Fassnight housing rezoning, final ARPA decision on deck for Springfield City Council

While the agenda for Monday's Springfield City Council meeting is not lengthy, some of the items have previously sparked considerable discussion by the public. From final approval of remaining pandemic-relief funds to a rezoning in the Fassnight neighborhood, here is what's on deck Monday night.

Public hearing for Fassnight housing development

Council will hold a public hearing for a rezoning in the Fassnight neighborhood that contributes housing options that Springfield is currently lacking — "the missing middle." Though the Planning & Zoning Commission recommended approval of the rezoning unanimously, the application garnered both supportive and concerned neighbors to share their thoughts.

The rezoning would pave the way for building 33 townhouse-like units at 1330 S. Kansas Ave. The recently completed Springfield housing study noted that developments like these, a middle ground between single-family and high-density multifamily housing, is just what the city needs. Currently, this lot is undeveloped and owned by the Eoff Land Trust.

Cameron Eoff, who is heading the project, and his family have been in the neighborhood for decades. At the P&Z meeting last month, he said this project was a way to diversify the housing market and stabilize the neighborhood by attracting younger families that have left over the years.

The proposal includes conditions to ensure trees are preserved, the exterior and orientation of townhomes is aesthetically complimentary to the rest of the neighborhood and height does not exceed two stories.

While some Fassnight residents have been supportive, others were concerned about bright lights, increased traffic, increased crime and the already-high volume of multi-family housing in the area.

The rezoning will be presented to council on Monday night and the public will have another opportunity to comment. Council is expected to vote on the matter at the following meeting on April 8.

Remaining ARPA funds set for final vote

From the total $40.2 million in the city's American Rescue Plan Act allocation, about $1.4 million remains to be spent. At the last council meeting, a proposal to use the last of this money for Historic City Hall renovations and upgrades at Cooper Park/Lake Country Soccer Complex and the Killian Softball Complex on East Pythian Street was presented. Monday night, council will have a final vote on whether to send this money to those two projects.

This proposal drew criticism from members of the local tenants union, who instead asked council to prioritize housing over tourists at the sports complex.

The two projects were selected as they are already underway, and the ARPA money must be spent by the end of 2026 and fully allocated by the end of this year. The larger portion of the $1.4 million, roughly $900,000, would go toward the Cooper/Killian project.

Both Cooper/Killian and Historic City Hall have already received ARPA money from the city — $7.3 million and $4 million respectively. Going toward housing and homeless related projects, including the housing study, funding for congregate shelters and Restore SGF, were a total of roughly $9.5 million from the city's ARPA dollars as well as $3.8 million in U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development HOME-American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds.

More: Tenants group criticizes plan to use remaining ARPA funds for sports complex, city hall

At the last council meeting, Deputy City Manager Collin Quigley said the extra funds have the potential to fully fund the city hall project and would go toward an additional phase three of the Cooper/Killian project to complete the upgrades to the level desired without leaving anything to touch up later. The main two phases of the Cooper/Killian project have already been fully funded.

Housing priority likely heads to committee

After first discussing adding housing as a separate council priority to the current list of five priorities that guide their work in the city, council was going to meet again on April 2 at a retreat to revisit and make more progress on the issue. At Monday's meeting, council instead will consider referring the discussion of housing as a priority to the Community Involvement Committee.

Mayor Ken McClure noted at council's Tuesday meeting that multiple council members would have been unable to attend the retreat and sending the topic to the committee would allow the process to move along while still being thoroughly considered.

"The topic's very important, it's taken on some complexity," he said. "It's also involving some degree of controversy, I think. I fear it would be impossible for us to deal with that in a half-day retreat, particularly if we have council members who can't be there."

Numerous representatives from Springfield Tenants Unite, a local tenants union, have spoken at multiple council meetings this year calling on council to make housing a priority, as well as consider a rental registration and inspection process as part of that work.

"Time is certainly of the essence," Councilwoman Heather Hardinger, who is the chair of the committee, said Tuesday. "I know there are community members who have been waiting for a decision on this."

If the priority discussion is sent to the committee, the issue would come back to the full council later on.

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Want to go?

Council meetings are held every other Monday at 6:30 p.m. at the Springfield Regional Police & Fire Training Center at 2620 W. Battlefield Rd. The meetings are also livestreamed on www.cityview.springfieldmo.gov/livestream.

The full agenda and supporting documents can be found on the city's website.

Marta Mieze covers local government at the News-Leader. Have feedback, tips or story ideas? Contact her at mmieze@news-leader.com.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Controversial housing project heads to Springfield City Council Monday