If Springfield City Council follows the advice of public speakers who addressed a referendum to repeal a recent zoning change to make way for a fifth Springfield Walmart Neighborhood Market, then a repeal is certain.
All but one of 15 speakers at the May 6 meeting called for council to overturn its own Feb. 25 decision to rezone roughly 6 acres at 444 W. Grand St. and 427–515 W. Normal St. to general retail from a residential district.
Last month, the city clerk’s office certified 1,808 signatures out of the roughly 2,600 submitted, bringing the issue back to council, where its members must now either affirm the referendum to repeal the zoning or send the issue to voters, according to city charter.
While the speakers at the public hearing were almost uniform in calling for a rezoning repeal, there was division regarding whether a Walmart Neighborhood Market should be allowed to do business at the southwest corner of Campbell Avenue and Grand Street.
Given the city’s two options, former Councilman Nick Ibarra suggested the city affirm the ordinance repeal and immediately vote to bring the rezoning request back up for consideration, giving the go-ahead to Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
While Ibarra traditionally supports citizen petitions, he said the Wal-Mart petitioners were infringing on the rights of property owners, including Calvary Temple/Life 360 church, that might sell to the Bentonville, Ark.-based megaretailer. In this case, property sales are contingent on the retail zoning.
The petitioners comprise members of Stand up to Wal-Mart, Citizens Advocating for Responsible Development, Stop the Neighborhood Market Project, Save Calvary, area residents and university students.
“The ability to petition our government is one of the few tools citizens have to balance the power of the council and the community between elections. Because of its gravity and the major implications of it, the action of pass and repeal should only be considered in the most extreme circumstances and as an absolute last resort to maintain the integrity of the community,” said Ibarra, who last fall publicly opposed council’s move to pass and repeal a petition-led marijuana ordinance. “This issue is one where I believe the action of pass and repeal must be considered.”
City Attorney Dan Wichmer said he would look into whether Ibarra’s suggestion was legally possible, though it might require Wal-Mart to refile its initial rezoning request.
Marla Marantz, a representative of Citizens Advocating for Responsible Development, said she believes traffic data is greater than what was presented at two Planning & Zoning Commission meetings and a February public hearing. Most of the speakers advocating for repeal cited traffic concerns as the primary reason zoning should return to residential status.
“If you conduct a study at the end of (Normal) Street where there are a bunch of apartments when school is not in session, you are not going to get the most accurate count possible,” Marantz said. “I don’t think we trust the information to really know the true tipping point for traffic in the area, which means we don’t really know what the civic costs are going to be.”
In February, former Councilman Scott Bailes said that Wal-Mart paid for a traffic study that found traffic would be alleviated by widening Grand to the south to include a center turning lane and limiting access to the store to two entry- and exit-ways, as well as blocking off Normal Street to the west of one entrance near Campbell.
Mary Faucett, a Rountree neighborhood resident who frequently travels the area, said the location is wrong for a large retail facility.
“I have a grandson who attends Jarrett and a grandson who attends Parkview, and I can tell you that when I am shuttling those boys around to school and home that traffic is really horrendous,” Faucett said.
Several speakers took issue with Wal-Mart’s business practices and stated that with 12 stores already in town – including Sam’s Clubs, Supercenters and Neighborhood Markets – council should not have approved a zoning change for the retailer.
Former neighborhood resident Ellen Wolf was the only speaker to call for a public vote on the issue. “With that closed-down Pizza Hut that has been there for years, nobody is offering to buy that,” Wolf told council members.
Council is expected to vote on the repeal referendum at its May 20 meeting. If the repeal is denied, the issue will automatically be placed on the Aug. 6 municipal ballot.
At its May 20 meeting, Springfield City Council will vote to either repeal a February zoning change to the southwest corner of Grand Street and Campbell Avenue or send the issue to voters.
Plaza plansCouncil unanimously approved a pair of bills that outlined redevelopment plans for the $78 million Springfield Plaza retail and office complex at West Sunshine Street and West Bypass.
The proposal calls for developers Springfield Plaza Real Estate LLC, led by commercial real estate brokers Tom Rankin and Jeff Childs, to receive $9.6 million in infrastructure reimbursements during an 18-year period. Council’s vote allows the group to establish a tax increment financing district and paves the way for the creation of a community improvement district to cover reimbursements.
The mixed-use development, according to Rankin’s presentation at the April 22 meeting, would be built in two phases. The first would establish 182,500 square feet of retail on the north side of the 96-acre property, with the second phase devoting 250,000 square feet of office space on the south side.
In related action, council tabled two bills to formally activate the TIF district. Since the developers are calling for a district that is in place for 18 years, five fewer than is allowable under state statutes, Springfield Plaza Real Estate asked the city table the TIF bills until there were tenants in place.
“We don’t want to start that clock until there are businesses ready to start generating sales taxes and/or additional property taxes. The bills will remain tabled until there are businesses ready to open in the TIF district,” Economic Development Director Mary Lilly Smith said email.
Smith expects a proposal to establish Springfield Plaza’s CID to be introduced to council this summer.
After the meeting, Rankin said a tenant signing would trigger a groundbreaking.
“Now, our work begins in earnest to make the project a reality,” Rankin said. “We’re grateful to City Council that it shares our vision for Springfield Plaza and our hopes to bring retail and office development to the growing west part of Springfield. We are talking to a number of regional and national retailers that are interested in the site, but we don’t have anything to announce.”[[In-content Ad]]
