The future of the northwest corner of National Avenue and Sunshine Street remained unclear Monday night as Springfield City Council added restrictions to a requested rezoning while punting a final vote to its next meeting in two weeks. The attempt to rezone eight lots in the University Heights neighborhood for commercial use has been the center of a years-long controversy.
In the most recent iteration of their plans, developers at Be Kind & Merciful are pursuing a strict rezoning from residential to general retail, with multiple use restrictions including prohibiting outdoor athletic courts. The rezoning request does not include a specific plan for the property, which has been a point of contention for several years.
At council’s previous meeting , developer Ralph Duda suggested making amendments to the rezoning without sending the case back to Planning & Zoning Commission, as he remained skeptical that the commission’s final vote would change. At the same meeting, neighbors voiced strong opposition to the rezoning, with concerns focused on traffic, potential damage to property values and lack of adequate guarantees about what the development will entail and whether it will fit University Heights aesthetically. At Monday’s meeting, Councilman Abe McGull suggested an amendment to further restrict the use of the property, as the developers had proposed.