Bills eligible for an up-or-down vote by Springfield’s highest elected leaders include a proposal to address noisy motor vehicles, seen as a problem especially downtown but also throughout the city.
The bill would codify each motor vehicle owner’s responsibility. That means the city could assess a civil penalty against the owner of a vehicle found to be violating the city noise ordinance. Vehicle owners could ask for a hearing to contest a noise violation, according to the bill.
Four councilmembers are sponsoring a separate bill that would change the rules around short-term rentals like Airbnb and Vrbo.
Council first passed an ordinance to regulate short-term rentals five years ago; afterward, it became clear that many short-term rentals weren’t registering with the city or paying all of their local taxes. The proposed new ordinance would streamline some of the regulations from the existing one. It would also make it a city violation to advertise a short-term rental on a platform like Airbnb, if the property owner isn’t complying with city rules.
A different pair of bills would tweak regulations for Springfield’s food industry, if Council adopts them. One would create a new category of “limited food permit” for short-term eateries that don’t count as a food truck or brick-and-mortar restaurant. The other bill would extend mobile food permits from 6 months to 12 months, matching the requirements for brick-and-mortar restaurants.
Another bill likely to see a vote would allow office conversions to real estate along Cherry Street and Elm Street in the Rountree neighborhood, also known as “subarea D.” The bill says it would allow existing single-family homes to be preserved, and the requirements would match the ones in the Grant Avenue Parkway district southwest of downtown.
Council is expected to vote on another bill that would accept a federal grant worth $700,000 to pay for a Crime Gun Intelligence Center for Springfield police. The goal of the center would be to develop investigative leads from recovered firearms and shell casings using a nationwide network to swiftly address violent gun offenders.
Finally, Council is expected to vote to modify the boundaries of a tax increment financing district in the historic Commercial Street area. Earlier this year, local developer Titus Williams proposed a plan to improve parts of the neighborhood, including the old Missouri Hotel.
Council’s bill would remove 93 parcels covering roughly 5 acres from the Commercial Street Tax Increment Financing District so that Williams’s plan could benefit from tax breaks.
