Council approves large annexation request

An annexation request for 545 acres of property and 5.66 acres of Greene County right of way was approved at last night’s Springfield City Council meeting.

The property, according to Underground CEO Louis Griesemer, will be developed in much the same way as the original facility in northeast Springfield.

Springfield Underground also has filed a planned development for the land at Interstate 44 and Chestnut Expressway, also called Highway 266. Council also heard a first reading on that development at the meeting.

A few council members, including Councilman Bob Jones, expressed interest in how the planned work would affect the property geologically over the next several hundred years.

“We also think in terms of hundreds of years,” Griesemer told the council. “On our east side, we’ve done extensive study on how we mine that, and the technology is a lot better now than it was at that time. We’re going to rely on our consultants to help us with the underground mine planning on this property as well.”

A few neighboring property owners expressed concern about the area, but their issue was not with the Griesemers’ development.

Their concern was with the Missouri Department of Transportation’s plan to add a new access road to Springfield-Branson National Airport’s new midfield terminal – a road that would effectively make Highway 266, which is part of what once was Route 66, an outer road.

“We’re proud of the heritage of Route 66, and it’s kind of ironic that what we’re talking about now is completely replacing it,” said Jim Rogers, whose family owns the property at 5318 W. Highway 266. “Property owners have a right to be heard and have input into the construction of what is essentially a four-lane superhighway.”

See SBJ’s July 3 issue for more from the June 26 council meeting.