City Beat: Council asked to rezone for C-Street residential developments

Bruce Adib-Yazdi: City and district must provide a long-term parking solution.

Derek Lee: Developer needs to have skin in the game in providing parking.

• 
• 
• 

Parking on Commercial Street was a sticking point for some neighbors and councilmembers when Springfield City Council held a public hearing on two rezoning requests for residential developments at its meeting July 10.

The Vecino Group LLC has plans to construct a new 41,267-square-foot mixed-use building, called Sankofa, at 411 W. Commercial St. The development would include 42 units of affordable housing, along with commercial and retail spaces on the ground floor. A conditional use permit for the project was applied for by Dan Johnson & Associates LLC, present owner of the empty lot where the development would be sited.

Bruce Adib-Yazdi, vice president of development for The Vecino Group, described the project as providing workforce housing at an estimated $595 per month for a one-bedroom unit and $750 for two bedrooms.

The development doesn’t include parking, although a plan drafted by the city’s Public Works Department adds 35 on-street parking spaces nearby, between Campbell and Main avenues.

The conditional use permit is required because the building would exceed 10,000 square feet in size and would be four stories, higher than the three-story maximum set for the Commercial Street Historic District. The city’s Landmarks Board gave a unanimous stamp of approval to the design, but the Planning & Zoning Commission recommended denial of the conditional use permit because of parking concerns.

Councilmember Derek Lee, a professional engineer, estimated a deficit of about 100 parking spaces from the project. City Manager Jason Gage acknowledged the deficit but said it’s more likely between 62 and 86.

A dozen people signed up to speak about the development, and opinions were split. Supporters praised the plan for providing needed workforce housing, while opponents expressed concern about the lack of parking.

Lee told Adib-Yazdi the development would take a disproportionate amount of available parking along C-Street and those in the district have worked hard to provide the current parking inventory.

“I would just like for you to address that in some way, if you can do it in garages or you can do it some other way where you have some skin in the game, where it’s not all coming from them,” Lee said. “The study that I saw showed that you’re providing absolutely none. You’re 100% requiring the public resources that other people have put in.”

Adib-Yazdi pointed out the city has designated the district not to require parking for the development, so it’s incumbent upon both the district and the city to come up with long-term parking solutions.

In an interview after the meeting, Adib-Yazdi said he hoped council would approve the low- to moderate-income housing project despite the concerns that were raised about parking, as the development meets the parking requirements.

“Hopefully they’ll make the right choice for the street and the city,” he said.

The Vecino Group has its own offices on C-Street, and Adib-Yazdi said the company is a stakeholder in the parking issue.

Councilmember Brandon Jenson noted the provision of housing in the community is one of the most important things council needs to consider. He added that in an urban core, surface street parking is one of the least productive uses of property and onsite parking is unlikely to be affordable. He suggested The Vecino Group offer bus tickets or transit fares for residents, and Adib-Yazdi noted that is something the group has done in past projects.

Speaking in favor of the project was Joe Gidman, owner of three C-Street businesses: Cafe Cusco, Van Gogh’s Eeterie and Chabom Tea & Spices.

Gidman said he does not see a parking problem, but as the employer of 62 people who work on the street, he believes workforce housing is.

“I need a place for my employees to live that they can afford, and I need to not lose them to smaller towns or other cities or other parts of the city,” he said. “This is the perfect situation for them. It’s affordable, it’s close to businesses; I can tell you it’s a need that I have.”

Christine Schilling opposed the project because of its lack of parking. Schilling said she has lived on C-Street for a dozen years and has developed five properties there, providing parking for all of them.

Council is scheduled to vote on the conditional use permit July 24.

Jefferson and Benton
Another rezoning measure on C-Street was requested by Titus Williams LLC and Historic Commercial Development LLC. The developers are seeking to rezone 2 acres at 1630 N. Jefferson Ave. and 1635 N. Benton Ave. to a planned development from single-family residential, center city and urban conservation district designations.

The plan calls for a 72-unit multifamily dwelling with single-car garages located under each of the townhouse units. There also would be 13 additional parking spaces within the development.

Rand Cummings, president of the Midtown Neighborhood Association, told council he was concerned about parked cars spilling into the neighborhood, and he asked the developers and council to address the issue now, since it’s early in the project.

A vote is set for July 24.

Development action
Council held hearings on rezonings elsewhere in the city, with votes slated for the July 24 meeting.

• A proposed rezoning of 6.5 acres at 6401 S. Farmers Branch Ave. to general retail from planned development is sought by the William F. Walz Jr. et al. Trust. According to the staff report on the measure, the owners of Kare Health & Wellness LLC are looking to construct a treatment center for its functional medicine clinic with overnight suites for patients traveling to the facility for extended treatment.

The city’s comprehensive plan identifies the property as the institutional and employment center place type. It abuts a residential neighborhood and is across U.S. Highway 65 from Innovative Dental and Mercy Orthopedic Hospital.

• Craig and Lori Slater, owners of Slater Cabinets and More, are seeking to rezone an acre at 2035 W. Kearney St. to industrial commercial from highway commercial.

Lori Slater told council the company purchased the property in March with intent to operate its cabinet and countertop business but was denied permission for the countertop portion under the current zoning designation.

• A conditional use permit is sought to permit an automobile service garage as a conditional use at 4564 S. Campbell Ave. for applicants Campbell-Buena Vista LLC and VantEdge Auto T5 LLC. The business was described in the June 8 meeting of the Planning & Zoning Commission as a quick service for wheel changes and fluid replacements.
• Council is being asked by applicants Demore Enterprises Inc. and James Demore to change zoning of 26 acres at West Bypass and Division Street to heavy manufacturing from general manufacturing. The applicants, former owners of Thermo King of Springfield Inc., have been approached by current tenant Select Brands LLC with a request to build a warehouse on the site.
• With an eye toward selling the property for future development, Wilson Trust is seeking a zoning change to highway commercial from general manufacturing in the 3500 block of West Waddill Street. A single home on the property now is surrounded by commercial operations.
• Applicant 3 Best Friends LLC is seeking to renovate a historic fire station that most recently operated as a bar at 2000 N. National Ave. Although the developers’ funding was pulled by a national lender, representative Brady Gann said he was still pursuing permission for first-floor residential use in the blighted area. The addition of a buffer yard is a requirement.

Other action items

Councilmembers who were present unanimously supported several items introduced at its June 26 meeting. Absent were Craig Hosmer and Abe McGull.

• Council authorized the use of $1.9 million of the city’s state and local coronavirus recovery funds through the American Rescue Plan Act to create one or more homeless shelters.
• A $150,000 grant to advance men’s mental health care was accepted by the city from Community Partnership of the Ozarks Inc.
• The city accepted the $5.7 million bid of Chesterfield-based Insituform Technologies USA LLC for sewer main cleaning and cured-in-place pipe.
• A $16 million project to expand and improve the Noble Hill Landfill’s biogas recovery system was approved, to include the issuance of up to $13 million in special obligation bonds, and council also approved an escrow agreement with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources for the city to receive the benefits of biogas recovery investment earnings.