Crystal Thomas
The State Journal-Register
In a series of meetings over the last two weeks, a group of developers, engineers and Realtors have lobbied Springfield Mayor Jim Langfelder and aldermen to delay Tuesday’s scheduled vote on the city’s 2017-2037 comprehensive plan on land use. Members of the Development Policy Council, a group organized through the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce, met with each alderman individually, which did not invoke the Open Meetings Act that requires the public be informed in advance about the meetings.
The policy council held its final meeting with the last of the 10 aldermen on Monday. The group tried to persuade Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin to give them 30 days to come up with suggested changes for the comprehensive plan, which was worked on by a 11-person steering committee and released to the public in October.
At McMenamin’s insistence, two steering committee members, Deputy Mayor Bonnie Drew and Molly Berns, the assistant director of the Springfield-Sangamon Regional Planning Commission, attended the meeting, as well.
The policy council pushed back on the city’s self-imposed deadline of Tuesday to vote on the plan. Berns told the group the city couldn’t begin work to implement the plan until it was approved. Because of the council’s schedule, any amendments would push the process back by at least two months.
The policy group members did not get into the specifics of their issues with the plan, despite requests from Drew, Berns and McMenamin.
They said they wanted to clarify the intent of the document, especially since some of the language was “pretty specific,” according to developer John Klemm. Currently, part of the land-subdivision ordinance says that projects must match the comprehensive plan, he said.
The group brought up the recent controversy over the Centennial Pointe subdivision when its location and sketch map came to the city council for renewal. Some nearby residents opposed the development because of the condition of nearby Lenhart Road. Aldermen approved voted to let the west-side subdivision move forward, although only after threat of a lawsuit.
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McMenamin said the plan was put together by people who would not be financially invested in the outcome and were not “special interests.”
“What I hear is someone wants to tweak this for a self-interested financial purpose,” McMenamin said.
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Joe McMenamin for Ward 7 