he said.

Councilmember Monica Horton said she was split.

“It feels like a David and Goliath type of situation when you’re talking about an employer who’s providing dozens of jobs and that particular employer is adjacent to essentially what we would call workforce housing,” she said.

She added that the company was established in 1940, while Falley said he moved in just shy of 10 years ago. Falley noted when he first moved in, the company was not operational on the weekends, and that’s when he toured the home.

“I had no idea that I was going to be waking up to heavy machinery every single morning for the next 10 years,” he said.

Other zoning measures
Council passed a slew of rezoning ordinances, including one that paves the way for a pediatric clinic and other unspecified expansion of CoxHealth offerings. (See story on page 3.)

Council also held public hearings for rezoning measures to be voted upon at the Feb. 24 meeting.

Here are the zoning measures that were passed:

• A conditional use permit to allow adaptive use of a nonresidential structure at 3080 E. Cherry St. at the request of Franklin Partners LP, which intends to establish a dog-grooming business.

• The rezoning of 5 acres in the 3600-3700 blocks of North Glenstone Avenue to low-density multifamily residential from general retail at the request of South Valley Apartments LLC and Mike Seitz to allow for an apartment complex with Wayne Morelock as builder.

• The rezoning of less than half an acre at 3505 S. Campbell Ave. to highway commercial from residential townhouse at the request of Westport Management LLC, which wants to clean up split zoning at the existing Nissan dealership on site.

• The rezoning of a quarter acre at 2409 N. Boonville Ave. to low-density multifamily residential from highway commercial at the request of Locust Investments LLC to build a residential house.

• The rezoning of 4.5 acres at 910-920 S. West Ave. to government and institutional from office at the request of Greene County to establish a residential treatment facility where children would reside and have schooling on-site through Lakeland Psychiatric Hospital.

In addition to the Paul Mueller Co. parking lot issue, new rezoning measures, for which public hearings were held, included the following:

• The rezoning of 6.4 acres at 739 W. Talmage St. to planned development from single-family residential at the request of Baptist Temple of Springfield for a 32-unit residential condominium project.

• A conditional use permit to allow an electronic message center in a single-family residential district at 2854 W. Grand St. for the Greene County Baptist Association Inc.

• The rezoning of a half acre at 2242 N. Oakland Ave. to residential townhouse from single-family residential for SGF Homes LLC to build duplexes.

• A conditional use permit to allow residential uses on first-floor frontage of buildings within a general retail district at 901 S. West Bypass. The proposed development is called Kay Pointe Place.

Other action items
• An ordinance to allow the Springfield Police Department to impound vehicles with missing, invalid or expired license plates was given first reading. Council also passed a resolution encouraging members of the community to comply with vehicle registration laws.

• An extension of a declaration of housing access calamity was passed. This measure allows community service providers to continue to provide food and lodging for the working poor and unemployed in the community, including the operation of cold-weather and year-round shelters for the unsheltered population.

• An expenditure of $127,000 was OK’d for McDaniel Park from Zone 4 Minor Neighborhood Improvement Program funds.

The funds are earmarked for construction of a bicycle pump track, which allows people to traverse the asphalt track with banked corners by using a pumping motion, according to city staff.

• Council accepted $400,000 from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources toward design and construction of the $3.6 million Westport Branch Green Infrastructure Project.

• Grant funds of $221,000 were accepted from the U.S. Department of Energy toward the cost of replacement windows in the Historic City Hall renovation project.