P&Z votes to recommend single-family residential tract in The Ridge 

The city’s Planning & Zoning Commission last night gave its unanimous nod to a plan to rezone 6 acres in the development area known as The Ridge for a single-family subdivision. 

The zoning change, to single-family residential from planned development, was proposed by property owner The Ridge HZ LLC. Its registered agent with the Missouri secretary of state is Matt Miller, whose company, Miller Commerce LLC, lists 30 projects in the city on its website, among them Turners Rock, Mission Ridge, Hyde Park Homes, Tera Vera, Deep Elm and The Q’ube. 

The property, generally located at 1012 W. Buena Vista St., is presently vacant. 

Representing the developer was civil engineer David Bodeen of Pinnacle Design Consultants LLC. Bodeen told P&Z that what they were going to hear about most during the public hearing was the desire to keep in place a gate on Buckingham Lane where it connects to the development property to the south. 

Senior Planner Daniel Neal said the current zoning, a planned development, allows a gate for what was designated a private drive. That would not be the case if it were a public street, which would be the case with a zoning change. 

Bodeen said the owner is in favor of keeping the gate in place. 

“The owner is content in that remaining a private drive – in other words, it would be a single-family subdivision with a private drive, gated on both the north and the existing Buckingham gate on the south. We’d put a new gate on the north end if that’s allowed,” he said. 

If the city were to require it to be a public street, that would be out of his hands, Bodeen said. 

City Traffic Engineer Chad Zickefoose said a gate nearby on Buena Vista is the only public street in the city of Springfield with a gate across it. It was enacted by City Council action in 2004, city staff reported. All other gates are on private streets. 

Traffic concerns 
Levi Wilson, president of Wellington Hills Neighborhood Association, said neighborhood residents are concerned about traffic increasing from the development. 

“Converting this street to a cut-through for traffic will dramatically increase the number of speeding vehicles,” he said. 

Other area residents expressed similar concerns. 

Commissioner Bruce Colony asked the city for clarification on whether keeping the gate was an option. 

Bob Hosmer, planning manager, said, “From the standpoint of planning, we do encourage connectivity.” 

David Hall, treasurer of the Quail Creek Property Owners Association, said nobody is opposed to changes in zoning, but concerns are strictly about connectivity. 

With heavy retail in the area, there will be a lot of drivers cutting through, he said. 

“Traffic calming does not work generally in most places,” he said. “What I’m really asking for as a neighborhood association, revisit that policy of what it does for connectivity through the traffic – truly the safety of our residents and our neighborhoods, and how that changes the very fabric of how we can get together and how we can live and work together.” 

Following the meeting and the vote of support, Bodeen held an impromptu information session with neighborhood residents in the hallway, where he answered questions about traffic and easements. Some of the residents invited him to their property to examine a property boundary and some utility lines there as the development moves forward. 

Bodeen told Springfield Business Journal the situation seems an unusual one, with a developer and neighborhood residents working well together but jointly opposing a city policy regarding gates on public streets. 

The Ridge 
SBJ first reported on plans for The Ridge at West Branch, a proposed 100-acre, $500 million development located on the west side of South Campbell Avenue in the city’s far south end. The Library Center abuts the property to the north. That development was proposed by RW Developments LLC, owned by partners Phil Williams and Trip Rhodes. 

According to past SBJ reporting, original plans called for 60 acres of commercial space for potential tenants, including restaurants, hotels, offices, retail centers and lofts, as well as bike trails and natural elements to form a parklike environment. The back 40 acres were to contain a senior living continuum-of-care community. RW Developments targeted 2021 for completion of the commercial section, but that company was not the only one to have plans dramatically altered during years now associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. 

RW Developments planned to develop 30% of the property itself, Williams said at the time. A look at the city of Springfield’s geographic information systems map shows that the development area is divided into tracts with various owners, including RW Developments. 

The GIS data shows that The Ridge HZ owns a 21.6-acre plot shaped a little like the top view of a grand piano. The property approved for rezoning is a rectangle on the long side of the piano lid. The Ridge HZ is shown to have bought the property in August 2021. The entire 21.6 acres is appraised at $7.1 million.