Planners recommend approving downtown code

SPRINGDALE — The Planning Commission unanimously voted Tuesday to recommend new downtown design standards to the City Council for approval.

The design standards — called “form- based code” — were approved following months of development and recent work sessions.

“This gives us an opportunity to impact in a small area what the development looks like,” said Patsy Christie, director of Planning and Community Development for the city. “It’s not a perfect document. There are things that are going to have to be changed as we move forward with this.”

Mayor Doug Sprouse said last week the code creates standards not allowing cheaply built developments or commercial or residential buildings that could over time detract from surrounding property value.

“It’s an assurance of quality,” Sprouse said. “People who are investing in downtown need to have those assurances, so their investment is protected.”

The code will move on to City Council for approval March 28. The code will not be voted on March 14 because it still needs to edited to accommodate changes made during work sessions, said Kevin Parsley, commission chairman.

The code is focused on the exterior aesthetics of homes, businesses and municipal buildings between Huntsville and Caudle avenues, and Thompson Street and Old Missouri Road.

Current structures would be grandfathered, but if a business or homeowner

makes a change to a structure they must conform to the code, Christie said.

“If you’re building something new, you have to meet the standards,” Christie said.

None of the community members attending the meeting spoke for or against the code.

Commissioner Peyton Parker lauded the code’s development.

“A lot of careful thought went into the process,” Parker said. “It wasn’t taken lightly by any stretch. It’s setting a new path. Everyone is really excited to get this in place.”

H3 Studios, a St. Louis architectural firm, developed the code for the city. The firm also developed the city’s downtown plan. The code is a continuation of the plan, Parsley said.

The code, which is 100-pages, states it was “designed to foster a setting for economic growth and development in a sustainable mixed-use pattern integrating residential with employment and commercial uses as well as civic and recreational opportunities.”

The proposed code requires new developments on Emma Avenue be at least two stories tall. The change will maximize space as square footage and land are selling at a premium, said Misty Murphy, executive director of the Downtown Springdale Alliance.

Also, new buildings on Emma Avenue within the area designated as Neighborhood Center Type 1, which for Emma goes from Shiloh Street to Berry Street, aren’t allowed to have a first-floor residence; a commercial space must be on the first floor.

“You want to make a destination people go to for entertainment or offices. Having a residential in that would create an inconsistency of the type of development that’s in there,” Parsley said last week.

Jesse Core, owner of Core Public House, a downtown pub at 101 W. Johnson Ave., said last week he supports the design standards, saying they’ll prevent property value from being diminished and create a better environment.

Carol Kendrick, who lives in the 600 block of Shiloh Street, said last week she’s weary of how code regulations would affect downtown homes.

“As a long-term resident in downtown Springdale who has gone to considerable labor and expense to make our property in downtown Springdale attractive, extra regulations would be a disincentive for me,” Kendrick said. “I’m more motivated by my own sense of beauty than regulations crafted by an architectural firm in St. Louis.”

The code provides guidance for development, not restriction, and was driven by the Downtown Springdale Alliance, not the city, Parsley said.

A 15-member task force of downtown residents, business owners and people involved in downtown real estate met over the course of six months last year and reviewed the code, Murphy said.

The code changes the way the downtown develops, Murphy said.

“We made sure it fit the character of Springdale and where we see it going,” she said.

“It’s an assurance of quality. People who are investing in downtown need to have those assurances, so their investment is protected.”

— Doug Sprouse, Springdale mayor