Southview Plaza back on table as O’Fallon City Council votes to give plans another look

Plans for Southview Plaza are getting a second chance from the O’Fallon City Council despite their rejection of the current owner’s proposal two weeks ago.

Aldermen could reconsider it if they rescinded their previous vote, which they did in a 9-5 vote at the meeting Monday, March 15.

Then aldermen approved an amended ordinance on first reading so that the plan could be sent back to the Community Development Committee for further discussion, which will meet Monday, March 22.

City Administrator Walter Denton said the city’s code of ordinances state an ordinance may be reconsidered at the meeting following a denial if the motion and second are made by aldermen who originally voted against the ordinance.

Mayor Herb Roach had received requests to reconsider the ordinance, so it was placed on the council meeting agenda.

Owner Yong B. Kim of JRJ Family Limited Partnership wants to build a strip shopping center and two restaurants on the nearly 5-acre site that was going to be divided into three ground lease lots.

He has been the longtime owner of the property located at the southeast corner of U.S. 50 and South Lincoln Avenue.

The original Southview Plaza was built in 1959 and was a major hub of activity during its 1960s-1990s heyday. In 2018, it was demolished in phases, and the last tenant, Papa John’s Pizza, moved to Regency Park.

The new proposal’s initial phase included a 15,120 square foot retail building on the center lot. It was expected to house 10 tenants but none had been announced.

Kim needed approval for rezoning the property to Planned Community Business District, but in a 5-8 vote March 1, the council prevented the ordinance from advancing to final approval.

At the March 15 council meeting, five aldermen were still not in favor of what the developer presented to the Planning Commission and remained concerned about water drainage and property conditions. Several said they would not support the current plan unless it was significantly changed.

Alderman Mark Morton said he had heard from residents who complained about the property and he wanted to address their concerns before moving forward.

Alderman Todd Roach said he has talked to residents who oppose the project and its effect on their properties. He voted to discuss it further and gain more information but noted his displeasure with the current plan.

“I still want to see a better proposal,” he said.

Aldermen Matthew Gilreath, Morton, Christopher Monroe, Nathan Parchman and Gwen Randolph voted against taking the matter up again while Aldermen Jerry Albrecht, Kevin Hagarty, Ray Holden, Jessica Lotz, Dennis Muyleart, Todd Roach, Ross Rosenberg, Tom Vorce and Dan Witt OK’d taking another look.

For approval so it can be discussed again, the vote was 13 in favor, with Gilreath voting “present.”

The two remaining lots, north and south, would include retail, hospitality and service type uses. A drive-thru restaurant was planned for the north and a market with ancillary alcohol sales would be on the south lot. The center lot would have a restaurant with an outdoor patio and alcohol sales with on-site consumption.

Community Development Director Justin Randall said because it was presented earlier as a planned use, the code stated the proposal must either come back with substantial changes to be considered again, or developers must wait a year to reapply.

Randall said committee members’ main concern was stormwater and the downstream impacts the site has had over the course of the plaza’s life without any detention.

The staff had set several conditions for Phase 1, Randall said. The city wanted removal of all gravel associated with the demolition of the original Southview Plaza and either grass or landscaping added instead. Rain gardens and underground detention facilities had to be maintained.

The proposal had stalled in committee and been tabled twice by the CDC. Staff had continued to meet with the developer, Jim Reisch, to address the concerns over drainage and conditions of the remainder of the undeveloped area.

While some members said they were underwhelmed by the proposal, the Planning Commission moved the project forward Jan. 12 in a 6-3 vote so aldermen could review it.

Residents, alderman voice opinions

During public comments at the March 1 meeting, four residents expressed concern about storm water drainage and spoke of their experiences as longtime homeowners.

At the March 15 meeting, two residents brought up those issues again.

At that meeting, Gilreath, who represents Ward 3, said he did not have confidence in the owner making the changes the city wanted.

Gilreath cited the former property became a magnet for trash, trouble, vagrancy and homelessness, and the owner did not address those issues for a long time, until the center was torn down three years ago.

Gilreath wanted to wait for “a quality proposal for long-lasting success.”

“I don’t want to kick the can down the road,” he said, leading to more problems. “I have lived here my whole life, and I have no confidence. We should hold on until we get a project the city, community and residents are happy with and pleased with.”

Parchman expresses concerns

Last month, Parchman also expressed his concerns as a committee member.

“Ownership hasn’t changed, and if history repeats itself, we’ll have another rundown property 10 years from now as things start to get wear and tear,” he said. “Also, flooding in O’Fallon has been a major issue over the past several years and we don’t want to allow for a known issue to be ignored when we have the opportunity now to fix it. It’s much more expensive, if not nearly impossible, to try and fix this issue after construction is complete.”

Parchman noted the property was a prime piece of real estate in the heart of the city.

During CDC discussions, the developer had agreed to repair and overlay the south lot as a part of the first phase.

Public Works Director Jeff Taylor had provided an overview of the detention situation for the site, with a recommendation to achieve 50 percent of the detention requirements of the development code.

The CDC had updated a list of recommendations, as members were concerned about the timing of the detention requirement.

Additional improvements

Phase 1 was to include grass until a building permit would be issued for a project on the North Lot; gravel was to be removed. The South Lot must be repaired and an asphalt overlay applied and maintained. A landscape buffer, including fencing and landscaping, would have to be on the South Lot where the site adjoins residential uses and installed with the development of the retail center on the center lot.

The remaining lots in Southview Plaza were to be subject to the Commercial Design Handbook. The rain gardens and underground detention facilities must be maintained.

Randall said, based on the existing site, which was completely impervious, the development was providing rain gardens and underground detention to assist with retrofitting the site with some detention.

Reisch, a commercial real estate developer with Reisch Haley Properties, had told the Planning Commission in January the mixed-use development is the best way to make the project happen.

“We have explored every avenue we could explore,” he said. “We have been working on this for three years.”

Reisch said they wanted to make sure businesses would still be viable for years to come. He said retail is an ever-changing market and cited some previous plans no longer on the table.

“It’s going to be a good-looking building,” he said.

History of Southview Plaza

During its 61-year history, the Southview Plaza shopping center was home to Keck’s Tomboy grocery store, Ben Franklin, Dollar General, several Hallmark shops, Bollmeier Hobby Shop, Movie Mania video rental and a few chain stores, now defunct in the U.S., including P.N. Hirsch department store and Western Auto.

Mom-and-pop restaurants, like the Barrel Room, Schiappa’s and House of Hunan, plus clothing stores, beauty and barber shops, dry cleaners, hardware stores and gift shops were tenants. St. Clair Travel, insurance agencies and other businesses also operated there.

The center had been in decline since the 1990s, with residents complaining about its appearance.

In April 2018, rejuvenating the nearly vacant center took a major step forward when the city council approved a TIF redevelopment agreement with Dover Frontier, the plaza owner, who planned to demolish the buildings.

Afterwards, environmental remediation was necessary to make the property ready for development. No one had been willing to purchase it because of potential problems with soil contamination and uncertainty about costs.