To enact the plan, the developer needed a rezoning from low-density multi-family residential to office district.
Nobody spoke out to oppose the project at a Council public hearing on August 5. In July, the Planning & Zoning Commission voted 7-to-zero, with one abstention, to recommend the rezoning.
Before that, the developer held a required neighborhood meeting back in June. City records say 21 people showed up. The owner’s representative told nearby residents they’d build a 6-foot fence as part of a required buffer for the development, which would be “satisfactory” to all parties.
And they said that the residential care facility would be just one story tall. Comments collected at the neighborhood meeting show the height was a concern held by many homeowners.
Fast-forward to the Springfield City Council meeting of Monday, August 19. In the words of Councilman and Mayor Pro Tem Matt Simpson, "by a vote of 5-4, one against, this bill fails.”
The vote to reject the rezoning request was unusual: One council member, Craig Hosmer, voted to reject. Another council member, Heather Hardinger, was absent from the meeting, so she didn’t vote. Three more members — Callie Carroll, Derek Lee and Mayor Ken McClure — also did not vote on this rezoning request. They recused themselves to avoid potential conflicts of interest. Four members voted in favor: Monica Horton, Brandon Jenson, Abe McGull and Matt Simpson.
But a plurality of votes isn’t enough to pass an ordinance, under Springfield’s city charter. A majority of council members — at least five of the nine elected officials — must vote yes for a bill to pass.
Craig Hosmer, the lone no vote, spoke out on the bill on Monday night. Hosmer contended that Springfield government doesn’t properly enforce requirements for developers to create buffer zones between commercial projects and residential areas.
“Neighborhoods don’t trust the city," Hosmer said, "Because what we tell them is they’re going to have a bufferyard, it’s going to be green trees, it’s going to be big above-story, small-story trees, it’s going to be evergreen trees, it's going be fencing, it’s going to be all these things to protect the residential neighbor from a development. And then the development goes into place, and nobody checks it again.”
Hosmer also said the city tolerates too many violations of bufferyard rules. His comments come amid a series of neighborhood-level issues in Springfield in recent years, including controversy over proposed developments in the Galloway area, in University Heights, on historic Commercial Street and along Valley Water Mill Road.
