Financially,
at least, New Berlin School District 16 stands to gain if the Springfield
City Council allows a 50-duplex development on the far west side of the city.
While
the proposed duplexes would be within city limits, they would be outside the
boundaries of Springfield School District 186. In addition to more tax revenue
from enhanced property values if farmland is turned into housing, the New
Berlin school district also likely would get more money from the state if
enrollment increases as a result of families with kids moving into the new
homes. But money isn’t everything, according to Adam Ehrman, New Berlin schools
superintendent .
Like
many residents in the area, Ehrman says that he’s concerned about the condition
of Lenhart Road, a narrow, crowded lane that already forces bus drivers to be
extra careful. “If you’ve ever been on that road, there are so many dips and
dives – it’s so wobbly, it’s a concern of bus drivers,” Ehrman says. “It tosses
the children around, so we try to go slow and do the best we can do. The more
pressure we put on that road, the worse the conditions are going to get.”
District
buses travel Lenhart Road 11 times each school day, Ehrman says. “I think the
road has been bad for four to five years, and it’s been getting worse day by
day,” he said. Ehrman says that the district isn’t taking a position on whether
the council should allow the duplexes, which would add more than 700 vehicle trips
to the road each day, according to forecasts. But the district does want assurances
that the road will be fixed to improve safety.
Improvements
would cost an estimated $5 million, according to city officials. The city in
2013 rezoned the land and approved development plans. The development was
approved four years ago without any solid plans for road improvements. A
drawing of how lots would be laid out has expired, and so city council approval
is needed before the project can go forward. Some aldermen say that the city
has no choice: If the city doesn’t approve the drawings so that construction
can proceed, the developer, Corky Joyner, could successfully sue.
Those
who argue that the city would invite a successful lawsuit if it doesn’t approve
plans point to a lawsuit the city lost more than seven years ago after the city
council rejected a final plat plan for warehouses on the city’s west side. The
council rejected the plat even though the development proposal from David
Maulding met technical requirements to allow construction. A court awarded $1
million to Maulding, who had asked for $40 million. In the end, the city paid
no damages because the award was predicated on development taking place, and the
warehouses never were built.
Gordon
Gates, Joyner’s lawyer, has told the council that the law requires approval
because the duplex project meets technical requirements needed for construction to
begin.
“There’s
not a whole lot of discretion at this stage,” Gates told the council at a Nov.
14 committee-of-the-whole meeting. Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin, the most vocal
opponent on the council, argues that the poor condition of Lenhart Road allows
the city to legally block the development. A final vote is expected on Dec. 5.
Ehrman
said that he met with Mayor Jim Langfelder last week to express his concerns
about Lenhart Road.
“The
main priority that I have is to make sure that there’s at least some plan to
make improvements to Lenhart in the future,” Ehrman said. “That’s the hope.”
Contact Bruce Rushton at brushton@illinoistimes.com.
This article appears in Nov 23-29, 2017.
