City Beat: Three cities compete to annex land west of Springfield

More than 17 square miles of land west of Springfield are up for grabs.

City Council passed a resolution at its June 17 meeting to put Springfield in prime position to annex the land into its city limits, but Republic and Brookline have similar interests.

The land in question surrounds the future intersection of James River Freeway and Missouri 13, also known as Sunshine Street.

"There are three of us that have our eyes on James River, or Highway 60, and Sunshine," Republic Mayor Keith Miller told Council.

Miller said he would like to work out a cooperative agreement between the three parties, and not just see "the big guy, Springfield" claim it.

"This is telling us, Stay back, because you can't have any of it.' I would hope that's not the case," he said.

The city annexing it would most likely encourage commercial development.

"The council policy for years has been to be very proactive about protecting potential commercial and retail development," said City Manager Tom Finnie. He added that the area is within Springfield's urban service area.

Miller said it's also in Republic's service area. He asked Council to be cautious in taking in agricultural property for development because he fears urban sprawl.

"When we continually take that out of production, what does it do to the overall status of the United States and its ability to produce food and provide for its own?" he asked. "We become more and more reliant on other countries for agricultural products and I think we need to be very careful when we do those types of things."

The resolution passed unanimously.

Springfield Mayor Tom Carlson said, "I don't think that passage of this resolution ... means that we don't want to have a continuing dialogue with our friends in Republic and see what areas we can cooperate on ... with the big picture in mind."

Housing code

Phelps Grove residents without indoor furniture on their porches will be happy if an ordinance designed to curb such use passes in two weeks. Two members of the public spoke at the ordinance's first reading.

Both were neighborhood association presidents favoring the ruling, which would be limited to the Phelps Grove neighborhood.

Phelps Grove Neighborhood Associa-tion President Renee Tyson said the existing ordinance is vague and hard to enforce.

Councilman Denny Whayne said he would like to see this type of ordinance applied to other neighborhoods as well.

Jack Pugh, president of the West Central Neighborhood Association, agreed. He would like to see the ordinace extended to his neighborhood because indoor furniture on porches is "degrading" to look at and poses a fire hazard.

Harassment of sports officials

Another first-reading bill would protect sports officials during and after games from verbal and physical abuse, namely from the parents of players.

"We were beginning to see problems with harassment, not only at the games but in the parking lots after the games," said Finnie.

Finnie said the bill would apply to all sporting events at public parks and schools.

CVB budget

Council will decide in two weeks if the Convention & Visitors Bureau's budget will be amended in the amount of $2,104 as a result of its annual performance review. Finnie said ithe additional money would be largely funded through hotel/motel tax.

Jordan Valley Park office space

The Convention & Visitors Bureau would like to secure office space in the proposed Jordan Valley Park Parking Garage. The developer's plan calls for office or retail use along the street side of the garage.

"It meets the goal that we've had of having a more attractive streetscape, but equally important, it brings the Convention & Visitors Bureau back downtown, which I think speaks volumes to their leadership," Finnie said.

Duplex community

Council rezoned about 15 acres on East Catalpa Street to pave the way for a duplex community.

The single-family residential land in the 2200-2300 blocks of East Catalpa is now a residential townhouse district. Developer Mike Dobbs plans to build duplexes on the property.

Another rezoning will allow for an Ozarks Technical Community College parking lot to be constructed.