Council approves resolution to accept $3.2 million gift

The wooded tract of land known as Adrian's Island is sandwiched between railroad tracks and the south side of the Missouri River in Jefferson City. (2006 file photo)
The wooded tract of land known as Adrian's Island is sandwiched between railroad tracks and the south side of the Missouri River in Jefferson City. (2006 file photo)

At Monday night's Jefferson City Council meeting, the council unanimously approved a resolution to accept a $3.2 million gift from B.J. DeLong to the Parks Foundation. This amount includes $1 million DeLong pledged to the city a couple of years ago, with the stipulation the money be used for riverfront access.

An ad hoc committee raised $3.7 million in private funds for a proposed 826-foot bridge leading down to a riverfront park on Adrian's Island. The estimated cost for the project is $4 million.

Along with this resolution, a bill was introduced at Monday night's meeting for a redevelopment contract with the Jefferson City Housing Authority to allow the city's parks department to design a new park on the island. The council could approve the bill at their next meeting in December.

Adrian's Island contains 30 acres of forest and wetlands that lie between the Missouri River and Union Pacific Railroad tracks that stretch about 1 mile from the state Capitol to the former Missouri State Penitentiary. About 13 acres of the island would be above the flood elevation and those 13 acres are where the bridge and most of the park would be located.

With more than 92 percent of the funds raised, the city plans to move forward with the project, Mayor Carrie Tergin said.

Jefferson City voters approved setting aside $438,000 in previous sales tax revenue for the bicentennial bridge, but when the ad hoc committee contacted potential donors earlier this year, some donors were concerned about using public funds to construct the bridge. So the committee decided to only use private funds for the project and the committee hopes the $438,000 will go toward maintenance of the bridge instead.

As part of DeLong's gift agreement, the city has until August 2019 to select a contractor to construct the bridge, with construction lasting about a year.

Former Gov. Eric Greitens signed a bill earlier this summer that donated 0.19 acres between the Senate garage and Veterans Memorial to Jefferson City for construction of the bridge. The bridge would contain overlooks for visitors and four railcar replicas that would feature walking museums.

The bridge would be ADA-accessible and allow emergency vehicles to drive on it.

Also Monday night, the City Council heard a proposal, previously approved by the Planning and Zoning Commission, for the second round of city-staff-proposed southside rezonings.

The proposed area consists of 22 acres and 96 properties. It is bordered by Dunklin, Madison, Hickory and Lafayette streets.

The area is currently zoned RA-2 Multi-Family Residential, C-2 General Commercial and RD Residential Duplex. City staff wants to rezone the area to RS-4 Single Family Residential as it is predominately single-family neighborhoods.

The downzoning would prevent future property owners from converting current single-family residences into multi-family homes, according to city officials.

There would also be some pockets of the area that would not be rezoned. Certain structures originally built as multi-family units and comply with the High Density Residential Zoning would remain untouched as "to protect their existing use as conforming multi-family structures,"according to the proposal.

Likewise, a commercial property on Monroe and Ashley streets would remain in a Commercial District since it is a conforming commercial structure.

The 20-year Historic Southside/Old Munich-burg District and Neighborhood Plan recommended the rezonings. The planning and zoning commission adopted the 2017 plan - originally introduced by Capital Region Medical Center - to help revitalize the southside neighborhood.

The City Council approved the first round of rezonings in October, which included 41 acres and 139 properties bordered primarily by U.S. 54, Jefferson Street and West Tanner Way.

The City Council will hold a public hearing regarding this rezoning Dec. 17.

Also Monday night, the City Council heard a proposal, approved earlier by the Planning and Zoning Commission, of a rezoning request that would facilitate possible expansion of a local gardening business.

Applicant Rick Penno is requesting rezoning 2.69 acres of the 2700 block of Route CC from RU Rural to C-2 General Commercial.

Penno hopes rezoning the currently undeveloped land will help with potentially expanding the neighboring Green Horizons Garden Center LLC, co-owned by Penno, according to city staff reports.

At the planning and zoning meeting, it was announced Penno does not have any immediate plans to expand and his rezoning request had been reduced after receiving concerns from neighboring residents.

Several nearby residents also sent letters and emails to city staff expressing their opposition.

The City Council will have a public hearing on the rezoning Dec. 17.