Split vote by P&Z means BK&M rezoning must return in December

One speaker invoked the movie “Groundhog Day” in his remarks to the city’s Planning & Zoning Commission last night as that body took up a rezoning issue for its fifth time in three years – but the resulting split 3-3 vote means it will return to the commission one more time. 

The 2.6-acre property in question is at the northwest corner of Sunshine Street and National Avenue in the residential neighborhood of University Heights. There, developer BK&M LLC first unveiled its commercial development aspirations in 2022. 

At the request of BK&M, Springfield City Council on Oct. 20 remanded its rezoning request to P&Z. The developer is asking the single-family residential property to be rezoned to the classification of Office 2 but would like a hotel to be added among the list of acceptable uses. On April 1, 2026, a citywide rezoning will take effect, and O-2 properties will be changed to commercial mixed use, which does not allow hotels. 

A hotel would operate around the clock, which is an exception to limited operation hours proposed for other types of development on the site. 

BK&M has indicated it intends to sell the property instead of developing it, following several failed rezoning attempts, according to past Springfield Business Journal reporting.  

A familiar cast of characters participated in P&Z’s public hearing on the rezoning measure, with eight University Heights residents and BK&M’s engineer, Chris Wynn of CJW Transportation Consultants LLC, taking part. 

In his brief remarks to the commission, Wynn said it was important to the developers to have the hotel usage memorialized in the conditional use permit, since that ability would be lost with April’s transition to commercial mixed use. He explained that council at first denied the developer’s request to remand the issue to the commission for further consideration, but after more explanation, it agreed to the request. 

Past SBJ reporting showed council denied the remand request at its Oct. 6 meeting, but then developer Ralph Duda explained the restriction against hotels in the future zoning designation. He also said his team was not informed of that restriction when city staff recommended the O-2 option. 

On Oct. 20, council reversed course and agreed to the remand. 

It was resident Ashton Lewis who invoked “Groundhog Day,” the 1993 movie where the main character, played by Bill Murray, relives the same day over and over again. 

Lewis said improving the property’s marketability is what BK&M’s rezoning request is all about. 

Maggie Castrey, president of the University Heights Neighborhood Association, also referenced the issue’s multiple appearances before P&Z and City Council. 

“If you are annoyed that this issue is before you for a fifth time, please don’t abandon us,” she said. “We have tried to find common ground to no avail.” 

Barbara Robinson offered an oft-cited argument by neighborhood representatives, which is that in buying the corner property, BK&M should have applied due diligence before a speculative purchase for commercial development in a residential zone. 

“Remember, it’s not up to the city, nor is it up to the neighborhood, to make these developers successful,” she said. 

Following the public hearing, Wynn was given a chance for a rebuttal. He said office zoning is completely different from commercial zoning. 

He said Duda wanted him to bring up the fact that on the opposite side of Sunshine from the development, a medical clinic replaced five houses plus two office buildings in historical homes and took access to a local street.  

“There was no uproar,” Wynn said. 

He also cited a rezoning of several properties from residential to institutional near Ozarks Technical Community College – a change that would allow even a jail to be placed there, though residential homes remain on three sides. 

“That didn’t strike any concern from you guys or City Council,” he said. 

For its vote, P&Z had three absences – Bruce Colony, Layne Hunton and Christopher Lebeck – meaning only six voting members were present. 

Cora Scott, the city’s director of public information and civic engagement, explained that the 3-3 tie means the item must be postponed. A return to the agenda is set for the Dec. 18 meeting. Lebeck would have recused, had he been present, she said, but with the additional commissioners present, there would have been an opportunity to avoid a tie. 

The last time the matter was before P&Z, there was a 4-4 vote with one recusal, and that tie did not require postponement. 

“The commission had full attendance of all members who were participating on this item, and the postponement would not be expected to break the tie,” Scott said via email. 

As a result of the tie, the issue will be taken up again at P&Z’s December meeting, but there will be no public comment period, P&Z Chair Randall Doennig explained at the close of the meeting. 

Doennig asked voting members to explain their positions for the record prior to their vote. 

Lining up on the “yes” side were Bill Knuckles, Dan Scott and Helen Gunther.  

Knuckles said the main concerns he had with the development have been addressed. He said with another hotel – TownePlace Suites Springfield by Marriott – a few blocks south of the site, a hotel would not have a huge impact on the neighborhood. 

Scott said if a hotel is proposed for the site, there will be a requirement that P&Z review a specific site plan. That’s what the body has wanted all along, he said, though he added his support for the rezoning does not mean he would support a specific hotel.  

Gunther said she was in a traffic jam near the development site caused by a car trying to turn into the house at 1745 S. National Ave. She said she realized at that moment that the corner does not need to have houses on it. 

Voting “no” were Betty Ridge, Eric Pauly and Doennig. 

Ridge said the city is demolishing a lot of properties, some of which she doesn’t mind seeing go while others she does. She said the century-old University Heights neighborhood is worth preserving. 

Eric Pauly said P&Z’s job is to give guidance to council on zoning measures and not to aid developers, but he said BK&M has not provided a solid plan in three and a half years. 

“We haven’t seen anything that we could really wrap our arms around,” he said, adding that it’s important to get this right on the city’s second-busiest intersection. 

He said developers may be interested in pursuing an idea on a site, but that doesn’t mean P&Z has to accommodate them. In other words, the city is not an insurance agent whose job is to make developers whole again, he said. 

“Pursuit does not mean achievement,” he said. “I’ve been pursuing a Porsche 911 for decades in my driveway, and it hasn’t been achieved yet, but that doesn’t mean that I’ve stopped pursuing it.” 

Like Pauly, Doennig said it is not the responsibility of P&Z or the city to make the development profitable. 

The choice, Doennig said, is to change the zoning and disrupt the fabric of a neighborhood that does not need rezoning or to continue its current zoning classification and allow the neighborhood to go on being viable and vibrant. 

“To me, any developer wishing to tear off a corner of a thriving neighborhood and make it something different needs to come with a clear rationale and, more importantly, a very clear vision for the change they are proposing,” he said. “While there was certainly clarity in the acquisition of these properties, the vision for what they want to have happen here has been consistently unclear.”