Proposed senior housing development approved on second council go-round 

A rezoning to make way for a senior housing project – a measure that was voted down by Springfield City Council on Aug. 19 – was revived last night with full support of voting members of council. 

The affirmative vote represented a change of opinion by Councilmember Craig Hosmer, whose general concerns about enforcement of buffer yards led him to reject the specific rezoning measure previously. 

The council bill sought to change the zoning designation for 5.4 acres of property at 817 W. El Camino Alto Drive to an office district with a conditional overlay from a low-residency family residential district, also with a conditional overlay. 

Complicating matters at the last meeting were recusals by three council members – Mayor Ken McClure, Derek Lee and Callie Carroll – and the absence of Heather Hardinger, resulting in a 4-1 vote. The nine-member council requires five affirmative votes for passage. 

Last night, Hardinger was back, and Hosmer changed his vote to yes to result in the 6-0 passage. 

Prior to the vote, Mayor Pro Tem Matthew Simpson criticized Hosmer for his position at the previous meeting and said he saw the opportunity to revote as a way to correct the mistake made in the last meeting. 

“As we’re considering land issues, it’s our responsibility as council to consider them on the merits of the proposal and not the opportunity to score political points or advance a personal agenda,” he said. 

Simpson said the merits of the proposal were clear, with passage recommended by both city staff and the Planning and Zoning Commission. 

“It is consistent with the comprehensive plan and supported by the neighborhood, and it provides homes for senior citizens, including veterans, in our community, which directly aligns with our housing priority as a council,” he said. 

Simpson said passage of the measure is a practical step council can do to take action to increase housing stock in the community.  

City code typically requires a six-month wait for an applicant to refile a rezoning request, but council is permitted to initiate a refiling without a delay. 

According to notes from the public hearing with the Planning and Zoning Commission, the proposed development is a 55-plus residential care facility to be placed on the west half of the property, with the eastern half to be sold. It would be a one-story structure with a 15-foot buffer yard with plantings on the west side. 

The development would abut the Quail Creek neighborhood to its east. 

Representing developer Ridge HZ55 LLC, Dave Bodeen of engineering firm Pinnacle Design Consultants LLC said the buffer yard was one concern voiced by neighborhood residents during a public information session, but it was not high on the list. Residents were vocal about wanting single-story construction and the retention of an existing gate, he said. 

“This has to look nice,” Bodeen said. “We’re trying to sell a product, and in order to do that, we’re going to make it look as nice as we can.” 

He noted plans set forth by the developer surpass the minimum standard and provide extra trees, which the neighbors are in favor of. The proposed conditional overlay calls for a 6-foot wood privacy fence and an additional six evergreen trees for every 100 feet of buffer yard length, for a total of eight evergreen trees per 100 feet of length. 

“We’ve even come up and we’re talking with them back and forth on what type of fence they like,” he said. “I think we’re really going above and beyond minimum standards.” 

Bodeen said the developer plans to keep the property looking nice long term. 

“We’re going to do everything that we can to make sure that looks as nice as it possibly can, not just at the ribbon cutting but 10 years in the future,” he said. “It’s a product that they’re going to have to continually, continuously resell in order to fill those units.”  

Hosmer said his objection was not to the developer or the specific project, but to the city’s failure to enforce the requirement to maintain buffer yards. 

“The city of Springfield says that developers shall maintain that buffer yard, and yet nobody checks the buffer yard,” he said. “There are buffer yards all over the city of Springfield where the trees are dead, the plants are dead – nobody does anything to makes sure that gets taken care of.” 

The issue creates distrust between neighbors and developers, Hosmer said, with good developers being put into the same box as bad ones. 

City Manager Jason Gage said with the staffing level available, if the city becomes aware of an issue with a buffer yard or other landscaping requirements, it will follow up. 

“The question is, are we going to take more self-initiative to check those?” Gage said. “We’re going to talk about how can we do that – how can we leverage ourself to take more initiative to do that?” 

He added that if there is a concern, the city will send someone out. 

Hosmer asked if there is a plan for this. 

“We talk about what we’re going to do, but we don’t seem to do it,” Hosmer said. 

Gage said a plan had not been developed in the time since Hosmer raised his concern at the last meeting, but a staff person may be included in the next city budget for such enforcement efforts if one is deemed necessary. 

Hosmer suggested that Tree City USA volunteers be used as a resource to scout buffer yards that are not being maintained. 

“Certainly, we wouldn’t be able to probably leverage them as an enforcer, but they could be eyes in the field that could come back to us, and then we could send someone out if we need to do that,” Gage said. 

Councilmember Monica Horton talked about what she considers to be council best practices. 

“I think that for me, I don’t want to set a precedent of policymaking based off of a maybe or a maybe not,” she said. “If there are already rules that are in the code that give guidelines to developers as to what they should and should not do ... I don’t want to set a precedent for myself and say, ‘Well, I don’t know if the administrative staff is going to enforce it or not, so therefore I’m going to vote against the council bill.’”