Walnut Lawn improvements set to resume

Springfield City Council approved the plans for the Walnut Lawn Street project at its July 24 meeting. The $1.9 million project, which will widen the road between Kansas Expressway and Parkhill Avenue, was awarded to Hartman and Co. Inc.

Work actually began nearly two years ago with initial grading work. The road will be widened to four lanes with a median, and a traffic light and left turn lanes will be added at Kansas Avenue. The city will come back next year and complete the landscaping work to go with the new road.

City Public Works Director Marc Thornsberry said the project, funded by the 1/4-cent capital improvement sales tax, has been a long time coming.

“This is the third and final piece of Walnut Lawn; the first was from Campbell to Main, the second was from Main to Parkhill,” he said. “We had really good support from the neighborhood and the businesses at the east end. I know everyone’s anxious to get the final piece completed.”

The project, which should start immediately, is scheduled for completion in the next 150 days; Thornsberry said the contractor is optimistic about the possibility of finishing ahead of schedule, weather permitting.

Commercial Street dreams

Council also approved a resolution authorizing the city to apply for the Downtown Revitalization Economic Assistance for Missouri Initiative.

The program, called DREAM and unveiled by Gov. Matt Blunt in June, is intended to streamline access to state programs that provide money for downtown revitalization. Only a handful of cities will be chosen for the program, which should also boost downtown property values and create jobs.

Mike MacPherson, the city’s contract development specialist, said the city would use the extra state help for Commercial Street redevelopment. Recently released plans call for an entertainment and arts district in harmony with the growing number of loft developments.

Councilman Denny Whayne expressed his appreciation for the effort to revitalize Commercial Street the same way the center city area has been upgraded in recent years.

Mayor Tom Carlson echoed the sentiment, but also expressed caution.

“One of the underlying concepts for the whole program is to help cities who haven’t been able to get their acts together as well as we have, and give them staff support from the state level,” Carlson said. “I think we should definitely go after it, and I hope we’re lucky, but if we’re unsuccessful I think it will be because of the fine job we’ve done in the past.”

Whayne, however, remained optimistic. “I’m hopeful – I’ve got a rabbit’s foot in my pocket,” he said.

A second chance?

Emphasis Marketing Corp. owner Kurt Theobald addressed council, asking members to recommend the addition of taxi-top advertisements as an acceptable use in the city’s sign ordinance.

Theobald started his company in 2005 with the intent of selling taxi-top advertising and had contracted with Yellow Cab Co. to carry the ads. However, the city put a stop to it a month after the ads were in place, saying Yellow Cab was in violation of city ordinance.

Theobald appealed the decision to the Board of Adjustment; the board upheld the citation July 11, but also recommended that council consider an ordinance change.

Theobald told council during the July 24 meeting that the taxi-top signs he promotes make sense for the city.

“This is done in hundreds of other metropolises worldwide, and I’m not talking major metropolises exclusively; I’m talking smaller metropolises like Springfield,” he told council. “They are proven to be safe and effective forms of advertising. It also keeps money circulating inside the city.”

Theobald has said he is more than $50,000 in debt as a result of the citation and his inability to receive revenue from the signs.

Council referred the sign issue to the Plans and Policies Committee for review.