Forward SGF Issues and Opportunities Report presented to Springfield City Council

(From the City of Springfield)

At a joint City Council Lunch meeting with the Planning and Zoning Commission and Forward SGF Advisory Team Tuesday, planning consultant Houseal Lavigne Associates and Planning and Development staff presented an overview of the Forward SGF Issues and Opportunities Report, which identifies critical issues and opportunities that should be addressed by the City’s next Comprehensive Plan.

The analysis for the report was informed by past planning efforts, demographic trends, community outreach, and extensive research to establish a complete understanding of Springfield today. The report serves as the foundation of Forward SGF by highlighting community priorities, potentials and key issues that need to be improved.

Community Outreach and Engagement

Over the course of three months, the initial phase of the Forward SGF outreach program yielded a large amount of information regarding the issues and opportunities facing the Springfield community, according to the report. 

During the fall of 2019, a total of 57 workshops were conducted, engaging nearly 1,500 participants in face-to-face community engagement exercises. 

In addition, over 5,500 people participated online through a series of surveys and use of Map.Social, an online mapping tool. The Forward SGF Community Outreach Summary report is publicly available through the Forward SGF project website (forwardsgf.com), which provides an in-depth summary of major talking points and online survey responses. Key themes from community outreach have been integrated throughout the report in corresponding sections.
Community Assets

Key assets and strengths represent the positive aspects of the Springfield community that should be preserved as the Forward SGF Comprehensive Plan provides recommendations for the future. The City’s outdoor and natural areas were identified as top assets, followed closely by higher education institutions. 

In addition, residents’ ability to collaborate on issues facing the community were highlighted as a top strength of the community. While Springfield has numerous assets, a selection of assets have been profiled throughout the report to ensure that issues are discussed alongside positive elements of the community. 

Land Use and Development

Existing land use and development in Springfield has been inventoried to identify issues and opportunities related to the City’s built form, character, and sense of place. 

The analysis contained in the report included field reconnaissance and review of the City’s Land and Development Code and municipal land use data. 

This inventory will be used to inform recommendations of Forward SGF regarding where to direct future development and investment in Springfield. This section also includes an overview of market potential for retail, office, and industrial uses, and a review of the existing housing stock.

Placetypes approach

The Forward SGF planning process will utilize a place-based approach to land use planning that characterizes specific areas based on their character, scale, form and function. This place-based approach is not focused on the use of a specific parcel, but rather is concerned with the collective mix of uses that establish a place.

Existing land use and development has been characterized by using a place-based approach that defines 12 “placetypes” within Springfield.

Taken together, the placetypes provide a land use and development palette that defines all existing areas of the City. By thinking of Springfield as a collection of unique places, Forward SGF will promote the development of places at a neighborhood or district scale, providing for a greater deal of flexibility and potential for innovation. The place-based approach promotes development and reinvestment that enables vacant and underutilized parcels and blocks by focusing no just on land use, but also on design, functionality and access to infrastructure.

The intent of the Forward SGF Comprehensive Plan is to preserve Springfield’s established neighborhoods and commercial districts, while encouraging reinvestment and new development that provides for a sustainable future. The place-based approach will allow the City and its partners to effectively plan and manage existing unique areas and define desired growth and development across the City and in adjacent areas of Greene County.
Issues & Actions

The report summarizes a wide variety of issues and opportunities within Springfield that were identified by the community. The Comprehensive Plan, however, is geared towards spatial issues related to future development and growth and will not address all themes presented in the document, according to Mary Lilly Smith, Director of Planning & Development.

“Several of the outreach themes highlighted in this report can be dealt with directly in the Comprehensive Plan, while others will require an indirect approach. For example, the plan will be able to directly address housing issues using established mechanisms such as the zoning ordinance and code enforcement,” said Planning and Development Director Mary Lilly Smith. “However, issues such as education and crime are less impacted by land use and development policy and infrastructure projects. For these issues, the Comprehensive Plan can play an indirect role by addressing environmental contributors to the issue and raising awareness of community priorities that need to be dealt with outside of the Forward SGF planning process.”

Poverty, crime, homelessness, lack of public transportation and low wages were the most frequently mentioned issues within Springfield. Similarly, addressing homelessness, improving public transportation, beautifying the City, improving sidewalk and trail connectivity and reducing crime were the top five actions community members would like to see undertaken.

The lack of inclusion and lack of diversity regarding racial and ethnic groups, the LGBTQ community, and people of varied socioeconomic backgrounds were highlighted as the top two concerns by the business community. Participants expressed that the community is not welcoming to different types of people and beliefs and that there is a need for stronger inclusion.

The report also noted that there is concern within the community that Springfield is experiencing trouble attracting and retaining the next generation of talented workers. Several workshop participants identified “brain drain,” where the well-educated graduates from local universities move elsewhere for better employment opportunities, as a top priority.

Other issues noted in the report include a lack of pedestrian connectivity, bicycle infrastructure, beautification, community identity, the need for more diversity in housing choices, traffic and congestion, and access to health care. 

Next Steps

The completion of the Issues and Opportunities Report signifies the end of the first phase of the comprehensive planning process, providing a snapshot of the “here and now.” Community engagement will continue throughout the planning process. As the City has now established a strong understanding of what Springfield is like today, the next step is to work with the community to form a unified vision as follows

Visioning

The Forward SGF team will conduct public visioning workshops featuring a mapping exercise where participants will put pen to paper in small groups and work together to define their vision for Springfield and illustrate the future the community desires to achieve. Input from this workshop series will be used to refine the preliminary list of community issues and identify Comprehensive Plan priorities.

The workshops will be held:

Tuesday, Jan. 28
6:30-8:30 p.m.
Oasis Convention Center, 2546 N. Glenstone

Wednesday, Jan. 29
2-4 p.m.
University Plaza Hotel, 333 S. Hammons Parkway