County's plans disturb Midtown

Midtown residents are fuming because the Greene County Commission has purchased five of eight buildings on West Robberson north of Webster what one neighbor describes as a "fatal chunk" of the older, single-family-zoned neighborhood.

But County Commissioner Darrell Decker assures that at this time only the two small frame houses north of Webster will be torn down for a park area, and the remaining three buildings on Robberson will be used for Juvenile Court programs, office space or storage. The buildings were bought in January, he said.

But there are several hitches in the plans at this point. Since the commission is using federal grant money for its projects in the area, the National Historic Preservation Act requires scrutiny of what the county proposes, said Paula Ringer, who is chairman of the Landmarks Board, a member of the Midtown Pre-servation Association and a Midtown resident.

At the last City Council meeting, Councilwoman Mary Col-lette offered a resolution to delay the project, which passed 8-to-1.

According to Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, the federal agency involved in this case the Justice Department must identify and assess the effects of the acquisition and proposed use on historic resources. A building on the north edge of the block at 1223 N. Robberson, owned by Jay and Kate Spangler, is a local historic site eligible for national historic site registration, Ringer said.

In fact, Ringer added, there are three National Historic Registry-eligible properties adjacent to the five properties. The twin brick houses were looked at by Missouri's Department of Natural Resources representatives June 14 and "they were very interested in those properties. They stood out," Ringer stated.

But the commission won't guarantee that the buildings won't eventually be torn down for future growth of juvenile facilities, Decker said. The current commission can't bind a future commission, he added.

But if county does plan to extend the juvenile facility north of Webster, Decker said, the commission will name a Midtown Association member to the design committee for input to help lessen the impact on the neighborhood.

Midtown's position

Ringer and Kate Yurka Spangler, who is the Midtown committee that is negotiating with the county, said the county ignored Vision 20/20 and the city-county long-range plan.

"We appreciate what the county does for juveniles," Ringer said. But the institutional encroachment on the neighborhood will cause citizens to reconsider purchasing homes in Midtown or improving what they already own.

"I am shocked that there was no mention of it" by the county before the purchases were made or when the long-range plan was adopted by the city recently, Ringer said.

She said "we have to uphold the comprehensive plan which has been adopted" and which "citizens have spent thousands of hours to hammer out."

"We need to just slow down the process and look at all the options available and hope the county will consider other options," Ringer said.

Spangler was stronger in her language. She said she was "simply slack-jawed" when she heard about the purchase at a recent neighborhood crawdad boil.

The county's action "is a bastardization of the democratic process that robs those joint planning conferences of any kind of effectiveness and belittles it to the level of a dog-and-pony show for the public," Spangler said.

"I know those are strong words. But I've thought it through and looked at the dates and talked to the people over and over again. How could they not speak up? How could they make the purchases knowing about Vision 20/20 and having part in it for a couple of years, and plead ignorance of historical neighborhood interests right on their next door? Is this a lack of intelligence or a lack of integrity?" Spangler said.

She added that Decker told the negotiating committee the properties "just fell into their lap." But, she said, "the timing of it seemed to give very important clues as to their intentions from the very beginning. They said We just didn't think there would be any objections. We didn't know about the Midtown plan. We didn't think it would affect anything.'"

But, she added, "they did know about (their purchases) when they were brought up to speed (recently) on the Midtown Plan," they just didn't mention it.

Jan Blase, interim city administrator in Forsyth, who was hired by the city to contact all the institutions last year during the development of the long-range plan, said he could "certainly understand (Midtown's) angst."

"There are all kinds of snatching on the edge of the neighborhoods. One here, two there, pretty soon there will be no buffer or protection for the neighborhood. If you decide the neighborhood is important you have to quit chipping away at the edges."

Blase said Midtown has been under "a lot of pressure from the north that has led to declining property values. At what point does that stop? That's the point they were trying to come up with among all the entities" when the comprehensive plan was developed.

County's plans

Since the land was offered, the county bought the land for anticipated future needs, Decker said. It has grown by 30,000 people in the past decade that's a "whole county," he said when compared to Webster or Lawrence counties.

Greene County "acquired the property from willing sellers as it became available to us and (we have) not had to use eminent domain." The first of the land was offered at the beginning of the year, he said, and the rest "within a week or two."

The county is also purchasing the Theime Funeral Home on Boonville, which soon will be torn down to provide additional parking, he said. A parking garage for the government complex may come eventually.

Decker said the county and city are talking about a garage, but with the cost of $10,000 to $12,000 per parking space, that's just too high to justify one right now, especially when the county can purchase land, demolish buildings and lay asphalt for surface parking for about a third of that cost.

Eventually the Family Court, which operates out of the Greene County Judicial Courts Building, and the Juvenile Court may be housed together and front on Boonville, Decker said. The land purchase on Robberson will assure that capability, although the county is looking at possibly building up from the current juvenile facility.

Decker said the foundation of that building won't allow for the weight of additional stories, but other possibilities are being considered, such as a cantilevered building over it.

"We intend there will be very, very little disruption into the neighborhood. We're keeping all the trees and rock walls in the front ... we don't intend to disrupt the streetscape." Employees will park in the back.

"We've committed to Midtown that we won't use the five properties more than I've described without visiting with Midtown again" and will be "as gentle as possible."

He acknowledged that residents are concerned that the single-family nature of the area will be disturbed, but one of the buildings purchased on Webster is a multifamily apartment building, Decker said.

That building will be repaired and renovated to house the county's Challenge Treatment Program for male juveniles. The 90-day program, which runs four times a year, is funded by a grant from the Division of Youth Services and administered by the Juvenile Court. It is now housed in the Mary E. Wilson home on Main Street.

In that program, which is "like a boot camp only without shaved heads and marching" 12 boys are placed in group housing with a school curriculum and counseling instead of juvenile detention.

The brick house next to the Spanglers will be used for court-ordered supervised visitation; its twin will be used for storage because of its poor condition, Decker said. Both frame houses are dilapidated, he added.

Other options

Spangler said she believes the two frame houses are treasures covered with asphalt siding that hide clapboard and possibly decorative wood. "At the top there's nice woodwork. I've looked (at one of the frame houses) and the inside was in a lot better shape than the one I've renovated."

The "street is holding its breath" waiting to see what the county will do, Spangler said, but she believes there is plenty of contiguous space for the county's expansion on Boonville, which is already commercially zoned.

"They said they don't plan to buy the property north of the mortuary. Why not take the parking lot and the little storage facility on Boonville?"

She also suggested the county could sell the property back to the association which, with Drury University's help, could save the residential character of the old tree-lined street.