City Beat: City moves ahead on Chimney Rock development

Springfield City Council voted in favor of the dedication of public streets and easements for the Chimney Rock subdivision in the Galloway Village neighborhood at its meeting Sept. 22.

Ultimate easement approval is contingent upon the developer filing a final plat for the project that conforms with the preliminary one considered by council in the measure.

The vote was 7-1, with Councilmember Craig Hosmer casting the sole no vote – a repeat of his move when a previous plat came up for a vote in February. Mayor Jeff Schrag was absent from the meeting.

The 8.7-acre development has been the subject of controversy since its appearance on the council agenda for a first reading Jan. 27 at the request of JCRS Development LLC. Initially, the proposal was for 40 single-family home lots. At the time, City Attorney Jordan Paul advised council that their role in approving the proposed plat was administrative and therefore they were required to approve it if it met the city’s subdivision regulations. Hosmer balked at that instruction and predicted litigation by neighborhood residents, and the vote on Feb. 10, following a second reading, was 8-1 to approve.

Galloway Village resident Dan Clark filed a referendum petition, rejected in March by City Clerk Anita Cotter, who communicated by letter that administrative decisions are not subject to referendum. Clark then filed a lawsuit in Greene County Circuit Court in which he sought a writ of mandamus or declaratory judgment allowing him to pursue the referendum process. That lawsuit was paused pending the outcome of council’s decision on the updated plat, which features reduced density of 29 homes.

Though he voted in favor of the measure at the Sept. 22 meeting, Councilmember Brandon Jenson thanked nearby property owners for their input and added that some of their concerns, specifically related to a sinkhole and access off Mimosa Street, are valid but premature.

“I trust in our development process that they will be thoroughly reviewed, and compliance will be achieved,” he said.

He also labeled as valid neighbors’ concerns about inadequate sidewalks in the plan.

“That’s echoing a concern that I’ve said several times now and that I know city staff is working on: to develop a mechanism for the city to walk alongside development whenever neighbors have very valid preexisting concerns,” Jenson said. “We can’t expect developers to fix those, but you should expect your city to fix them.”

Jenson questioned the impact of adding fewer than 30 homes to a well-established neighborhood.

“I’ll be supporting this development with the caveat that we have got to figure out as a city how to come along development and address those very real concerns with underfunded and undermaintained infrastructure that our neighbors have,” he said.

Councilmember Bruce Adib-Yazdi said he had looked closely at the issue, which predates his time on council, to learn how council had reached this point. At the heart of the issue is a 2018 rezoning, which specified no access to Arcadia Avenue, but that changed in early 2023 when a family bought a home near the proposed development and would require access to their home. He said those property owners were not part of the process that included council, staff and the development team.

Adib-Yazdi said he also met with Galloway Village residents, and he asked the developers for consideration of a few things he saw as helpful to the process.

“The development team that I met with was not really willing to make any of the proposed adjustments which I suggested, which I found a little disheartening,” he said.

He added that the process is near its end, and he would not be adding any conditions to the project.

Committee review required
By an 8-0 vote, council approved an ordinance directing its Plans & Policies Committee to review a bill requiring payment of a business’ personal property taxes as a condition for obtaining an occupational license.

The vote was on a substitute bill offered by Hosmer and Schrag. Hosmer proposed the original bill, passed in June.

Then, on Aug. 25, Schrag introduced a bill that would have halted enforcement of that new section of city code until a council committee could examine possible unforeseen consequences.

Schrag and Hosmer announced a compromise and a substitute bill at the following meeting, Sept. 8, a step that required an additional public hearing at the Sept. 22 meeting. 

Schrag had Mayor Pro Tem Heather Hardinger read a prepared statement about the measure in his absence. In it, he said the new format allowing the city manager or a designee to issue a business license for good reason solves a key issue, and the pledge of city and county staff to educate businesses about the tax solves another.

“I appreciate the opportunity to reach a compromise on this issue with Councilmember Hosmer,” he wrote. “I feel lucky to be serving on a council like this one, where compromise and congeniality is the norm and not the exception.”

Project development funds
Council held first reading of a bill that would appropriate $500,000 from the Spring Forward SGF half-cent sales tax revenue to provide funding for engineering, community outreach and project development for a Neighborhood Works Plus Program.

The bill comes at the recommendation of the city’s Citizens’ Advisory Board, formed to determine how to spend a portion of funds from a sales tax approved by voters in November 2024. That tax, set at 0.75% or three-quarters of a cent, includes a quarter-cent to fund police and fire pension obligations and the other half-cent to fund projects that are in line with the goals of the Forward SGF comprehensive plan. The half-cent portion of the tax sunsets after 10 years.

Most of the proceeds for fiscal 2026, $30 million, were fully allocated to provide a match for a possible state allocation for a convention center project, meaning the allocation being considered by council is for fiscal 2027. The funds would cover engineering and other groundwork for the $5 million suggested to be allocated for neighborhood projects. The committee also suggests putting $10 million toward parks and trails and leaving $15 million in reserve with the use to be determined at a later date. The half-cent portion of the tax is estimated to generate $30 million per year but is on track to yield more than that amount, city officials reported to the Citizens’ Advisory Board at its Aug. 27 monthly meeting.

Brett Foster, assistant director of Public Works, told council the funds will ensure efficiency with the projects.

“This investment ensures projects are well prepared and they can be delivered in an accelerated timeline,” he said.

He added that Public Works would work with the city’s Neighborhood Advisory Council and neighborhood residents to come up with project selection criteria, with a plan to have the first round of construction begin in midsummer 2026.

Council plans to vote on the measure Oct. 6.

Other action items

• The $588 million fiscal 2026 operating budget for City Utilities of Springfield was approved, as were two years of electric rate increases amounting to 3% starting in April 2027 and 3.6% starting in April 2028 for residential customers and varied increases for commercial and industrial customers based on rate class, usage and load factor.
• Council OK’d a revised investment policy statement for the Police Officers’ and Firefighters’ Retirement Fund. The statement adjusts a tactical asset allocation sheet approved in 2023. The move will allow the board to be more proactive and quick in making changes when it needs to, according to Tony Kelley, the fund’s administrative director.
• A conditional use permit was granted to allow a restaurant within a high-density multifamily residential district at 1027 E. Walnut St. McField LLC plans to reopen Ebbets Field on the site. The new owners intend to call it Ebbets Field Sports Bar & Patio, according to city documents.
• Two other zoning measures were approved: 3 acres at 5585 S. Robberson Ave. to planned development from general retail at the request of Springfield Land & Development Co. LLC, which plans a multifamily residential development, and 1 acre at 2808 N. Fort Ave. to residential townhouse from single family at the request of Tip Top Homes LLC, which plans a town home development.
• Council OK’d an intergovernmental agreement with Ozarks Transportation Organization and the expenditure of just over $99,000 as a 20% match for construction of an extension to the Ward Branch Greenway Trail in the area of CoxHealth and Burrell Behavioral Health in south Springfield.
• A master lease purchase agreement of $1.1 million was approved for equipment for the Springfield-Greene County Parks system and for backup storage hardware and software for city offices.
• Two grants were accepted on behalf of the city’s Department of Economic Vitality and Workforce Development from the Missouri Department of Higher Education and Workforce Development. They are $50,000 from the department’s Office of Apprenticeship and Work-Based Learning for the creation and support of preregistered apprenticeship programs and $460,000 for temporary employment opportunities for storm cleanup in Webster County.
• A $3 million bid from Springfield-based Hartman & Co. Inc. was approved for work on a Scenic Avenue bridge that dates from 1933 and spans Wilson’s Creek. One other bid was received for about $500,000 more from Emery Sapp & Sons Inc. The project will close a section of Scenic Avenue for up to 120 days, city staff reported.