City Beat: Lack of communication stymies car lot development proposal

City Council sent a strong message to area developers and business owners at its Oct. 21 meeting: communication goes a long way in government.

Council unanimously voted against rezoning land in south Springfield to facilitate development of a used car lot, largely because the developer failed to communicate the plans with nearby residents.

|quot|I don't see why I should have to do back flips for people that don't care that much about their future neighbors,|quot| Mayor Tom Carlson said before voting.

Springfield City Council members have often stressed neighborhood/developer meetings to pave the way for development. Councilman Bob Chancellor said Auto World owner Steve Faria, who proposed building the used car lot, did not indicate to Council that such meetings took place.

Faria was hoping to move his used car dealership from 511 S. Ingram Mill Road to the northeast corner of Campbell Avenue and Lakewood Street, across from The Library Center. He planned to invest $1 million in land development and office construction, but needed Council to rezone 1 1/3-acres of land to a planned development district.

Hammons Field

Council heard a first-reading bill to shore up the financing of Hammons Field. The Board of Directors of the Springfield Center City Development Corporation, the entity that is issuing the bonds, requested Council accept two different sums of taxable revenue bonds: one in the amount of $6,680,000 and another for $6,525,000.

Approval of the bill would move the larger sum from a tax-exempt bond to a taxable bond because it is a privately owned project.

The $6,525,000 is the first step in constructing the baseball stadium, City Manager Tom Finnie said, and will include payment for the first phase and architectural fees.

Finnie said Hammons is still responsible for payment of the debt.

Southeast Springfield development

After previously approving Denali Development Inc.'s proposal to extend its Granite Springs subdivision, council considered a bill addressing road construction through the development.

The city is asking developer Mark Eck, owner of Denali Development, to fund a portion of an east-west arterial beginning at Highway 65 and Evans Road. City plans call for the road to eventually intersect National Avenue, Campbell Avenue and Kansas Expressway, and extend to the town of Battlefield. Under this bill, Eck would be responsible for the portion of road on his property.

|quot|That's a critical new road that we need in the community,|quot| Finnie said. |quot|This project would build the first leg on that.|quot| He added that it was derived from Vision 20/20.

Eck is planning to construct a mixed-use development of duplexes, apartments and retail and office space on 130 acres in southeast Springfield.

A second bill, one to rezone the land, was put on hold after Councilwoman Teri Hacker amended it so the project includes a connection to the Ozarks Greenways system and provides bike paths and transit facilities options.

Both bills will be voted on in Nov. 4.

Local bids

Local vendors that submit project bids to the city of Springfield will be given preference over nonlocal bidders, if council approves an ordinance at its next meeting. The bill would make formal what Finnie said the city has always done: provide a preference for local vendors when acquiring bids.

The benefits of using local vendors, he said, are felt in the local economy and on more efficient delivery times. If passed, language in the city's purchasing manual will be adjusted.

Cable franchise

City Council's fateful decision of Mediacom's franchise in Springfield may be pushed back yet another month, if council approves an extension of the cable provider's review.

Mediacom and city attorneys have been in negotiations as part of the city's eighth anniversary review of the cable franchise.

City attorney Nancy Yendes said that Mediacom has requested extending the deadline to Dec. 18 to give council extra time if necessary. The anniversary review deadline, originally set for Oct. 6, had been rescheduled to Nov. 6 at a previous council meeting.

In the meantime, the city is losing about $10,000 a month from Mediacom's unpaid franchise fees, which is at the center of the review. Mediacom has not paid franchise fees since March, after the Federal Communications Commission declared cable modem service an information service, and not a cable service.

Yendes told council that the Cable Advisory Council recommends that Springfield City Council be firm in deciding Mediacom's fate based on the city's review.

The public may speak before a vote is taken at the Nov. 4 meeting.