SPRINGFIELD — A vote to set minimum square footage standards for apartments and condominiums in the city will have to wait until another City Council meeting.
At the Sept. 15 meeting, At Large City Councilor Sean Curran said the vote on the ordinance amendment needed to be delayed to the next council meeting so the Law Department can review the language.
The council unanimously voted in favor of moving the item to the next meeting.
“I did receive word from the Law Department that they wanted further review,” said Curran, the main sponsor of the amendment.
The ordinance, which Curran originally presented to the council in the summer, states that any “new construction or adaptive reuse of an existing building must contain 500 square feet of living space per proposed apartment or condominium unit.”
Additionally, the ordinance sets minimum standards for one-bedroom, two-bedroom, three-bedroom and four-bedroom apartments, using what Curran said are design requirements from the state.
Curran said the new requirements would create transparency when developers come in front of the council, protect tenants from inhumane housing and provide the council with the expertise they need when making decisions on housing projects.
“We have a housing crisis here in Springfield, and unfortunately, we have a lot of out-of-town landlords,” Curran said at the July 14 meeting. “We’re charging more and more for less and less of a house. And I think that we need a little bit more oversight.”
Despite the minimum requirements, the ordinance still allows housing under 500 square feet to be built, but developers would have to file in writing with the building commissioner and then obtain a waiver from the City Council.
The new rules would not apply to ADUs, according to Curran, because those regulations are under a different section of the city code.
Although the ordinance passed the first step at the July 14 meeting, not all councilors were on board with the effectiveness of the proposed standards. The council voted 8-4 in favor of the ordinance, but a second vote is necessary at a later meeting date before the new rules can be implemented.
The second vote was supposed to happen on Sept. 15 but will now likely occur at the council’s next regular meeting after the Law Department reviews the language.
At Large City Councilor Tracye Whitfield was among the most passionate dissenters of Curran’s proposal when it was first presented. She argued that the minimum standard of 500 feet is much higher than the state minimum requirement for a studio apartment, which is 200 square feet.
She also asserted that the ordinance itself, and the waiver requirement specifically, presents more unnecessary barriers for developers in the city.
“I cannot agree with this … knowing how hard it is already just to get from point A to point B to start developing,” Whitfield said. “We’re shooting ourselves in the foot adding more and more and more requirements for developers.”
Ward 3 City Councilor Melvin Edwards was also against the ordinance, stating that the struggle people experience when looking for housing in the city is exacerbated by the fact that Springfield has a dearth of housing.
“Springfield is already hard enough to do business in,” Edwards said. “Now you’re going to make it even harder for those of us who build housing to operate within the city.”
There is also the issue of how historic housing plays into this, according to Ward 4 City Councilor Malo Brown. If some developers wanted to convert a historic building into residential units, Brown said they may not be able to meet the 500-square-foot requirement because they must build according to the design.
“I have been notified by a lot of developers who basically said that this will harm them as far as redeveloping any of the historic stuff that we have in place,” Brown said.
Other councilors, however, see the benefits Curran put forward. Ward 8 City Councilor Zaida Govan said she thinks the ordinance is a good idea because it prevents landlords from taking advantage of tenants by charging obscene prices for smaller square footage apartments.
Meanwhile, Ward 6 City Councilor Victor Davila argued that he did not think the waiver requirement for apartments under 500 square feet was as cumbersome of a step as people were saying.
“You may argue that you have to file extra paperwork, but the end result is to ensure that we have livable space here in the city that is dignified,” Davila said. “And I don’t see this as a rent control measure at all. I see this as a dignified housing.”
According to the city website, the next regular City Council meeting is Oct. 6 at 7 p.m.
