Guidelines help families find quality housing

“I guess this makes it more official,” chuckled Ralph Rognstad, the department’s director. “It isn’t unusual for us to evolve policies at the administrative level, and then we come back later and have Council bless it.”

The Planning and Development Department has been giving low-interest loans to developers to either refurbish or build new affordable housing units since the 1980s.

The design guidelines were established two years ago because some residents complained that the housing units being built with city money were poorly designed and didn’t correspond with their surroundings.

“We want to try to make sure the house is rehabbed so it continues to fit in with the character of the neighborhood,” Rognstad said. “It used to be, they were just happy to see the house rehabbed, and it didn’t matter that architecturally it wasn’t done very well. But as people began to restore houses, they wanted to try to maintain the character of other houses.”

The design guidelines are enforceable from roughly West Bypass to Glenstone and from the north city limits to Grand.

City personnel, through the Planning and Development Department, grant loans at 5 percent interest to developers with money from a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Federal Entitlement Grant.

Commerce Bank loan officer Tony Ditrolio said a 30-year conventional loan was demanding 6.125 percent on Oct. 6.

The Department has loaned about $16 million as part of its Community Development Block Grant and Home Investment Partnerships Program.

To qualify for the loans, developers must meet design guidelines and adhere to rent caps – $285 for an efficiency studio apartment and $671 for a four-bedroom house, for example. Also, each single-family home or duplex must have at least two entrances and a front porch.

Rognstad said the design guidelines were established solely for stylistic reasons and that they have no financial impact on developers.

Carla Sandwell has lived in one of the low-income houses for six months. The full-time Missouri State University student and single mother of three rents a new three-bedroom, two-bathroom house at 811 N. Fremont for $534 a month.

Sandwell said she takes very good care of her house because she’s grateful to live in a nice place after renting a 50-year-old three-bedroom apartment for $540 a month.

“The landlords didn’t want to rent to just anybody,” she said. “They wanted to rent to someone who would take care of it.”

Rognstad said the design guideline program wouldn’t change in application if it passes Council vote this month. He said all the quirks already have been worked out after two years of practice.

Tom Carlson, Springfield mayor and City Council presiding officer, said the policy has Council support, and he expects it to be voted through. “They’ve had it going now for a couple years and are comfortable with it,” Carlson said.