Hopefuls say city needs more mixed-use development and to not just wait for developers’ requests
Sub-area plans. Growth-management planning. Mixed-use neighborhoods. Planned annexation. Sustainability.
Those are among the buzz phrases tossed around by the six candidates for the Columbia City Council as they wrestle with how to handle and plan for the city’s rapid growth. It’s arguably the biggest issue facing city leaders these days.
In combing through the candidates’ thoughts, some common ground emerges. The council, they say, needs more guiding principles to help make decisions. It needs to get ahead of the game rather than waiting for developers’ requests. It needs to strive for more mixed-use developments so we don’t have to get in our cars every time we want a gallon of milk or get a hankering to go the park.
Each of the candidates, however, also has some input that sets him apart. Here’s a look at the ideas they shared with the Missourian.
Darwin Hindman
Hindman, the incumbent, is a big fan of annexation and of planned growth that incorporates public input.
“I think we’re taking the right steps to get wide public input as to their ideas and what the planning should be like,” he said, adding that the ongoing visioning effort is a good way to do that.
Hindman said that growth is inevitable and that the city is not growing too quickly. As growth occurs, however, he thinks the city should strive for more mixed-use neighborhoods and more annexations.
“If annexations are planned, we have more control as to what the neighborhoods will look like,” Hindman said.
“I think that we have heard horror stories about cities that have not annexed as they were growing, only to be locked in,” he said. “Then once you get locked in, making progress becomes much more difficult.”
Hindman said people who live near and work in Columbia should receive urban services if they want them, but he also emphasized the need to avoid sprawl by encouraging density in areas that are already urbanized.
Clark is a harsh critic of the frequent and large annexations the council has approved since voters rejected a package of five involuntary annexation proposals in 2002.
“Mr. Hindman and the council have rejected this policy decision by the voters in Columbia by approving an endless series of voluntary annexations, primarily for residential growth,” Clark said. “These approvals are both offensive to voters, destructive of public confidence in council decisions and destructive to Columbia’s future ability to provide public services to all of its citizens.”
Clark has a problem with the strain on public infrastructure that large new subdivisions create.
“I think that we need to do a much, much, much better job of planning for the public impact of private development,” he said. “I think we have been doing such planning on the cheap for a long time, and it is beginning to show. Such poor planning is creating the time bombs that will generate urgent requests for public funding to correct in the future.”
Skala supports what he calls “growth management planning,” which steers development toward areas that already have infrastructure. He said he likes “targeted growth.”
“We need to step back and think, ‘Where should this be happening?’ instead of just reacting,” Skala said. “Then we can make informed judgments.”
Skala noted that new developments far from existing businesses require people to drive everywhere and keeps Columbia in a rut. The city, he said, needs to “redesign how we live.”
Skala supports well-planned expansion, voluntary annexation of county land and joint planning with the county. He wants to avoid the “St. Louis situation,” in which small county areas are surrounded by city property.
“We ought to take action to deal with ‘county islands.’ We need to provide (service) incentives for people to join the city.”
Kespohl’s main concern is that the council pays too little attention to Columbia Public Schools when it approves new subdivisions. Staff reports to the council on significant land-use questions often include letters from school officials indicating whether nearby schools can handle the growth. But that’s about as far as it goes.
“The only answers I have ever seen is, ‘Yes we can,’” Kespohl said, adding the council needs to recognize that schools are already too crowded.
Kespohl also supports mixed-use neighborhoods, saying they promote the goals of the PedNet Project by bringing goods and services closer to buyers.
“I think the PedNet project is a great project, but I don’t see someone in central Columbia riding their bicycle to a Wal-Mart store. It’s too far.”
Kespohl supports city annexation practices and thinks pre-annexation agreements help it control growth.
“It is a way for the city to control what they annex and how they want it annexed,” Kespohl said. “That is nothing but planning on the city’s part.”
Jerry Wade wants the council to take a look at the big picture when it comes to planning for growth. He thinks Columbia’s zoning codes are antiquated and need to be revised.
“Columbia is no longer a small town,” he said. “We must plan and prepare for continued growth. ... Clear, concise development policies are essential to orderly growth.”
Columbia lacks the kind of development policies it takes to guide decisions, Wade said. That means the council is sealing the community’s fate through piecemeal responses to individual proposals.
Wade, chairman of the Planning and Zoning Commission, said that before development occurs, the city should define where utilities and streets will be extended and how city services and infrastructure will be financed in those areas. He also thinks the city and county should collaborate on planning and that there should be new policies to expedite the revitalization of downtown.
Mike Holden said city planning in general is too “reactionary.”
“My idea of good planning is involving all the stakeholders to come up with a sub-area plan” before a developer approaches the city with a proposal for the area.” He cited the neighborhood along scenic Rock Quarry Road as an example.
“They made a plan that said, ‘This is what we want our neighborhood to look like.’ They did it right.”
Too often, Holden said, stakeholders don’t speak up until a development plan comes to the council. That polarizes people.
“If you do it ahead of time, ask the questions, that’s when you get the best results.”
Holden, also a member of the Planning and Zoning Commission, said he, too, would like to see more mixed-use developments. He wants Columbia to move away from “an automobile-based society.”
Missourian reporters Sarah Koci, Conor McCann, Evita Timmons, Brittany Darwell, Julie O’Brien and Lindsay Toler contributed to this report.