City Beat: Downtown CID expansion proposed

Jeff Schrag supports expanding the downtown CID’s boundaries.

Kristi Fulnecky will have her eligibility to serve on council examined.

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With a year left on the Downtown Springfield Community Improvement District, organizers proposed a 15-year renewal and tacked on an expansion for Springfield City Council consideration.

Introduced at the Dec. 14 meeting, the new boundaries would pull in an estimated $6 million in taxable assessed valuation to the current roughly $39 million district, said Downtown Springfield Association Executive Director Rusty Worley.

The sales tax within the CID would rise to a half-cent per dollar from a quarter-cent and the redrawn district would allow a special property tax assessment of up to 75 cents per every $100 of assessed value, up from 40 cents.

According to Springfield Business Journal archives, the moves together would bump the district’s annual budget of $352,000 in fiscal 2016, which began July 1, to an estimated $560,000 a year.

“CIDs are a tool for economic development across our industry,” Worley told council, pointing to International Downtown Association figures recognizing roughly 1,000 CIDs or business improvement districts across the country in 49 states. “These tax dollars are overseen by business owners and residents, and they have the say on how that’s reinvested in their area.”

A dozen downtown business professionals turned out to weigh in. All but one speaker expressed support for the plan that primarily would broaden its boundaries to the north along Boonville Avenue and west along College Street.

Scheduled to expire in December 2016, features of the CID include cleaning of public sidewalks and gathering spaces, supplemental police patrol, snow removal and parking enforcement.

Since establishment in 1999, assessed values within the CID have grown to $33 million from $8.2 million, according to Worley and the bill.

Expanding the district requires signatures of property owners collectively owning more than 50 percent of real property by assessed value and by over 50 percent per capita of all owners of real property inside the boundaries. The CID petition secured signatures of 167 out of 281 – nearly 60 percent – of the real property owners in the redrawn district, who collectively own 68 percent of the total assessed value within the proposed CID, according to the bill.

Butler, Rosenbury & Partners Inc. President Geoffrey Butler opposed the plan that would pull in the architecture firm’s building.

“We do not want to be in the CID. There is nothing that the CID is offering that will benefit us,” he said, noting the company already pays for security to protect its 319 N. Main St. office, and its annual share of the assessment would be $4,500.  

In response to Worley’s statement that CID officials reached out to stakeholders across the expansion area when determining the boundaries, Butler said, “Well, they have awful short arms.” He said he was never called.

Mother’s Brewing owner Jeff Schrag was among the public speakers supporting the move. Schrag, who has served on the CID board and owns multiple properties within the existing district, said he was drawn to downtown when launching the brewery because of the revitalization he’s seen in the area the past two decades.

“I am really honored to be part of the gateway that leads people into downtown,” Schrag said, referring to the brewery at 215 S. Grant Ave. “We have broad support for what we do. We do not have unanimous support for what we do. I’ve learned over the years, if you wait for unanimous support, likely, nothing will happen.”

Other supporters included attorney Stephanie Stenger Montgomery, loft developer and property manager Craig Wagoner and Missouri State University Business Incubator Director Brian Kincaid.

The bill’s second reading and vote is scheduled for the Jan. 11 meeting.

National and Sunshine
Following a proposed amendment, a rezoning request of 3.65 acres of vacant land at the northeast corner of National Avenue and Sunshine Street is back on council’s desk. The amendment withdrew taverns and lounges as allowable uses across from Mercy Hospital Springfield, but the developers still seek permission for drive-thru restaurants in the general retail district.

At the Nov. 23 public hearing, a representative of property owner and applicant Sunshine and National Real Estate LLC asked council to table the measure after several council members and residents expressed safety concerns with the proposed available uses. The public hearing will be held over for the Jan. 11 meeting.

Fee changes
Council got its first look at fee-for-service changes that would impose 10 new city fees, increase 137 others and remove 47 fees. Another 47 would remain the same.

Fees are examined periodically with the goal of recovering 100 percent of the city’s costs to provide the services. According to the bill, the changes would push the city’s average recovery to 96 percent from 88 percent and generate roughly $100,000.

New fees include $222 for permits requiring council action on right-of-way encroachments and $150 on land-disturbance permits for properties under 1 acre. Fees that would stay the same include $135 general commercial permit and $100 residential building permit.

Among those that would fall are zoning fees to $1,610 from $1,680 and conditional use permits to $1,451 from $1,500. Proposed increases include the asbestos inspection fee to $128 from $116 and final planned development fees to $954 from $803.

Fulnecky examiner
Councilwoman Kristi Fulnecky had five supporters speak in opposition to a resolution that would confirm the appointment of former judge John Holstein as a hearing examiner tasked with determining whether Fulnecky was eligible to be elected to council.

Earlier this year, it surfaced that Fulnecky owed the city seven years of business-licensing fees – which she didn’t know were owed. The councilwoman has since paid three years of fees owed by her construction-management firm, the most allowable under city charter.

Representing Fulnecky, attorneys Dee Wampler and Joseph Passanise asked council to table the resolution in the interest of honoring the will of voters who elected her. Mayor Bob Stephens said in knowing the fees were owed, council was obligated to hand the issue over to an independent party for review. Council voted 6-3 in favor of confirming the appointment. Holstein is slated to be paid $225 an hour from city coffers.

City spokeswoman Cora Scott said on Dec. 16 details on when the process would begin had not yet been determined.