Developers from Be Kind & Merciful withdrew the group's application to rezone property at the corner of National Avenue and Sunshine Street, according to a news release from the City of Springfield.
BK&M is instead pursuing a planned development, rather than a conditional overlay district, in its quest to redevelop 2.6 acres at the southeast corner of the University Heights neighborhood from single-family residential to general retail.
Ralph Duda, a partner at BK&M, told the Hauxeda on Wednesday that BK&M submitted an application for a planned development on Jan. 8.
Under Springfield ordinances, a conditional overlay district, or COD, is a zoning classification limiting certain land uses and establishing requirements within those conditions, whereas a planned development would require a site plan and provide more stringent guidelines for a development.
The uncertainties posed by a COD have been a prominent concern raised by neighborhood residents and the Planning and Zoning Commission, as well as a reservation of city staff, despite their recommendation the application be approved.
The fluidity of a COD was evident across the developer’s differing plans for the property, the most recent being a food hall with 12 vendors, one outdoor and four indoor pickleball courts and an indoor playground.
Springfield City Council was previously slated to hold a public hearing on the rezoning application at its Jan. 22 meeting after the planning commission recommended denial for a second time.
Duda indicated that BK&M is still interested in the food hall concept in its pursuit of a planned development.
“My team and I remain passionate about bringing a quality Food Hall and Indoor Pickleball to the busy corner of National and Sunshine,” Duda said. “On [Dec. 14], we heard the [planning] commission and neighbors loud and clear. They desire certainty and prefer this to be a Planned Development. A PUD will provide the neighborhoods, city staff and Springfield as a whole with 100% certainty.”
The planned development application will prompt new recommendations from city staff and the planning commission, and be reviewed under Springfield's comprehensive plan Forward SGF. The previous application was reviewed under Vision 20/20, Springfield's former comprehensive plan.
The announcement comes ahead of a Jan. 18-19 trial, in which Greene County Circuit
Judge Derek Ankrom will rule on the enforceability of nearly century-old deed restrictions that plaintiffs — all residents of University Heights — allege restricts anything other than single family residences on the property.
