City Beat: Neighborhood residents oppose funeral home

Residents of southeast Springfield again took a turn before City Council.

"We don't want to keep coming back to council, but we have to. We've got to speak out about what's going on in our area," said Dan Chiles, president of the Southeast Springfield Neighborhood Association.

The residents were concerned about a bill to rezone about 5 1/4 acres at the southeast corner of Lone Pine Avenue and Southern Hills Boulevard. Property owners Lee McLean and John Q. Hammons want to sell the land to Greenlawn Funeral Home for a funeral home on the site. Residents say the streets are too narrow and the ecosystem too sensitive to support such development.

City staff said at the meeting that there are no plans to upgrade the roads in the area. Chiles said Lone Pine is a "narrow, twisty, two-lane road," that cannot handle more traffic. The residents also said they would like to buy the property, or work with the city to do so, to develop a park on the ground.

Chiles and others said that the property was priced for sale as commercial property, therefore making the price too high for the neighbors.

Resident Bob Jones said he wanted the land to either become a park or to "just be left as it is."

Councilman Tom Carlson said leaving it as it is is not an option.

"We cannot tell a developer he cannot develop his land. That's not why we're here," Carlson said.

Representatives for Greenlawn argued the funeral home would be a good fit for the neighborhood, that the style of the building would fit well with residential and be far less intrusive than the 14 single-family residences the property could hold.

"We feel this would fit in with the decor and the development already at this corner, with the two churches across the street and the Southern Hills Swim Club behind it. This does look more like a home than any other type of business that might go in there," said Leland Bussell, a representative for Greenlawn.

In other action, the council approved a use permit for a telecommunications tower at the southwest corner of Battlefield Road and Jefferson Avenue. The 195-foot monopole would be used by Roberts Wireless, a company based in St. Louis that will be a local representative of Sprint PCS.

The company also has purchased the building on the property for renovation into its regional headquarters and a Sprint retail store. Council passed the resolution by a vote of 9-0.

And, after a three-year struggle, police and firefighters are getting a pension increase. The unions representing the police and firefighters in Springfield have argued for a pension increase for three years, and Mike Peltz, president of the local firefighters union, praised the city and council for working for the increase this year.

The pension benefit change basically changes the amount the firefighters and police can contribute to their pensions, and therefore reduces the age at which they are able to retire.

Council also passed a second reading bill to approve the Community Development Block Grant funds for the program year 2000.

The council meeting also contained an introduction to the city's general operating budget for 2000-2001. The city's fiscal year begins July 1, and council will hold several study sessions on the budget before approving it. The budget anticipates a 5.3 percent increase in the general operating budget from the 1999-2000 budget year. The total proposed operating budget for the city for 2000-2001 will be $168,606,000, as opposed to $153,857,000 for 1999-2000.

Council meetings can be viewed in their entirety the Friday and Sunday following the meetings at 7 p.m. on Cable Channel 23.