City Beat: Council rezones land at 60/65 for proposed project

A proposal that's been dubbed the largest single commercial development in the history of Springfield cleared a hurdle at the July 27 Springfield City Council meeting.

The 500-acre tract is just north of the interchange of U.S. highways 60 and 65 and is owned by 60/65 Partnership LLC, a group led by Rogersville businessman Larry Childress.

Council approved Planned Development No. 330, which lays out a general idea for the property's planned uses, including retail, residential and hotel use and a new east-west arterial connection and interchange with Highway 65.

No developer is in place for the property, but the owners have said they want to have zoning completed to lure a potential developer and to get approval from the Missouri Department of Transportation for a new highway interchange.

The measure passed by a 7-2 vote. Councilwoman Cindy Rushefsky, who voted against the rezoning request, said she could not approve such a large rezoning plan without a better idea of what would be included in the development, and what impact it could have on the rest of the city.

"In this case, there are a great many questions but no answers, primarily because there aren't any available at this point," she said before the vote. "We're being asked to make significant changes to this property without any real idea what this project will be, how it will impact the neighborhoods or retail development in other sectors, or how much it will ultimately cost the city of Springfield."

Mayor Jim O'Neal, who supported the rezoning, said the property will be developed for commercial use at some point, so approving a planned development gives the city some ability to prevent piecemeal growth.

"We have the cart and the horse in the right order, in my opinion," O'Neal said.

"We've laid a template down for developers in the region - or even of a national scope."

He added that estimates of the possible economic impact of developing the area have run as high as $400 million - $200 million in labor and $200 million more in construction work.

"These are immense taxable revenues that would grow the pie here," O'Neal said. "We have to be ready."

The vote on the development followed approval of an annexation request for about 265 acres included in the development area.

Rushefsky and Councilman Nick Ibarra, the two council members who voted against the development plan, also said no to the annexation request.

Rushefsky said adding more land to the city limits was irresponsible considering the budget constraints the city is facing due to lackluster sales tax revenues and the underfunded Police and Fire Pension Fund.

Roundtable report

Also at the meeting, City Manager Greg Burris recognized the work of the city's Safety and Justice Roundtable, an 18-member citizen panel charged with studying the city and county's justice and public safety systems.

The panel, led by co-chairs Robert Spence and Jean Twitty, spent 18 months studying the system and released a final report July 22 listing recommended changes and upgrades. Among the group's findings:

• Fixing the city's Police and Fire Pension Fund is the most important issue. "All other major advances in the system - many of which require additional funding - will be difficult to achieve before the pension issue has been resolved," the group said in its report.

• Other priorities include reducing the population of the Greene County Justice Center, which the group calls "chronically overcrowded;" increasing staffing in most justice and safety departments, including the jail and the courts; and expanding facilities.

• The group also put its support behind a proposal to combine the Springfield-Greene County E-911 Center and the county Office of Emergency Management to share facilities and manpower.