Brenden Moore
The State Journal-Register
With the blessing of the Springfield-Sangamon County Planning Commission, an affirming vote from the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission last month and much public debate, the Springfield City Council appears poised to approve a change in zoning designation that would allow for the development of a comprehensive center for the homeless on the city’s near East Side.
The project is being lauded by homeless advocates as an all-in-one facility meant to address the root causes of homelessness by offering mental health, health care and emergency shelter services 24 hours a day.
But the proposed site, a vacant building at the northwest corner of 11th and Edwards streets, has drawn the ire of some residents in the surrounding neighborhood, who argue that the area is already oversaturated with social service agencies serving the poor and worrying that a concentration of homeless people could pose a safety risk to preschool students at the Springfield Urban League’s Head Start center across the street at 512 S. 11th St.
The project’s fate is in the hands of the city’s 10 aldermen, who will likely face charged testimony from advocates and opponents before voting Tuesday.
And with a protest petition filed last week by adjacent property owners opposed to the project, a supermajority of eight votes will be needed to approve the zoning request.
Still, most close to the situation believe the eight votes are there. Several aldermen indicated they were inclined to vote “yes,” perhaps even if Ward 2 Ald. Shawn Gregory does not favor the project.
Gregory, whose ward the project falls within, has faced significant pressure to oppose it. But, days before the vote, his mind is still not made up, acknowledging that this vote — his most consequential since taking office in July — is “a big one for me.”
As an unwritten rule, aldermen have historically deferred judgement on zoning matters to the council member whose ward the project lies within. In this spirit, Ward 3 Ald. Doris Turner said she plans to support whatever position Gregory takes.
While several aldermen agreed with that sentiment, they emphasized it’s not an ironclad commitment.
“I give good weight to the local alderman, but it’s not binding weight,” said Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin. “And I think if we go with binding weight, that ultimately can lead to mistakes, bad policy and even corruption because if the one alderman becomes all-influential, it creates a need to lobby that one alderman heavily and it also leads to quid pro quos.”
McMenamin said he was leaning yes on the proposal given the “favorable sentiment out there from the medical community, from churches, from those that are involved with taking care of the down and out and they’d like to see a center.”
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Joe McMenamin for Ward 7 