Council approves Springfield Underground zoning

Springfield Underground May 10 gained the zoning change it needed for an industrial, retail and office development it is planning above its underground mining and warehousing facility.

City Council approved the change to a planned development zoning for the 505 acres located on the northeast corner of the U.S. 65 and Division Street intersection. The vote was 6-2 in favor, with Council members Russell Rhodes and Shelia Wright voting against the bill.

Rhodes led a failed effort to amend the bill to include a provision that would limit one area of the development to office uses. The area, known as Area E, is to contain both retail and office uses as allowed for in the bill.

Rhodes attempted to pass that amendment, along with an amendment that would prohibit the property's access to Division Street. Both amendments failed, even though the office-use amendment had been recommended by the Planning and Zoning Commission by a 5-2 vote.

The amendments proposed by Rhodes also won the approval of several of the neighbors of the development