Springfield’s Planning and Zoning Commission Thursday night, came to a 4-4 conclusion for a revised rezoning request for a contentious tract of land at National and Sunshine. The tie means the request failed to get the commission’s approval. It will go to Springfield City Council for another public hearing October 6.
Developer Be Kind and Merciful or BK&M, is asking to convert eight properties spread across 2.6 acres at the edge of the University Heights neighborhood from residential single family to Office-2 zoning. They’ve been trying to rezone the properties since 2022.
BK&M had previously requested the properties be rezoned to general retail, with a vision for a dense retail and mixed-use area. The initial proposal prompted a lawsuit from University Heights residents and was ultimately voted down by Springfield City Council last December. As City Senior Planner Daniel Neal explained Thursday evening the new proposal had a more restrictive zoning type and the developer also proposed additional concessions.
Neal said, “they've also provided us with a conditional overlay district to remove some of those uses that would be objectionable and possibly incompatible with the neighborhood.” As examples Neal named entertainment-oriented uses and personal service uses. The overlay district would also call for a buffer, tall landscaping limit building height to 50 feet and include some traffic calming infrastructure.
That did not assuage residents and their representatives. The public hearing lasted over an hour. Residents decried potential traffic impacts on adjacent neighborhood streets, argued the proposal was incompatible with the neighborhood and the city’s comprehensive plan and challenged that the main motive for the rezoning was for the developer to sell the property, with no real plans for a user or a certain use in place.
Some members of the commission pushed back on residents' arguments. Most commissioners and speakers agreed something new needs to be done.
Townhouses and smaller-scale commercial development were two proposals mentioned as alternatives.