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NO OTHER OFFER: On July 10, City Council weighs in on the Palace theater, which only received one bid in the last five years on the market.SBJ photo by ERIC OLSON
NO OTHER OFFER: On July 10, City Council weighs in on the Palace theater, which only received one bid in the last five years on the market.

SBJ photo by ERIC OLSON

P&Z recommends approval of Palace rezoning despite neighborhood outcry

Posted online
Rezoning approvals can be standard fare at Springfield City Council meetings. A zoning change in Chesterfield Village is bucking the norm.

Councilmembers have yet to consider the bill to rezone the recently shuttered Palace theater – it’s been tied up in Planning and Zoning Commission meetings. The first meeting, May 4, resulted in a tie vote, removing the bill from council’s May 30 agenda. Back before P&Z on June 15, commissioners voted 5-1 to recommend council rezone the property to a general retail district from a planned development.

A sale of the 2220 W. Chesterfield Blvd. property to Life360 Church is contingent on the zoning change, and part of the dilemma is public objection to the use as a place of worship, which is permitted in general retail.

Residents of Chesterfield Village have collected 1,600 signatures citywide for a “No to Rezone” petition, and the organizers submitted them to P&Z in hopes of influencing the vote. The lone vote against approval came from commissioner Andrew Cline, and three members were absent, according to the P&Z meeting minutes.

Led by Chesterfield Village residents Debra McCurter and Anna Crane, the opposition is discouraged by the lack of jobs and tax revenues under the proposed use.

“That’s not to say that they could not do another theater there as well,” Springfield principal planner Bob Hosmer said of Life360 Church, which has been under contract to purchase the 29,000-square-foot theater since March.

Life360 plans to relocate its Park Crest campus at 3581 S. Kansas Ave., which it sold to New Covenant Academy in April.

The petitioners would only have legal sway in the matter had they collected signatures from 30 percent of residents within a 185-foot radius of the theater. If that were the case, according to city code, the zoning request would need a two-thirds majority vote by council. Hosmer said he didn’t think the number of signatures now could set that rule into place in time for a public hearing, the next action in the case, scheduled July 10.

“We’ve got the council meeting, and I’m sure there will be a lot of people interested,” Crane said. “I still have calls from people wanting to petition.”

Chesterfield Village developer Larry Lipscomb is ready for the neighborhood’s fight to settle down, calling their efforts inappropriate. He does not believe a church in the 300-acre mixed-use development would negatively impact the rest of the village. Development began in 1993, and today it’s home to single-family residences, apartments and lofts, restaurants, retailers and offices, including the headquarters for Noble Communications and AG Financial Solutions.

“A church can go anywhere. That’s our town,” Lipscomb said. “We’ve got a lot of churches.”

Crane counts 16-17 churches within the theater’s two-mile radius.

“(Life360 Church) is competing with people who already have what they’re offering,” she said.

A church might fit in well with the area, Lipscomb said, due to the opening and closing of businesses. While a theater might stay open until 1 a.m., other businesses would have already closed down. The same is not true with a church institution.

Still, Lipscomb said he didn’t want the theater to leave, either. At one point, it was a big draw to the village.

Lipscomb even offered Palace operators Warren Theatres, a chance to buy the property, but officials with the Wichita, Kansas-based company declined.

While moviegoers waited for the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema to replace the Campbell 16 Cine, Lipscomb said he understood sales at the Palace had increased, but the bump would not have been enough for the theater to stay.

At one point, Crane said she even called Warren Theatres to ask if she could purchase part of the business. They declined and opted to close operations June 8.

“It’s just the ebb and flow of business,” Lipscomb said. “It can’t stay the same forever.”

In early 2016, Lipscomb said Warren Theatres began leasing the property month to month after previously renewing every five years. The theater marquee today thanks Springfield for 21 years of business.

Around two years into the last renewal, Warren Theatres expressed its desire to leave, Lipscomb said, prompting him to put it on the market. He said Life360’s offer is the only he’s received the five years it’s been for sale.

“Sure, it’s going to take away from sales tax dollars, but if there’s no business in there, there’s no sales tax dollars anyway,” Lipscomb said.

He said finding potential buyers for the theater was tough, given its location, tucked away in the rear end of the village.

“Most people looking at that building from a retail standpoint have shied away,” Lipscomb said. “It’s harder to get to and find, even though it’s off the highway.”

Crane said, however, the building would be better occupied by another tenant.

“(Lipscomb) wants to sell that property, and I don’t blame him, but I’m just going by what the public opinion is. We need something that gives us more of a tax-based revenue,” she said.

Crane said the organizers are working to ensure many petitioners attend the July 10 council meeting.

A church still has to pay its common-area fees to the landlord, Lipscomb said, and at the end of the day, he wants to make sure the old Palace theater does not remain vacant.

“That’s the long and short of it,” he said. “It’s their neighborhood, sure, but it’s my development, too.”


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