P&Z approves new plat for 390-acre site above Springfield Underground 

Last edited 3:25 p.m., Nov. 10, 2025 [Editor's note: The word acre was corrected to unit in the last paragraph.]

The Springfield Planning & Zoning Commission approved a preliminary plat for a 390-acre, three-lot property above Springfield Underground at its meeting yesterday following a four-minute presentation and public hearing. 

The plat was submitted by Springfield Underground Inc. for property at 1900 N. Le Compte Road to facilitate development at the site, according to the city staff report. The site was described as consisting of a stone quarry, undeveloped land and underground storage. Springfield Underground offers 3.2 million square feet of leasable space beneath the surface, according to its website. 

The project is titled Sky Light Surface Park. Its largest lot is 192 acres, and the smallest is 70. 

Senior Planner Andrew Menke, a member of the city’s development review team, said the plat would likely be familiar to commission members, who approved a different version of a plat with the same name in 2023, but it expired in June. A plat is good for two years. City Council is expected to take up the measure at its Dec. 15 meeting. 

The public discussion during the commission meeting was brief, with only Jason Clark, engineer from Crawford, Murphy & Tilly Inc., present as the applicant’s representative to answer questions. No members of the public showed up to speak. 

It was a different scenario than the Oct. 20 council meeting, when 31 people showed up to express their views about an unnamed development that adjoins Sky Light Surface Park to its south. That is the 48-acre site at Division Street and Le Compte Road, approved by council for development Nov. 3 despite density concerns expressed by residents of nearby neighborhoods. That development calls for a 510-unit planned development that includes 10 three-story apartment buildings, plus single-family homes, villas, duplexes and townhomes. 

Council approved the rezoning of the 48-acre site despite some members voicing concerns about urban sprawl overtaking agricultural land because of a need for residential development in the city. 

In June 2023, council approved a rezoning of 402 surface acres, including the Sky Light property, for manufacturing and logistical support as well as office, hospitality, retail and service. Allowable uses would also include marijuana cultivation, dispensary operation and infused product manufacturing, according to past Springfield Business Journal reporting. 

Christina Angle, chief financial officer and president of the Erlen Group, operator of Springfield Underground, told SBJ at the time there was no potential tenant from the cannabis industry for the site, and an engineer spokesperson said there was no intended use for the facilities. 

Angle said at the time that a section along Division Street would be opened to general retail uses, and parcels in the far eastern portion would allow multifamily uses with a limit of 11 dwellings per acre. She said the development would provide a highway commercial buffer, with grocery and convenience stores, between it and surrounding neighborhoods, including Supreme Estates, Cooper Estates and the Lakes at Wild Horse. The interior would have more industrial uses, she said at the time. 

An aerial view of the property shows a square notch on its southern edge abutting Eastgate Avenue, and this is owned by City Utilities of Springfield and is not part of the subdivision. Below that notch is the 510-unit site rezoned by council on Nov. 3.