This is a story about a successful rezoning request from a planned development, or PD, to single-family residential.
The change will allow a new church building to go up at the southern edge of Springfield.
Springfield senior planner Daniel Neal, speaking at a City Council public hearing back in February, explained the outlines of the situation: “The current PD does not allow for churches within it, and the applicant is proposing to have a church use on the property. And that is permitted in the single-family district, so that is the reason for the request tonight.”
As it turns out, that type of request can make its way through official votes by the Springfield Planning & Zoning Commission and the elected leaders at City Council — without public disclosure of a site plan for the project, the name of the church... or its religious affiliation.
Back in January, the church development’s initial public hearing took place before the Planning & Zoning Commission. Randy Latall was the only person living near the proposed church site off East Farm Road 188 to speak out at that hearing.
He said, “My name is Randy Latall, I’m a neighbor in the neighborhood, I’m neither for nor against this. I’m also an elder with Riverbluff Baptist, across the street. So my only question was, is, the neighborhood at the first meeting was seeking to know who the church is, for absolute transparency, and that wasn’t disclosed. So that would be my question: Who is the church?”
Nobody commented at the February hearing before City Council. Since then, Council postponed voting on the rezoning until Monday night, in order to allow time for due diligence on the sale of the land. Once it came to a vote, the rezoning passed Council 8 to zero, with Councilman Derek Lee recusing himself.
Latall, the nearby resident, lives a few blocks from the future church site. Located on 38 acres off East Farm Road 188, the area was previously part of a planned development zoning plan established in 2006. The PD would have allowed townhomes and duplexes.
Lexington Square is located across from the former planned development area that's expected to become the future church site. It’s an “upscale” subdivision with big brick houses. City records show that many neighborhood folks shared concerns about dense housing types like duplexes coming to their corner of the world.
But away from the microphone, Latall told KSMU last week that his major concern was “transparency” with the project, echoing comments by others.
At Planning & Zoning on January 11, Latall didn’t get a direct answer to his question about the identity of the church.
Natalie Broekhoven, chair of the P& Z Commission, told Latall, "I understand that that is a question you may have, but as this is a rezoning case, we don’t necessarily have that, that information. We’re simply looking at if it’s an appropriate use type for the land.”
At that same January meeting, Daniel Richards, with Lee Engineering — a company linked to the church project — answered questions about the development.
Richards said, “To be completely honest and not to be rude in any way, I can’t answer that. I signed a nondisclosure in representing the client.”
Richards filed a report to the city from the developer’s neighborhood meeting (which you can read here beginning at p. 14). Often contentious, such meetings are a requirement early in the process for rezoning requests in Springfield. City records show the meeting was held back on December 20 — with roughly 20 neighbors attending.
In his report, Richards also described Springfield’s residential-single family zoning regulation. Residential single-family “allows churches without any restrictions on denomination or ‘type’ of church,” Richards wrote. That's in keeping with American law and custom regarding the freedom of religion.
The engineering company’s rep wasn’t the only one who signed a nondisclosure agreement, or NDA. So did the landowner. Last week, KSMU was able to reach local attorney Tom Strong over email.
Strong said he’s a co-owner of the 38 acres of land where the unnamed church will be built. His ownership is through a company called Center Court LLC. Center Court plans to sell the land to the church.
In an email message, Strong told KSMU that he thinks it’s “understandable” that the church purchasing the 38 acres “does not want to be identified.” He wrote, “if for some reason the sale is not closed and the church is identified, the church and its members might suffer harm."
Because the NDA is legally binding, Strong wrote that Center Court has “no reason to hide the identity of the church” but says “we legally cannot” divulge the identity of the congregation.
As Richards, with the engineering company, put it: “The neighborhood clearly is not in favor of just any church going in.”
In just a few minutes on Monday night, with no discussion among members, Council passed the new rezoning request.
