money Blighted land in west Springfield subject of council redevelopment debate, citizen complaint
Despite transparency concerns and one council member calling the land a “hellish mess,” Springfield city council is moving forward with tax breaks for a blighted area located west of town at the corner of West Sunshine and James River Freeway.
The projected budget of the proposed Brody Corners Tax Increment Financing Plan is $27 million, but represents “no financial risk” to the city, according to a presentation by Economic Director Sarah Kerner at a special city council meeting last week.
That’s because the contractor will only be reimbursed by the city from funds collected from the increased property value from the development. If passed, the city will retain the same amount of property taxes collected today, but 75 percent of the revenue from increased property taxes will be returned to the developers.
The city would continue this reimbursement plan for 23 years or until the developer recoups $3.2 million.
According to Kerner, the improvements made by the developer would generate $1.6 million over that period and the area would bring in only $21,119 without development.
"Staff believes it is quite evident that the redevelopment area has not been subject to redevelopment by private enterprise up to this point. It is underdeveloped, and this plan can fix it,” Kerner said.
The 28 acres were used as a mobile home park until 2012. Having been abandoned since then, a court judgement was found against the property in 2014 for not following Missouri’s Clean Water Law.
Charging penalties of $41,000, the property was found to have a wastewater treatment facility that was in disrepair and acting as an unsanitary sewage lagoon. That facility led to a sinkhole that is contaminating nearby groundwater in addition to wells and drinking water.
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The order also found that the property had accumulated debris and had been acting as an illegal dumping ground. Since the 2014 judgement, the site has not been remediated and the previous owners lost the property through foreclosure.
The new property owners hope to transform the blighted area into retail, fast-food restaurants and office space that can service the highly trafficked intersection.
To accommodate this proposed development, the blighted area was annexed into Springfield city limits in June of this year and now the developer hopes to obtain the financing plan from the city to be reimbursed on their proposed development.
But at a special city council meeting last week, one council member said they had not been informed by city staff of the poor condition of the property when voting to annex it six months ago.
“If I knew back in annexation time what I saw in this byzantine 201-page report that included a blight study, I never would have voted for annexation,” council member Mike Schilling said. “It’s a hellish mess out there. I don’t know why we took this pig in a poke anyway.”
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Before the special meeting, Schilling said he drove out to the property and found it was a “horrible, horrible place.”
“When we annexed, there was not hardly a clue to what this place was really like... You said there was maybe a farm pond. It's not a farm pond. There is a wastewater treatment lagoon that was being run without permit... All this is stuff that at the very least we should know about and consider when we are making decisions to annex and rezone... The fact is that we're going to spend millions of dollars of taxpayer money to help clean this mess up. And it would have been nice to know about that well in advance when that information was available.”
Councilman Richard Ollis countered — saying that without this proposed development, the area “would continue to be an eyesore” for Springfield’s community.
“The whole idea for the development is to come in, clean this area up and make it a productive and effective use of this property... This is really a solution to a problem that we've got right now,” Ollis said.
Complaint against city
Given city administrators had scheduled a special city council meeting to address this plan, Councilman Abe McGull questioned if the project was being rushed through without due notice.
“I'm all for this development, but it seems like there's some sort of expedited fashion in which we're reviewing this. Is there a reason why? Because to do so is kind of like limiting the amount of debate or discussion we can have about this particular project.”
Kerner initially responded that developers wish to begin before the end of the year when taxes are filed. But she later explained the city failed to provide adequate public notice for a November 15 meeting of the city’s TIF Commission.
"We had to reschedule that meeting for one week later. So yes, in order to keep the developer on schedule for approval by the end of this year, which they need to have... we wanted to try to stay on schedule for final approval for December 13 (city council meeting). So that's why we're having this special council meeting today,” Kerner said.
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Several days after the special city council meeting, Springfield resident Linda Simkins filed a complaint with the Missouri Attorney General’s Office alleging that this meeting mishap was in violation of Missouri’s Sunshine Law, which ensures government meetings are open and transparent to the public.
Rather than cancelling the November 15 meeting and rescheduling it, the city opened that meeting and then continued it to November 22. Simkins alleges that such a move is not allowed under Missouri’s Sunshine Law and was only done to ensure the project is approved by the end of the year.
“The city knew prior to the November 15 meeting that the meeting had not been properly posted and thus, in holding the meeting, the violation was purposeful...” Simkins writes. “Because City staff has continually insisted that final approval be given by the governing body by the end of the year, they purposefully chose to ignore the defect and held a meeting in violation of the law, rather than re-noticing the meeting... which would have required another 45-day time period.”
In the minutes of the November 22 TIF commission meeting, the city admits that the November 15 meeting was held, even if it’s contents merely continued it to the next week.
“On November 15, 2021, at 5:00 p.m., the TIF Commission opened the public hearing to consider the proposed TIF Plan, the Redevelopment Area, the designation of blight in the Redevelopment Area, the Redevelopment Project and the proposed developer of record and, after determining that proper notice had not been posted for the meeting in accordance with... the Missouri Sunshine Law... continued the hearing by motion to 10:00 a.m. on November 22, 2021,” read the minutes.
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Because of this defect, Simkins alleges in her complaint that the November 15, November 22, and December 6 meeting of the Brody Corners TIF are invalidated and the plan should not be passed in the council’s December 13 meeting without proper notice to the public.
"TIF hearings are often continued due to lengthy presentations and extensive public comment. But a continuation is not allowed simply to cure a defect in notice requirements. The meeting of November 15 was not properly noticed and should not have been held... the first meeting was in violation of the law and not a legal meeting; therefore, the second meeting, the continuation, was in violation of the law. The city simply chose to ignore the law in order to circumvent the proper procedure, which was to initiate another 45-day notice procedure.”
In a statement to the News-Leader, city spokeswoman Cora Scott said the TIF Commission meetings followed all Sunshine Law requirements.
"After reviewing the facts, the Sunshine Law was satisfied as it pertained to the Brody Corners TIF project. Notice of the hearing regarding the Brody Corners matter satisfied the statutory requirements and was properly made," Scott said.
Interested residents can comment on the Brody Corners TIF before it is voted on by the city council at their Dec. 13 meeting.
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Why west Springfield's blighted land is the subject of debate
