At a council lunch meeting Tuesday, Springfield’s City Council heard the results of months of work looking at space for so-called missing middle housing in the center of the city.
City staff say a 2023 study found Springfield has a deficit of 14,000 living units. This is one attempt to address that.
This past summer staff worked with Neighborhood Associations in the center of the city, asking residents to suggest where missing middle housing, like townhomes and duplexes, might fit in. The goal is to promote what city staff described as “gentle density.” Principal Planner with Springfield Public Works Alana Owen said the city’s inner neighborhoods are already suited to that density.
They “have a gridded street pattern,” Owen explained, as well as a mix of “different housing types already existing, there’s alleys and they can see the opportunities here to incorporate this type of housing back into those neighborhoods.”
Staff say they met with over 200 residents this summer and found almost 4500 sites that might fit missing middle housing well. Around 3700 of those sites are currently zoned Residential Single-Family. City staff are recommending those properties be rezoned to Residential-Mixed Density 1, which allows for middle housing.
An open house discussing the study will be held this Thursday, 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at the Cox North Hospital Fountain Room.
The discussion during council’s lunch meeting opened up a bigger conversation about encouraging affordable housing and home ownership in the city, including financial incentives, and a conversation on vacant property owned by the city. City staff and council hope to take up the issue of city owned vacant property again, later in October.