BK&M LLC is a development group that holds 8 parcels of land at the northwest corner of National Ave. and Sunshine St. in Springfield. This is a 2.6 acre site at Springfield’s second busiest intersection and they have submitted a rezoning application to change the area to general retail.
Residents of the University Heights neighborhood don’t want this.
The Southern District of Missouri Court of Appeals has now ruled in favor of BK&M after a years-long case coming down to deed restrictions.
Residents of University Heights have pushed back for years on the proposed rezoning of that area claiming that deeds from 1925 prohibited any of the plots from being used for anything other than residential homes.
Judge Jennifer Growcock wrote an opinion that the court had found the deed-specific restrictions had been waived by the Appellants and were unenforceable against BK&M. In her opinion she sites: “The trial court found that none of the Appellants were in compliance with a covenant that restrict building on the lots to a single private residence, or with a covenant that restricts building material to brick, stone, or stucco.”
Judge Growcock writes that while the intention of the original 156 lots with deed restrictions was to limit the number of buildings and the materials they were mae from, the appellate judge writes that, at the time of the bench trial there were over 300 homes on the original 156 lots, with at least 69 other structures that were not homes and “well over 100 homes” made from material not included in the original deed restrictions.
Judge Growcock’s opinion was shared by Judges Matthew Hamner and Bryan Nickell.