Crystal Thomas
The State Journal-Register
Gene Beenenga, 76, has watched the evolution of the boundaries on the west side of Springfield for more than 45 years. He remembers when Iles Avenue, the road that leads to his house, was gravel. As the years have gone by, more subdivisions and more people have moved into the area, and Hope Church and the Kerasotes YMCA continue to bring in drivers from all over Springfield.
But the roads haven’t kept up, he added. Driving down Lenhart Road, a north-south route that runs along Centennial Park, cars slant toward adjacent ditches, jumping up over patches.
“My brother from Bloomington drove on Lenhart and he told me, ‘Man, that’s the worst road in the country,’” Beenenga said. “They don’t look at the infrastructure first.”
It’s a familiar complaint from others who live in the area and one that will come to a head Tuesday as the Springfield City Council debates plans for a new subdivision along Lenhart Road named Centennial Pointe.
At a city council committee and Regional Planning Commission meetings, neighbors in the area asked officials to vote down the project until the roads are in better shape. As Springfield continues to expand west, the fate of the new subdivision has become tied to the basic question of what should come first — development or infrastructure?
New development
The proposed subdivision, located across Lenhart Road from Centennial Park and north of Hope Church, 3000 Lenhart Road, would include 50 duplexes, according to Gordon Gates, the attorney for local developer Corky Joyner.
Ordinances in front of aldermen on Tuesday would look at the development’s location and sketch map, its use of Lenhart Road to access a detention pond and another road issue. Ten duplexes will go up first, Gates said, and as those get filled, more duplexes will be built.
Like other projects before it, the developers would be held to a part of the city code that says they have to pay part of the cost to improve substandard roads near their developments.
In letters to aldermen and in meetings, residents of Centennial Park Place and other outlying subdivisions complained of having to pull into ditches to let through combines and construction trucks. The roads have been pulverized by traffic and the lack of weight limits, they said.
Mayor Jim Langfelder said the road would be improved within the next five years, and a two-lane road would cost about $2 million. It all depends on council approval, he added
Legal liability
The question of whether the city council would be able to vote down the ordinances without opening itself up to legal liability came up during Tuesday’s hearing. In 2004, Maulding Development sued the city, saying it had complied with all of the legal requirements set out by ordinances, yet aldermen voted down the project. Federal courts ruled in favor of Maulding.
″… (I)f the developers have met all the requirements for approval under our ordinances and under state law, then approval of the projects is not discretionary,” Steve Rahn, assistant city attorney, wrote in a legal memo to aldermen. “On the other hand, should the Council determine that all necessary requirements have not been met, such shortfalls should be specified in the record of the meeting and should be supported by evidence.”
Gates argued during the committee meeting the developers had met all of the technical requirements.
Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin disagreed. He said that the width of Lenhart Road poses an issue. “I think it’s a judgmental issue, and the technicians are not going to all agree as to whether the road is suitable,” McMenamin said.
Differing opinions
Aldermen at Tuesday’s committee meeting were divided on how to approach the issue.
Since Lenhart Road isn’t completely controlled by the city, even if there were improvements they would need Sangamon County and New Berlin to step up, as well, Ward 8 Ald. Kris Theilen said. And to improve the road, the city would need the money provided by the developers.
Ward 10 Ald. Ralph Hanauer said he would vote with his constituent’s wishes. The development sits within his ward.
McMenamin said he was in favor of putting the project on hold until there were enough funds for the road. “We got to do things in the right sequence,” McMenamin said.
After McMenamin said he would not vote for the ordinances at the next council meeting, Redpath said the city was going to get sued.
“It’s all because there’s a personal agenda going on,” Redpath said at Tuesday’s committee meeting.
“Let’s go deeper into that personal agenda then,” McMenamin shot back. “Did Mr. Corky Joyner give a $1,000 check to eight of the aldermen seated on this council chamber?”
Aldermen are under investigation by the Illinois attorney general’s office for possibly violating the Open Meetings Act in September, when some aldermen reportedly met at Saputo’s Restaurant, located across the street from city hall, with labor representatives and Joyner. Because a quorum of aldermen was present, the gathering could be a violation if city business was discussed.
Joe McMenamin for Ward 7 