The weather changes because the cool, dry air from the Rockies tends to collide overhead with the warm, moist air coming up from the Gulf. Those collisions, when the conditions are right, produce an amazing array of weather, ranging from a gentle rain to the type of storm that recently struck Joplin.

Metaphorically speaking, a similar collision is beginning to take place—not overhead—but under our feet, as we as a City continue the generations-long conversation about land development and re-development.  The most recent example is the request by developers to build a five-story hotel on the south side of Republic Road, just north of the Ravenwood sub-dvision.

Obviously, the neighbors don’t want a five-story hotel looking down on their backyard bar-b-ques, on their sunbathing, or simply spoiling the skyscape.  This has been named the NIMBY syndrome, meaning “Not in my back yard.” 

We’ve seen this syndrome all over town--ranging from the neighbors to the east not wanting the PD330 zoning changing from agriculture to commercial to mid-town neighbors fighting the Salvation Army’s plan for a homeless shelter to everyone in the world (it seems) weighing in on City Utilities’ efforts to relocate the outgrown and outdated bus transfer station.

There is a trend in the planning and development world that is also impacting the conversation:  that of New Urbanism.  As near as I can tell as a lay person, the New Urbanism is the old small town.  If you look at many of our small towns in the 30’s and 40’s, you saw commercial areas adjacent to residential areas.  You can see remnants of this if you drive or walk or bike east from South Avenue along either Walnut Street or Elm Street.  You see the commercial buildings running out to Jefferson or Kimbrough and then you quickly enter a residential area.  Same thing occurs if you move south from Walnut along South Market, South Main, or South Grant.

The new phrase to try to sell the old ways is “mixed use.”  We on Council keep hearing from planners about the benefits of mixed use:  denser populations, the ability to walk or bike instead of taking cars, and living above commercial areas. The other side of that coin is that cities don’t have to build more miles of streets, police and fire protection can cover better if the population is concentrated, and the other elements of a city’s infrastructure do not have to be expanded and maintained—the delivery of utilities, the sewer lines, and traffic controls.

Unfortunately, Springfield has always been and is a prairie town. We live right on the edge of the prairie that stretches from around Lamar west to the Rockies.  We are used to—in the past—hopping on our horses and riding.  In more modern times, we’re used to hopping in the car or pickup truck and driving.

One of the things that has accelerated the conversation about mixed use and concentrating the population more has been the several year recession that we’re in.  Not only is the unemployment rate hovering between 9% and 10% nationally, but because of foreign wars and civil unrest in the Middle East, gasoline prices are at levels that we haven’t seen before.

Back during the Arab oil embargo of the 70’s, Americans gave up their big cars for smaller vehicles that got better gas mileage.  Today, technology has developed to the point that we have hybrid cars—running on both gasoline and electricity.  However, it remains to be seen if folks will really abandon their SUVs in favor of smaller, lighter vehicles.  Will we give up our stallions and ride a Shetland pony? I don’t know.

However, I do know the conversation about mixed use will continue as long as it’s the current fad in planning circles.  And the arguments will continue at that nexus between residential areas and commercial developments, especially if we keep trying to concentrate populations by building vertically instead of horizontally.   Nobody in a single-family dwelling wants to live next to five, seven, or 25 story building—regardless of its use.

So, the discussion continues.