Council forwards ‘pocket neighborhood’ plan

Last edited 2:02 p.m., Jan. 25, 2017

Springfield City Council last night approved the rezoning of 5.4 acres between 833 and 903 Oak Grove Avenue for a “pocket neighborhood” development.

The proposal by Touchstone Group LLC, which is solely owned by Brad Erwin of Paragon Architecture, aims to create a community within a community dubbed Oak Grove Commons. Functional design features of the European concept include driveways placed behind homes and a walking trail around a central greenspace.

“I think it just really started with the idea of finding a more sustainable way of developing a neighborhood,” Erwin said this morning, noting research helped him stumble across the work of architect Ross Chapin and his book, “Pocket Neighborhoods: Creating Small-Scale Community in a Large-Scale World.”

“We’re not trying to duplicate what he’s done. He’s pushing the concept pretty far, but we’re just trying to take bits and pieces and apply it to what is appropriate for Springfield,” Erwin said.

Oak Grove Commons would be similar to residential condominium developments like Hickory Villas and Bristol Park, where residents own the homes but not the land, according to Jared Rasmussen, vice president and engineer with Olsson Associates who spoke at the previous council meeting. The city also does not own the roads, which he said gives the developer more flexibility.

Development plans call for 15 single-family homes at about 1,800 square feet apiece.

The rezoning to a planned development and condominium from single-family residential reduced the allowable structures per acre from seven to four-and-a-half dwellings per acre. The rezoning also limited the height of the homes to two stories from three.

Anita Cotter, Springfield’s city clerk, said a protest petition received by the city was found to be insufficient.

Critics of the rezoning were residents concerned about an increase in traffic and the loss of green space.

“It is not a public park,” Erwin said before noting a different development would further detract from the neighborhood.

A concern over sinkholes caused Councilman Mike Schilling to vote in opposition. It passed 8-1.

Site inspection by structural engineers Palmerton & Parrish Inc. deemed it safe for the intended use, including stormwater drainage. Councilwoman Phyllis Ferguson and Councilman Tom Prater both said they heard from the public regarding the development.

Ferguson said she looked into stormwater retention concerns and Prater noted people contacting him didn’t realize the pocket community was going to lessen development from what was allowed with the original zoning.

Kirsten Whitehead, project manager with Paragon Architecture, said a construction timeline for Oak Grove Commons hasn’t been established.

“This will be a phased project, so not all 15 homes will go up at once,” she said. “They will go up in clusters. Our hopes are to break ground in late spring of this year.”