‘Make it clear to these people’: Hundreds declare opposition to proposed apartment complex on northeast side

QUINCY — Approximately 300 people attended a neighborhood meeting in Quincy’s 3^rd Ward at the Ambiance Wednesday night to voice concerns about a proposed 270-unit apartment complex near Rooney School.

Near the end of the meeting, those in attendance spoke loudest by simply standing.

Joe Churchill, who developed the nearby Lake Ridge subdivision, asked anyone to stand if they were opposed to the sale of the property — owned by Patricia E. McNay — at 4900 Columbus Road to developer Steve Metherd, principal and founder of St. Louis-based Metherd Properties LLC.

“Make it clear to these people,” Churchill said.

It wouldn’t have taken long to count the people still seated. Those who stood then applauded.

“If that doesn’t send a message to the city officials, I don’t know what does,” Churchill said. “People do not want this development in their neighborhood. It’s that simple.”

Metherd brought materials to explain his project, and after a brief introduction to start the meeting, Mayor Mike Troup was ready to turn over the microphone to him. However, organizers Brooke Peters and Rachel Doerhoff didn’t allow Metherd to make his presentation, instead starting a series of questions — mostly in opposition of the apartment complex — during the 75-minute meeting.

Metherd said he didn’t take offense at the negative reaction from the crowd.

“The passion for your community is always a positive thing,” he said after the meeting. “A lot of times people don’t want to see change. I know this is a struggle, but for a city to grow and mature, it does have to change in certain ways. This is just simply responding to the demographics of the United States changing and needing more transitional housing across the board.”

Several city officials — Director of Planning and Development Jason Parrott, Director of Public Works Jeffrey Conte and Engineering Director Steve Bange — were in attendance to answer concerns about water pressure in the area, the possible widening of Columbus Road, the addition of sidewalks or the zoning process. However, no city official spoke for the last 50 minutes of the meeting. (The use of only one microphone made communication difficult throughout the night.)

Several aldermen were in attendance, and Superintendent Todd Pettit with the Quincy School District also was there. The only question he was asked was why Rooney doesn’t have a crossing guard. He said it was because of a lack of children who walk to the school.

“A couple of weeks ago (at a meeting in the 3^rd Ward on March 2), there was a lot of questions. So I figured, let’s get the people who are involved with centered around each of the questions,” Troup said after the meeting. “I was hopeful that they could make a presentation so they could get out what the facts are, what the plans are. And that didn’t happen. They didn’t want to do that. They wanted to just start asking questions, and they had very few questions for the developer.

“There was still good dialogue. It was a fair meeting anytime you get with the public, and you can hear their concerns.”

Doerhoff said limiting the sharing of information from city officials and the developer was by design.

“It was our community. It was our meeting,” she said. “We wanted to just get that across. This wasn’t a meeting for the developer to come and sell his apartment unit to us. This was to voice our concern to the aldermen, to the mayor and anybody else who was here so they could hear those concerns and see how many people were here. This is a much bigger deal than what I think they thought it was.”

Zoning must be changed from rural/agricultural (RU1) and single-family residential (R1A) to multi-family residential (R3) before aldermen could vote on creating an ordinance to allow for the development. The ordinance would then have three readings at City Council meetings before aldermen could vote on its approval on April 6 at the earliest.

Doerhoff made a reference to a multi-family development near 18^th and Koch’s Lane that was proposed in December 2022, but aldermen denied a request for rezoning.

“Why is this going to go through?” she asked Troup. “I don’t know. At least 100 people are here.”

“This is why we hold these meetings,” Troup replied. “There’s nothing …”

Doerhoff cut off the mayor and said, “Guys, please remember there is an election coming up.”

Drew Schnack, a local attorney who lives near the proposed site, said the concerns of the people in attendance were legitimate.

“(But) if the zoning gets changed, all your concerns don’t matter that much,” Schnack said. “What they’re asking for is a little spot zoning. Once they get that, they can do whatever they damn well please, and that’s what’s going to happen. 

“You’ve got aldermen here. You’ve got political people here who are going to have to vote on this zoning issue. Without causing a riot, is there anyone here, aside from maybe them, who thinks this is a good idea for our community? They’re supposed to reflect the will of the people. … It’s just a matter of time by increasing these numbers (of residents) before some more kids on bicycles get hit by some idiots driving over there.”

Local architect Steve Freiburg and local developer Adam Booth both mentioned a 2013 land use plan that recommended the property in question remain zoned for single-family use. Freiburg said the plan said the most important overall land use goal at the time was to “maintain the character of residential areas.” 

“This is not about school crossings. It’s not about water pressure. It’s not about streets,” Booth said. “The reality is zoning, and it goes back to this: Why is the city’s planning department or the city council willing to go against what the city’s own (land use plan) recommends?

“You’re going against the land use plan, and once you do that, it will end up in court. There is no denying that. … The land use plan is the Bible for the city to follow. When they do not, it ends up in court. Once you go against that, good luck. It’s going to be cheaper to find a different piece of property.”

Josh Jones, a local judge, said pending legislation in Illinois could reduce the setback for child sex offenders from 500 feet from a school to 250 feet from a school.

“If the zoning changes and they put (development) where it is, how do you stop a registered sex offender from being less than 250 feet from the school?” Jones asked. “That doesn’t mean that the law is going to pass, but if it does, it will be too late for us to do anything about it.”

Metherd said his firm won’t spend the time detailing a design or spending money on engineering or architects before the zoning is changed. He said the plan for now is to offer one- and two-bedroom apartments with rental cost of approximately $700 a month for one bedroom and $1,000 a month for two bedrooms.

“There are multiple steps that we need to take, including site plan approval,” he said. “The building permit requires full submission of all the documents for the project. So we’re definitely going to be developing much more information about this project. I can tell you that we are striving to put the nicest product in the market.”

Asked if the development will offer low-income housing, Metherd said, “One hundred percent I’m telling you, we are not putting in low-income housing. We’re not putting in vouchers or Section 8 housing. These will be market rate, meaning for everyone in this room can live there.”

A woman in the crowd asked what made the property so enticing to build on. Metherd replied, “Great location. Great proximity to a lot of things, including school adjacent to it. Retail stores. It’s easy access to the interstate. If I had to have a checklist of things I would look for in the site, this one checks them all.

“The housing study (completed for the city) had definitely suggested that you need more housing across the board, from apartments to condos to single-family homes. This was just responding to that.”

Travis Liebig, who grew up in Quincy but now is a neighbor to Metherd in St. Louis, told those in attendance that Quincy is “a freaking great town” but “sadly, the city is dying.”

“This isn’t something that Quincy probably has anything comparable to,” Liebig said. “I’m not going to say it’s a Taj Mahal, but this is going to be high quality.”

Doerhoff said she believes the people who attended the meeting wants the city to grow, but they also want to protect and preserve their neighborhood. 

“We all bought houses in this area or we rent duplexes because of the atmosphere,” she said.

Asked what assurances could be made by Metherd to change her mind, Doerhoff said, “Get rid of the apartment units and do duplexes like the subdivision right next to it or even do four-plexes. I want to make sure people understand that we don’t assume that every renter is a bad renter. We want there to be affordable housing. A lot of the unhappiness is because I think a lot of people feel like this came out of nowhere.”

Troup said he’s open to more conversation.

“Our meetings are public meetings,” he said. “I know there are questions about the transparencies. That’s why we’re here tonight.”