YOUR BUSINESS AUTHORITY
Springfield, MO
YOUR BUSINESS AUTHORITY
Springfield, MO
A walkable city is the vision behind Strafford’s 2020 comprehensive plan, but zoning changes to execute the plans have raised some questions for existing businesses.
The comprehensive plan, approved by the Board of Aldermen in February 2020, was the result of a community input survey, with all but a few residents saying they wanted to see the city grow, according to City Administrator Martha Smartt.
Smartt said a majority of the 400 respondents also wanted a walkable downtown. That created a sticking point, as some of the businesses already in place are ones she described as “autocentric” – that is, centered around automobiles.
“These autocentric businesses that do want to expand, a lot of them are anchor businesses for us and have been here a long time,” she said. “They’re good business owners, and when they are positioned along major thoroughfares like Old (U.S. Route) 66 or Highway 125, it’s very appropriate to have autocentric businesses in that area.”
However, in an area she referred to as the downtown overlay district, which includes the Pine Street commercial district, the comprehensive plan puts autocentric businesses at risk for being able to expand, she said.
“When you have a variety of different businesses, it’s somewhat challenging,” Smartt said.
Plans to incorporate mixed-use developments, blending housing and businesses, in the commercial area were a chief reason for revisiting zoning codes, Smartt said.
A public hearing was held March 21 for regulations related to the neighborhood commercial district, general commercial district and highway commercial district zones. Smartt said 16 comments were received during the hearing, and approval was tabled until the plan could be revised to address them. That process is ongoing.
“The biggest sticking point was where you have uses in existence that are under the new code they can continue operating, but they may be considered nonconforming if you try to create what our comprehensive plan called for, a pedestrian-friendly, walkable downtown,” she said.
Smartt said Planning & Zoning asked staff to take up comments received during the public hearing and provide feedback so they could evaluate them. She did not provide a timeline. A key takeaway, Smartt said, was that future expansion of existing autocentric businesses could pose challenges. City staff would have to try to harmonize competing desires: that of the community for a walkable downtown and that of autocentric businesses to grow.
The plan
Strafford’s comprehensive plan began in 2019 with a nine-month process in coordination with an outside consultant to review community needs and generate a comprehensive plan for the next 15-20 years, Smartt said.
Smartt’s predecessor was Steve Bodenhamer, who served in that role 2012-19. He said the Strafford Planning & Zoning Commission spent several months in late 2021 and early 2022 revising the commercial zoning code to align with the goals of the comprehensive plan. Board of Aldermen approval is required to vote before the plan can be adopted.
“In that plan, there is language to strive to make downtown Strafford more pedestrian friendly and more diverse in small shops and residential units,” Bodenhamer said. “It’s typical of today’s comprehensive plans – let’s make downtowns quaint again. I don’t mean that dismissively; it’s just the flavor of the decade.”
The plan prohibits auto repair shops, auto sales, certain construction businesses, drive-thru establishments and convenience stores in the downtown, Bodenhamer said. This is in the part of town that is over 120 years old and adjacent to U.S. Route 66, the historic Mother Road.
“If that zoning code is adopted, it doesn’t make the business illegal; it makes them nonconforming,” he said. “They can continue doing business as a nonconforming entity, but when it comes time to seek a building permit for a major expansion or major renovation, the municipal code doesn’t look favorably upon them to continue to expand a nonconforming situation.”
He gave the example of the owner of an auto repair shop in downtown Strafford with plans to expand within the overlay district.
“With this cloud of change hanging over his head, he’s wondering would I even get to expand when I get my ducks lined up,” Bodenhamer said.
The owner of Advanced Car Care, a business in the historic area, declined a request for an interview, and two other business owners did not return calls by press time.
Business owners are worried about the uncertainty, according to Bodenhamer.
“Those issues were raised before the Board of Aldermen in the public hearing back in March, and the Board of Aldermen remanded the zoning code revisions back to the Planning & Zoning Commission to, quote, ‘figure out a solution,’” Bodenhamer said.
He said Smartt had said there would be another set of public hearings in August for the revised plan.
“August has come and gone and that hasn’t happened,” he said. “I don’t know exactly where things stand, whether there is an intent on the city administrator to move forward with these changes or let them die a natural death with no change at all. I don’t know whether someone from the chamber of commerce has had any communication with the city administration on this issue or not.”
Smartt said communication is ongoing, and she is optimistic that with a listening stance, the city can meet the needs of businesses.
“We’re going to be meeting with every single property and business owner in the downtown area that wants to meet with us,” she said.
Smartt did not offer a timeline for these conversations.
Chamber view
Strafford Chamber of Commerce Board President JJ Jennings is owner of Thee Quaint Market, a flea market with over 20 vendors on East Pine Street, the heart of the commercial district.
She said the chamber didn’t have an official opinion on the revisions to the zoning code that would create the walkable downtown. She was willing to share her own, however.
“I think it has its pros and cons, as any plan,” she said. “I really think that would benefit some, and some it won’t. I don’t know the whole, full plan until it’s put out there to see, but people really do like to walk around downtown.”
Jennings said the chamber is more about connection than politics at the moment.
“We’re more about the community at this point,” she said. “We’re trying to build the community back together. Before you can get political, you have to get community growth.”
The chamber’s online directory lists 13 businesses as members.
The vision
The comprehensive plan calls for a mixed-use downtown area. Smartt compared it to Chesterfield Village in Springfield.
The plan states, “The primary land use in midtown should be mixed-use which allows for low-impact neighborhood commercial, along with office space, and residential. Auto-orientated uses such as drive-thrus or gas stations should not be permitted.”
Bodenhamer said this creates a confusing situation for banks, as most customers prefer a drive-thru for banking, and often lobbies are closed on Saturdays.
She noted most Strafford businesses are not at risk, but businesses in the downtown overlay district might face challenges.
“We are rethinking what is the best way of looking at this and proceeding with this,” she said. “We’re not in a hurry about this. We want to take our time and get it right, with giving ourselves as a staff more time to think about how we handle the isolated, probably handful of property owners that we would have to find a unique workaround for.”
The city staff has come up with ideas, and they intend to engage businesses directly so they don’t feel at risk, Smartt said.
“We want them to be able to expand within that reasonable footprint where they’re at,” she said.
Missouri State University’s science building, built in 1971 and formerly called Temple Hall, is being reconstructed and updated.
