City Beat: Council considers Medical Mile housing proposal

Some neighbors of a proposed four-story multifamily development on the city’s Medical Mile voiced objections to the project at the April 6 Springfield City Council meeting.

Located at 3302 S. Maryland Ave., the site of the proposed multifamily apartment building, called the Reserve on Medical Mile, is a 7.6-acre parcel bounded by National Avenue on the east and Maryland Avenue on the west with Walnut Lawn Street as its southern border. The roundabout at Maryland and Walnut Lawn is at the southwest corner of the site. The parcel also includes a strip of land on the west side of Maryland.

To the north is a four-story physicians’ office building, the Mercy Smith Glynn Callaway facility, and its parking lot.

Maryland Avenue serves as a sharp line of demarcation between the low-profile, mostly ranch-style houses of the High Meadow East neighborhood to its west and the commercial properties on the east, as well as the medical facilities to the south that gave rise to the original planned development, now in its third incarnation. The area was originally part of the medical center development, according to the staff report.

The building as proposed would include 198 units.

From Maryland Avenue west, the High Meadow East neighborhood is composed of one- and two-story single-family houses, and the chief objection of residents who attended the public hearing on a rezoning for the development was the height of the project, at a height of four stories and 60 feet. Resident James Head called the project gargantuan and said it threatens the vitality of the traditional neighborhood.

Justin Crighton, assistant director of planning and development, characterized the site’s current status as an underutilized and underdeveloped parking lot.

Councilmember Brandon Jenson said the design fits perfectly with the development to the east of Maryland Avenue – a bank, medical buildings and commercial structures.

“It doesn’t really seem to take any reference or any deference to the development on the other side of Maryland Avenue,” he said. “We go straight from one- and two-story single-family homes to boom, you’ve got a 60-foot, straight-up-and-down wall with no physical transition, nothing that helps with easing between those two.”

Jenson added that the Forward SGF comprehensive plan advises that corridors be softened as they transition into neighborhoods.

“I don’t see this doing that,” he said.

Councilmember Craig Hosmer said there is a difference between a large multifamily residential structure – used 24 hours per day, every day – and a commercial building that is active during the day. He said the higher building could be problematic to the residential neighborhood.

“I understand the neighbors’ concern that you’re in a single-family residential neighborhood, then all of a sudden there’s a four-story building with people,” he said.

Hosmer also clarified that the density is determined by the developer, and Crighton agreed.

“I think that below a certain density, the project doesn’t really make sense,” Crighton said.

Developer Nathan Reynolds with Bibi Oaks LLC said he wants to provide essential housing to benefit medical professionals and others who work in the area.

“I’m trying to put something there that already exists around it,” Reynolds said, referring to the commercial development on three sides of the site. “To the north, to the south, to the east – it already exists, this wall that you’re speaking of. I’m not creating it; it already exists, so I’m just trying to build within that.”

Seven neighbors voiced opposition to the development with none speaking up in favor of it. In addition to the height of the proposed structure, they cited concerns about traffic, noise and neighborhood character.

Architect Brian Kubik of Buxton Kubik Dodd Design Collective said the project would provide convenient, Class-A housing for professionals while adding that the existing planned development designation already allows multifamily uses.

Kubik added that the current planned development designation has been in place for three decades, and in that time, buildings have grown taller, with higher ceiling clearances and more space for mechanical equipment. What used to be a four-story, 40-foot building is now a 60-foot building, he said.

Kubik said 1,810 people work within a quarter mile of the site, and about two-thirds of them are in health care or social assistance fields.

The project is proposed at a density of 29 dwelling units per acre, which is considered medium density, he said.

Council is scheduled to vote on the measure at its April 20 meeting.

Driveway appeals OK’d
Council unanimously passed legislation to allow appeals on decisions regarding sidewalks and driveways pending review of proposed zoning changes by council’s Community Involvement Committee.

As part of the citywide rezoning and remapping effort, council passed an ordinance on Jan. 12 to make a broad set of changes, one of which would have reduced the number of allowable access points in the form of driveways for properties, including businesses.

At the time, Councilmember Derek Lee raised concerns about the impact of driveway changes and proposed an amendment that would allow a hearing before the Planning & Zoning Commission for driveway changes, but that amendment narrowly failed by a 5-4 vote. The bill changing driveway requirements then passed 7-2.

However, council revisited the issue on March 9 when Lee presented a bill to suspend the code revisions for review. That bill passed on its second reading March 23, despite staff concerns about changes it might impact the citywide remapping and rezoning project.

As previously reported in Springfield Business Journal, the criteria for spaces between driveways on primary arterials, such as Campbell and Glenstone avenues, would have increased from 200 to 440 feet with the ordinance. The required space between driveways on secondary arterials, like Kimbrough and Jefferson avenues, would have increased from 150 to 330 feet, and spacing on collectors, like Mill and Fort avenues, would have increased from 100 to 220 feet.

Members of the business community showed up March 13 to testify before council regarding concerns about the proposed requirements and the consequences reducing access points would have on their businesses.

Shannon Handwerker, vice president of operations for Magers Management Co. LLC, described a situation with a potential tenant for the company’s Battlefield Marketplace shopping center. Because the tenant was in the fitness space instead of retail, a lease would have triggered a change of use for the property, and that would have led to the loss of driveways on the east and west side of the business, the removal of streetlights and the removal of the shopping center’s monument sign to accommodate a new driveway in the middle of the development.

The original legislation would have disallowed some appeals to the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission on driveway standards, but the new measure allows a temporary written appeals process through the Public Works Department for a decision by the city manager or a deputy while the committee reviews changes to the access management section of code.

The newly passed council bill requires the city manager to gather data and provide a report to the Community Involvement Committee on the issue by Oct. 13. Temporary appeals will be permitted until Dec. 14 under the measure.

Other action items
• Revisions to the city’s 381-page land development code were approved, as was an updated zoning map. Seven city addresses were considered and approved separately following the submission of protest petitions by property owners. All of these actions were unanimously approved by council members who were present, with Councilmember Abe McGull absent from the meeting.

• An ordinance to reestablish the 3.5-mile Kearney Street Corridor Redevelopment Area and redeclare blight there was amended to add cannabis dispensaries to a list of businesses that are ineligible for tax abatements. The incentives offered in the area are to be 100% on new improvements for a period of 10 years. A vote on the amended ordinance is scheduled for April 20.

• On-call pay of $30 per day was approved for nonexempt animal control staffers. If employees are called in, they are guaranteed instead a minimum of four hours of emergency call-in pay at the overtime rate.

• Council OK’d a nurse licensure pay differential of 10% for Health Department employees who maintain an active registered nurse license but whose job titles do not require it.

• Two employees were added to the Public Works staff: a geographic information system and asset systems manager and a transportation planner. The additions are in line with the department’s modernization plan and council’s operational excellence priority.

• Sale and serving of alcohol was approved for all areas of the fairgrounds during the Ozark Empire Fair.

• A liquor license for sales of liquor by the drink was granted to The Hibachi Experience LLC, doing business as The Spot, at 533 S. Kimbrough Ave.

• A $300,000 increase to a Surface Transportation Block Grant agreement with the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission was approved for traffic signal and fiber optic communication improvements. The STBG grant reimbursement is now $1.5 million, which is 80% of project costs for six city intersections. Additionally, a single bid was received for traffic signal improvements. It was from Nixa-based Midwest Traffic Signal Services LLC for $1.2 million.