Council debate over family’s access to ancestral cemetery continues 

The ongoing dispute between developers of the proposed Hidden Gem Estates gated subdivision and a family whose ancestral cemetery is on its grounds was prolonged for another two weeks at last night’s Springfield City Council meeting. 

It’s an issue that some members of council believe requires them to weigh residents’ rights against business interests, while at least one member of council believes it is a civil matter in which the governmental body has no role. 

Council passed an amendment, proposed by Councilmember Derek Lee, that would allow the Doran family – descended from some of the city’s homesteaders – access to their family burial site. The Doran family settled the area in 1831, and some of those early settlers are buried in the cemetery. 

The measure council was considering was to accept the dedication of public streets and easements to the city upon the applicant filing and recording a final plat for the development. Passage of Lee’s amendment, which attempts to provide access for the family to visit the cemetery, means a public hearing must be held prior to a scheduled vote at the July 14 council meeting. 

The amendment would require access to the cemetery not to the general public, but to the Doran family, who would get a code for the main gate on specified holidays. 

It was a fractious issue, with five of the nine members of council – Lee, Mayor Jeff Schrag and members Craig Hosmer, Heather Hardinger and Callie Carroll – voting for Lee’s amendment. 

Two members, Abe McGull and Bruce Adib-Yazdi, who sponsored the original bill, voted no, and two members, Brandon Jenson and Monica Horton, abstained from voting. 

Jenson said prior to the vote that if the amendment did not pass, he would propose one of his own: to disallow a gate in the community, specifically on the Ruby Court roadway, which accesses the cemetery. Whether a gate is to be allowed is something that is council’s call, under city code, according to Jenson and City Attorney Jordan Paul. 

Jenson had some harsh words for developer Terri Herman, a Realtor who owns TAG Property Development LLC with Gary Herman of Herman Custom Critical Homes. Jenson called the developer’s approach “morally reprehensible.” 

“Why would we approve a gate for this project – for Ruby Court specifically – knowing that it is not a requirement of our code and actually is a variance from our requirements as noted?” Jenson said, adding that the gate would place an unnecessary burden on the Doran family. 

He said the developer has chosen to do the minimum required under state law – essentially nothing, he said – to allow the family access to their ancestral graves. 

“I cannot imagine standing up in front of this body, this community or this family and stating that you own their heritage and can maintain it better,” he said. “While it may be legally true, is the developer so committed to their vision and their profit that they would trod on the lives of Springfieldians who have come before them?” 

Jenson added, “No matter how we proceed as a body, I would encourage the developer to reflect on the value of treating our fellow citizens – past and present – with the respect that they deserve.” 

Jenson had some support from Hosmer, who said that under Missouri law, the Doran family is entitled to reasonable access. Deciding on whether to allow the gate or to allow it with conditions is the proper role of council, Hosmer said. 

“This is exactly where the city has to be because we have to be the ones to make the decisions of what conditions do we allow that gate that excludes not only the Doran family but other public citizens in the city of Springfield,” he said. 

Hosmer said council can allow the gate with reasonable conditions. 

“Those conditions should be that the Doran family has the ability to visit their cemetery that’s completely surrounded by private property that’s owned by the developer,” he said. “That is our responsibility, to make sure that if we allow this gate, we’re going to allow access to people that deserve access, and the Doran family deserves access to visit their cemetery.” 

Councilmember McGull, an attorney, expressed the view that council should not get involved in what is a civil matter, and furthermore, he said the issue is not yet a problem, as the Doran family has had continued access to the cemetery. 

“We’re now trying to dictate times and dates and all of this by the city,” McGull said. “This is a private matter. This is not the city’s business to get involved in this. I can’t see why we continue to stick our nose and meddle ourselves in this.” 

In an interview after the meeting, Terri Herman was asked for her reaction to Jenson’s criticism. 

“It was incredibly harsh,” she said. “He hasn’t been out there to see it, and he also hasn’t been subject to what they have put us through.” 

Herman said she has had a call from the Doran family who told her they would ambush her.  

“They called me back and said, ‘We have to get our demands together’ – and once they said they were having demands, that’s when I realized this isn’t going to work,” she said. 

Herman said she is willing to pull the project until the issue of cemetery access is settled civilly.  

She added that interest rates are going down and there is high interest in the subdivision. 

“That’s what we’ve promised everyone, is safety, security and privacy,” she said. “We can’t really progress without that.” 

Hidden Gem is proposed as a 25-acre subdivision at 6116 S. Farm Road 175, a parcel recently annexed into the city on its southeast corner. 

The cemetery dispute was first brought to council on April 7, when members urged the parties to get together and work the issue out on their own.