Updated: Council rejects BK&M development 

Last edited 12:07 p.m., Oct. 22, 2024 [Editor's note: Additional information has been included.]

A rezoning proposal for a development by BK&M LLC at the corner of Sunshine Street and National Avenue failed in a 4-4 vote by Springfield City Council Monday night. 

A supermajority of six affirmative votes was required for the measure to pass because of a successful protest petition filed by neighborhood representatives. Voting against the measure were council members Brandon Jenson, Monica Horton, Craig Hosmer and Heather Hardinger. Voting for the rezoning were Derek Lee, Abe McGull, Callie Carroll and Mayor Ken McClure. One council member, Matthew Simpson, recused himself from the vote, citing a family connection to the neighborhood.   

Ralph Duda, head of BK&M, was unavailable for comment on the outcome of the council vote. He exited Monday’s council meeting promptly after the failed vote and did not reply to an emailed request for a comment by today’s deadline. 

Jenson said the rezoning process, which sought a change to general commercial from single-family residential, had proved itself to be flawed throughout the two-year effort by developers to accomplish the change.  

He said he was hopeful all parties could find a path forward.  

“The process itself and the codes that we have in place don’t allow for this kind of creative problem-solving that our comprehensive plan really demands that we be utilizing,” he said.  

Horton said the development that was proposed does not conform well with the city’s Forward SGF comprehensive plan as it exists today.  

She said a corridor study is necessary so that thoughtful planning and explanation can occur with public feedback – “Not during a legislative process where decisions are codified,” she said.  

Councilmember Abe McGull characterized the coming “no” vote as un-American.  

“I think I could do the math – I know it’s not going to pass tonight,” he said.  

He indicated that as an elected official, he views the law as saying that government should give security to those people who want to pursue their dreams, and that includes those who buy property with the hope of building a commercial development.  

McGull said if the municipality dispatches progress to another city, Springfield is in danger of becoming a “doughnut hole” situated in the middle of successful development outside of the city.  

“If we drive off development – if we drive off the people who have big dreams – they’ll build somewhere else,” he said.  

The proposed rezoning was for 2.6 acres of property on the northwest corner of the intersection, including three properties in the 1700 block of South National Avenue, one property at 1138 E. University St. and four properties in the 1100 block of East Sunshine Street.   

BK&M had first sought a mixed-use multifamily residential development with first-floor retail, followed by a boutique grocery and a food hall/pickleball concept. The proposal council was considering was open to several types of development, though the developer voluntarily restricted several ideas – like vape shops and tattoo parlors – that were thought to be objectionable to neighbors.  

Representing the developer, civil engineer Chris Wynn of CJW Transportation Consultants LLC said Duda had worked with McGull on an amendment to the zoning measure that was intended to address neighborhood concerns, and it limited strip centers and got rid of dollar stores and other businesses neighborhood residents deemed undesirable. 

The uses that were eliminated in the amendment were not part of the developer’s vision for the corner, Wynn said. 

“Ultimately, you know, it was done out of good faith,” he said. “We hope that tonight you guys can see that Mr. Duda and BK&M have time and time again done everything they can. They’ve taken the requests of City Council, they’ve taken the requests of the traffic department, they’ve taken the requests of the city and the neighborhood, and they’ve put together a zoning ordinance to make it so that this corner could be developed in a way that could be beneficial to the city.” 

Prior to the vote, Jenson spoke of the concerns on either side of the issue, specifically fears about encroachment of nonresidential development into an established neighborhood. He also pointed out that Forward SGF specifically identifies the value of the aesthetic of National Avenue. 

The challenge, he said, is to accommodate increased density in a thoughtful way. 

 “We as a council have a responsibility to make sure that when we are supporting redevelopment and adaptive reuse, which our community is going to face a whole bunch of in the future as we face limited opportunities for outward expansion, we have got to figure out the right way to make sure that as we support increased density in neighborhoods and increased commercial activity – and let me be clear, I don’t think any neighborhood is going to be free of increasing density and commercial development,” he said. 

Hardinger said that prior to voting, she gave the issue careful thought, and that her “no” vote was neither a vote against development nor a statement that nothing commercial should go on the contested corner – Springfield’s second busiest, according to city officials. 

“I believe everyone here is committed to making Springfield a better place to do business,” she said. 

Hardinger said it is clear that the rezoning process has failed, both for the developer and the city. 

“In my opinion, this case has exposed some serious flaws in the current process of how we handle rezoning cases, and it is a reminder that we need to do better,” she said. 

BK&M first proposed a rezoning of several properties it had purchased on the contested corner in August 2022. The rezoning was rejected by the Planning & Zoning Commission three times, and on two occasions, City Council opted not to vote on rezoning, but instead remanded the issue back to P&Z. In August, the latest rezoning attempt was rejected by that body by a 6-2 vote, with some commissioners citing a lack of specificity in the plans and some citing disharmony with the city’s master plan.