Proposed process could speed up residential infill at city properties

Springfield City Council heard a proposal from the city’s Department of Planning and Development for a strategic housing infill program that would allow streamlined movement in establishing missing-middle housing.

At council’s luncheon meeting Dec. 2, Planning and Development Director Steve Childers outlined the proposal that if implemented could cut months off of the process of moving a property from the dangerous or nuisance property abatement process to city ownership to sale for development as housing.

Childers reported that the city owns 732 parcels of real estate in various sizes, peppered all across the city, but only 145 are vacant, and of these, only 10 are currently shovel-ready for residential infill.

The city has previously defined missing-middle housing as smaller-scale multiunit housing types, like duplexes, multiunit homes and townhomes, rather than larger apartment complexes.

Childers outlined a plan to speed up residential infill development by establishing a streamlined process for selling or giving away city property. That would entail establishing an infill program committee and activating the city’s Planning and Economic Vitality departments.

Childers said the city’s Department of Building Development Services can take one to two years from the time it receives a complaint until it abates nuisance properties and dangerous buildings. The city’s legal team can take another one to two years, issuing a special tax bill, processing litigation and pursuing a quiet title judgment through the court. At that point, the land inventory committee steps in to determine if the property is surplus, pinpoint sale terms and market value, and solicit bids for the lot.

The new process would begin similarly but would bypass a year or more in the land inventory committee. Under the new process, two departments – Planning and Development and Economic Vitality – would receive notification of surplus property and evaluate each lot for its highest and best use before determining market value and soliciting a request for applications – a six- to nine-month process.

Then, a new infill program committee would score applications and award property in a process that would take one to three months.

The program could eventually include property acquired through the city’s land bank, though the effort to establish one is currently suspended by the legislature. 

Childers said after assessment through the city’s predevelopment process, 10 lots owned by the city were deemed to be shovel-ready. They are already zoned for missing-middle housing, have the appropriate density and are ready to be permitted, he said, and they also have sewer hookups available.

“Everything would be there. We just have to have a builder-developer that would want to play and that would want to be part of the program,” Childers said.

The idea is to jumpstart establishment of missing-middle housing to develop the city’s housing stock, according to Childers.

Purchase considerations
Childers said the city buys properties for specific reasons, and not just to abate dangerous or nuisance conditions. 

“When we buy property, we use that property. In our case, we use the majority of the property that we have,” he said.

Those that require abatement require the investment of a lot of time and many steps.

Among the properties owned by the city, some of the city’s 145 vacant lots are not developable, he said, for reasons like being located in a flood plain, presence of a sinkhole or other factors. If a sewer connection is located on the other side of the road, he said, it could cost several thousand dollars to make a connection.

Some also have liens – up to $67,000, Childers said, but averaging about $20,000.

He said the city handles mowing, maintenance and insurance for the properties it owns, which is an incentive to move them along to buyers.

“We need to get them out the door and turn them into something that is profitable and that improves our neighborhoods,” he said.

One way to speed up the process is by pre-permitting the properties, Childers said, so prospective buyers understand what can go on them. He said the city is preparing an interactive website, based on one in Cook County, Illinois, where Chicago is located, to showcase the properties that are available.

The website would suggest what might go on the lot, with a preference toward missing-middle housing, like duplexes, triplexes, quadplexes or houses with accessory dwelling units. Childers said a person could live in one of the units and rent out the other for an income source.

“We’re just going to say hey, if anybody wants to develop this on that lot, then submit an application, and we can move forward, like that,” he said with a snapping motion.

Childers mentioned another way to speed up the process, which is to work with property owners during the BDS process before it goes through the legal office.

“If we were to be able to find a funding source, then we could approach the property owner and say, listen, you’ve already got liens on your property. Do you want to keep this property? Because the land bank would be interested in acquiring this property and wiping those liens away,” he said. “I think there can be a conversation to maybe cut some of this time down to be able to get to a quicker process where we can keep our inventory building.”

He said the city would have the option of gifting property to a nonprofit that is willing to build housing or selling it to a for-profit buyer to recoup some costs.

Childers said from 2013 to 2020, the city’s land inventory committee disposed of 97 lots and generated $1.2 million in real property sales. However, he said that the city spent $3.3 million in the four-year period from fiscal 2022-25 on maintaining and abating dangerous and nuisance properties.

“We’re trying to figure out a way to move faster, turn these vacant lots into housing units and maybe find profit so that we can become more efficient, we can become more effective and we can actually be doing something that balances out a little more,” he said.

Childers said the city’s comprehensive plan, Forward SGF, directs the city to increase its housing inventory – also a current council priority – and it must increase the variety and diversity of housing as well.

“If you do these things, then you’re going to have increased affordability, increased accessibility as well as reinvestment in our existing neighborhoods,” he said.

This can be accomplished through missing -middle housing, and the city is changing its zoning code to accommodate that kind of development.

Childers showed some images of existing missing -middle housing. Some examples showed lackluster duplexes and small apartment buildings that lacked design elements, while others showed buildings that had been designed to fit in with single-family houses within neighborhoods.

He said a visual-preference survey would likely reveal a preference for the design-forward structures.

Land bank snag
The city has been trying to establish a land bank to further aid it in putting blighted property back into use, but a legislative snag has stalled its progress.

On its website, the Center for Community Progress defines a land bank as a public entity that can put vacant, abandoned and deteriorated properties back into productive use in keeping with community goals.

The Columbia Missourian reported in October that an omnibus bill passed by the state legislature in 2024 covered multiple real estate-related issues, including land banks, historic tax credits and more. Among the “more” was the abolishment on the raising of backyard chickens, the Missourian reported. A lawsuit seeking to topple the chicken abolition was filed by Four Seasons Lakesites Property Owners Association Inc. in Lake Ozark and resulted in the legislation being overturned in its entirety.

Childers reported to council that new land bank legislation is on track, and if it goes through as an independent bill, it will likely be approved and in effect in August 2026, if not sooner.

The city is also working on a grant, in cooperation with St. Louis County and the Center for Community Progress, to fund the establishment of its land bank. The granting institution, the Missouri Foundation for Health, has told Childers it remains committed to the project, he said.