Council approves contentious Chimney Rock replat in Galloway Village 

By an 8-1 vote, Springfield City Council last night passed a measure authorizing the preliminary plat for the Chimney Rock subdivision at 3040 S. Arcadia Ave. and accepted the dedication of its public streets and easements. 

The subdivision proposed by JCRS Development LLC seeks to subdivide 8.7 acres in Galloway Village into 40 lots for single-family homes. The development site is located near the intersection of Battlefield Road and Lone Pine Avenue and is adjacent to the Chimney Hills and Chimney Hill Place subdivisions.  

At the Jan. 27 council meeting, City Attorney Jordan Paul advised council that their role was administrative, and they had no option but to approve the plat if they find that it met the previously approved subdivision regulations. 

At last night’s meeting, Councilmember Craig Hosmer, who cast the lone vote against the measure to approve the plat, opened the discussion with an amendment to postpone the vote until Feb. 24.He cited a letter from an attorney representing the neighborhood, who said a conditional overlay district prohibits the use of the access roads proposed in the plat. 

Members of council received the five-page letter, dated Feb. 5, from an attorney representing neighborhood resident Tammy Fulk in the plat appeal. Joshua R. Baker of Evans & Dixon LLC pointed out that the proposed plat includes direct access from the subdivision via two roads – Arcadia Avenue and Mimosa Street – and that access is prohibited by an existing conditional overlay district passed in 2018 as COD 151. 

In bold, underlined text, the letter – provided to Springfield Business Journal by city officials – notes that “COD 151 … expressly provides that no access shall be allowed from the subject property to Arcadia Avenue or Mimosa Street or any residentially zoned property.” Because the proposed replatting violates the use limitations set forth in the existing subdivision ordinance and the land development code, Baker writes, the measure must be denied. 

Baker’s letter says creating direct access points from Arcadia Avenue and Mimosa Street to the development would result in an undue burden and a safety risk for homeowners within the residential subdivisions. 

“I think it’s something that we need to consider before we make a vote tonight,” Hosmer said. “I think it’s also important to give the opportunity for the developer and the neighborhood to try to get together and see if there’s a possibility of some sort of resolution as to the proposal before we make a vote and it perhaps winds up in litigation, both sides.” 

Hosmer also reminded council of a previous fracas with Galloway Village over a mixed-use housing development proposed by Elevation Enterprises LLC. That issue resulted in legal action against the city and a citywide vote in which 71% of voters rejected the development. 

“We’ve had sort of a history with this neighborhood, and I think we should be very careful,” Hosmer said. “I’d rather do it right than do it fast.” 

Upon being asked by Mayor Pro Tem Matthew Simpson whether the information in the attorney’s letter changed his mind, Paul, the city’s attorney, said it did not. 

Hosmer’s motion failed by a 6-3 vote, with Mayor Ken McClure and Simpson joining him in support of postponement. 

In debating the replatting, Hosmer said the developer could have proposed a 30-lot subdivision and needed only one point of access. Two access points are needed for the 40-lot plat. 

He also pointed to the 2018 COD for a narrow band of general retail property to the north of the proposed development. That designation, which denied access to Arcadia Street, still applies to that property, he said. 

Hosmer said there was no public hearing on the administrative replat that occurred last fall to offer an easement to the Chimney Rock developer. 

Paul replied that public hearings are not held for administrative replats. 

Hosmer said what council passed in 2018 says – and even the predevelopment review of the property says – all COD 151 requirements must be followed. 

“One of the requirements of 151 is that no access shall be allowed from the subject property to Arcadia Street or Mimosa Street or any residentially zoned property. That’s what 151 says,” Hosmer said. 

Paul agreed that this is what the measure said, but he said zoning does not apply to right of way. 

“That’s not something that’s addressed in that letter you all received,” he said. “That’s a fairly well-established principle when it comes to intergovernmental law.” 

Hosmer objected to the neighborhood residents being omitted from the administrative replat process that eliminated the no-access rule. 

“The city and the developer make the change without notifying anybody. Now that no longer applies,” Hosmer said. 

Paul countered that the developer was following council’s own administrative replat process. 

According to Hosmer, it should not be surprising that such processes anger neighborhood residents. 

“Sometimes we wonder why neighborhoods get upset with the way the city’s process works,” Hosmer said. “I think this is fundamentally unfair to neighborhoods, to change what they thought was a prohibition against access to Arcadia.” 

He added that litigation is likely, whichever way council votes. 

“If the neighbors are right, we’re going to get sued. And if the developers are right, there’s probably going to be litigation anyway,” he said. 

Hosmer again raised the specter of the Elevation Enterprises development that was nixed by a city vote. 

“We passed something before we fully understood it, and it didn’t help the developer, it didn’t help the neighborhood, it didn’t help the city of Springfield. That property’s still sitting empty,” he said.