Developer, city disagree on road improvement responsibility

Add the Wendling family to the list of local developers upset by what they perceive as major changes in the city’s position on developing prime real estate.

Steve and Sherry Wendling own about 16 acres on both sides of the new Green Meadows extension, east of South Providence Road. Their son, Scott, a Realtor, acted as listing agent for much of the property.

For years, the Wendlings held a letter signed by Lowell Patterson, Columbia’s Public Works Department director until mid-2005, that they believed committed the city to install, at its expense, a traffic light at the new intersection of Carter Lane and East Green Meadows—in exchange for the Wendlings’ sale of $2 million worth of land for the eastern extension of Green Meadows Road for $32,000.

The Wendlings maintained that belief until they began dealing with the city on the details of their proposed commercial land development plan.

Scott Wendling said that last fall Public Works Director John Glasscock told them “times have changed” and the letter was invalid because the Columbia City Council had not approved the arrangement.

In the meantime, the Wendlings also dropped their support for the light to control traffic and instead requested a roundabout at Carter and Green Meadows. Currently, drivers often make U-turns around a median on East Green Meadows that blocks them from making left-hand turns from Buttonwood Drive. Wendling said the practice creates traffic hazards. The city had adopted the same new approach favoring the roundabout.

The Wendlings initially assumed that the city still would pay for the roundabout, which will cost about half as much as a traffic signal.
Scott Wendling said the city’s development agreement, which has not yet been completed, would require that his family pay the estimated full cost—about $100,000 to $125,000—for building the roundabout on Green Meadows. The owners also would have to pay to maintain the natural surroundings, known locally as “adopt a spot,” in perpetuity.

“It’s kind of scary making another agreement with the city,” said Wendling, who is affiliated with House of Brokers. “We don’t really know what to expect. This is truly a family development. We don’t have deep corporate pockets” that can easily adapt to changes in city plans.

“This whole experience has put a bad taste in our mouths,” Wendling said. “We had to hire some high-dollar attorneys, and they just said there’s nothing we can do. It’s hard to believe you can give away $2 million in prime property and end up with this.”

On April 24, the Columbia Planning and Zoning Commission approved the development plan, which the city council is expected to act upon in May. Based on their attorneys’ advice, the Wendlings did not contest the proposed requirement—that they follow staff recommendations on designing and paying for the roundabout—at the commission’s public hearing.

City traffic engineer Richard Stone said he believed the Wendlings had misinterpreted the letter.

He said Patterson’s letter had merely agreed the city would pay for installing a light at the intersection, if the city agreed a light was needed, rather than requiring the developer to bear the cost. In other instances, Stone said, the city has required developers to pay for the cost of building roundabouts to correct traffic problems.

City attorneys were not available for comment on whether such older letters are legally binding on the city.

Time is money, and the Wendlings have spent plenty of both with the wrangling over the roundabout plans.

The P&Z commission’s recommendation, which goes to the city council, actually concerns only commercial and office development of the six acres that the Wendlings own on the south side of Green Meadows and call “Academy Village.”

It includes the current Academy of Fine Arts and Early Childhood Learning and five proposed buildings that, combined, will have 31,500 square feet of prospective retail space, 5,800 square feet for restaurants and 9,600 square feet for offices.

North of Green Meadows lies another 10 acres of family land that Scott Wendling says the family expects to lease or sell. The Academy Village Web site and advertisements say the development aims to capture part of Columbia’s growing medical market.

Wendling said, “We’re ready to start construction immediately” on the southern six acres and “all the permits are lined up. But we don’t have the funds to do it all at once. The city report has kept us tied up, and it’s caused problems dealing with the change in capital markets” recently.

He said he expects the construction of the full plan to extend over several years.

Academy Village lies at an entrance to the Grindstone Business District, which also includes a Wal-Mart Supercenter and Kohl’s.
The main intersection of Providence and Green Meadows sees about 35,000 cars each day, which makes it the fourth-ranked interchange in the city.

The traffic hazards on Green Meadows, however, tend to generate few accidents—only four in the past year at the spot where drivers tend to make U-turns.