After years of planning and public input, Springfield City Council voted Monday night to approve two bills outlining Springfield’s new land development code. The new regulatory framework was written with the help of outside consultants and inspired by 2022’s comprehensive plan dubbed Forward SGF.
Quality of place is a key goal for the new code updates. Councilmember Monica Horton, who voted in favor, described her view that new regulations will have some tradeoffs, even as they promote community prosperity.
Horton said, “Perhaps, you know, it would be more expensive to raise community standards, and for things to look better, and for them to function better, and for things to be better. And then at the same time, those who are users of the code will get a better permitting process, they’ll get a better approval process.”
The lone holdout was Councilmember Derek Lee, who voted against the new code. Lee is a civil engineer and small business owner who campaigned, in part, on the proposition that he’d actually used the Springfield land code routinely. At Council on Monday night, Lee argued that pursuing more government regulations for the sake of a higher-quality city fabric would drive up development costs, especially for new housing that’s in short supply.
Lee said, “My issue is that we did a very similar thing 15 years ago where we introduced the multifamily design guidelines to really introduce a design-based approach, and that resulted in significantly less housing, less growth in our city after it was put in.”
The newly approved land development code won’t go into full effect until Springfield updates its official zoning map. That’s expected early next year.
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