Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

I'm going to go ahead and call the Independence Planning Commission meeting to order and please rise and join me for the Pledge of Allegiance. so thank you for being here tonight it is playing commission for the city of independence on june the 9th 2026 and it is 601 pm in order to expedite and to get tonight's meeting running smoothly if anyone here tonight would like to speak you do need to be sworn in so i'm going to ask for you to go ahead and stand this time and raise your right hand all right do you swear to tell the truth to this commission night if so say i will all right thank you very much All right, for those of you who have not been to a Planning Commission meeting before, when it is your time to speak, you're going to be asked to state your name and your address, address where you reside. In addition, any concerns, questions, anything you want to tell, you do address that to me, the chair. and then we will operate the meeting accordingly. We do have a chance to review the minutes tonight, guys, and also the consent agenda. I will entertain a motion. Oh, excuse me, let's do roll call.

My mic just went blank.

Commissioner Nesbitt. Here. Commissioner Ferguson. Here. Commissioner Ashbaugh. Present. Commissioner O'Neill.

Here.

Commissioner Torres.

Here.

Commissioner Young.

Here.

And Chairperson Wiley.

Here.

Chair.

Yes. Commissioner Nesbitt.

I'd like to remove case 26310-01, 26320-01, and 26320-02 from the Suzanne agenda.

Okay, we have a motion to separate out the three cases from the consent agenda. Do I have a second? Second. All right, I do have a second. All right, go ahead, Commissioner Nesbitt.

I'd like to make a motion now that we approve the consent agenda.

All right, thank you. I have a motion. Do I have a second?

Second.

All right, thank you very much. All right, we will look at the first case on the consent agenda.

Ask for a vote.

Okay. I will call for a vote.

Commissioner Nesbitt? Yes. Commissioner Ferguson?

Yes.

Commissioner Ashbaugh? Yes. Commissioner O'Neill? Yes. Commissioner Torres? Yes. Commissioner Young?

Yes.

And Chairperson Wiley?

Yes. And the motion passes 7-0. All right, for a separate conversation, do you want to go ahead and start?

Yes, on 263-1001, staff, go back over why we're bringing this back up again.

Okay, you're talking about the preliminary plat? Yes. For Meadowbrook Estate. It's expired again from the last time that it came before you.

And that's the second time it's expired now or third?

It's the second time, so this should be the third time it's come up.

Do we have any type of rule that we can't do it any more times, or what's the deal here?

No. It's just when it expires, you have to reconsider it again.

Okay. So are they going back exactly like it was when we approved it last time? Are there any changes?

I think one of the major changes, that road, that second entrance – On the northwest side that went out to Artie Miley's is no longer there. That's the thing that jumps out at me.

Top of my head. So you're saying they're doing away with an entrance into the subdivision? Mm-hmm. So how many entrances are there going to be in that subdivision? The current one. Just one? Mm-hmm.

Yeah, that may have been a prior one, actually, that had that other entrance.

Because what I'm looking at, there's still two entrances. I mean, that's why I want to make sure that...

Yeah, I'm not sure what you're looking at. I'm looking at the preliminary plat here.

That's what I'm looking at.

And it shows the existing one there at the southeast. And then that semi-coldesac runs up to be another coldesac.

Right.

And there's no other entrance. There's no way to get to Eureka. And there's no other entrances on Tardy Mize.

Staff, would it be appropriate if someone from that case is present that we could ask them some clarifying questions?

Yes, yeah.

Yes, we can. Is there someone here from this particular case? All right. Please state your name and your address.

Jack Murphy, 3215 North Juanita Drive, Buckner, Missouri.

All right. Can you respond to Commissioner Nesbitt's question?

Yes. On preliminary plat, we just paid for permits like seven months ago. So even though it was going when we got permits paid for, and then by the time we got the bonds, probably six months ago, all the bonds paid in on everything. And we started going and we come up with a, you know, kind of the hiccup. So we've had to kind of slow things down and going to resume in the fourth quarter of this year.

Okay, but you're not changing anything off this original plot plan?

Not from, well, I don't know what you have. I know what Brian was talking about, that that second entrance is eliminated. We are doing the big Artemise improvement, going all the way around, taking the corner out and everything. That's been a big issue for us. Right.

I see that on the plot plan.

Yeah.

Okay, so maybe I'm looking at, it's so small I can't read it, but it looks like to me the Artemise is the only world in here, then everything else comes off, all the other cul-de-sacs and all the other stuff comes off that one entrance down there.

Okay, but that was on the original plan.

I just wanted to make sure nothing else was changing.

Yeah, because I think the original plan was created by the first developer.

Right, it was, yes.

Way back 15 years ago. Okay.

Okay, that's all I had. Thank you. Okay. Any other questions?

And just no other changes that we need to be aware of?

No, ma'am.

All right. Any additional questions? All right. Thank you so much, sir.

Thank you. Chair, I make a motion we approve case 263-1001. I second.

All right. I will call for the vote.

Commissioner Nesbitt? Yes. Commissioner Ferguson. Yes. Commissioner Ashbaugh.

Yes.

Commissioner O'Neill. Yes. Commissioner Torres. Yes. Commissioner Young. Yes. And Chairperson Wiley.

Yes. And the motion passes 7-0 for case number 26310-01. Next case.

Case 26-3-2001, the final plat. So basically we're saying it's all still the same then, what we're trying to say, correct?

That's correct.

Okay. I don't have any other questions on that.

All right. Anyone else?

Chair, I make a motion that we approve case 26-3-2001. Second.

And we have a first and a second. I'll go ahead and call that vote.

Commissioner Nesbitt? Yes. Commissioner Ferguson? Yes. Commissioner Ashbaugh? Yes. Commissioner O'Neill? Yes. Commissioner Torres? Yes. Commissioner Young? Yes. Chairperson Wiley?

Yes. And the motion passes 7 to 0 for case number 26320 and 01. All right. And the third case?

Case 26320-02. I don't remember this one before. Have we seen this one before? Is that right?

It was a preliminary plat, I think, about a year and a half ago, maybe two years ago.

Okay. And they're not changing anything on it?

No.

Not changing anything. Okay.

Any additional questions? Okay. I will entertain a motion.

Chair, I make a motion to approve case 26320-02. All right. We have a first and a second.

Thank you. I will call for that vote.

Commissioner Nesbitt. Yes. Commissioner Ferguson.

Yes.

Commissioner Ashbaugh. Yes. Commissioner O'Neill.

Yes.

Commissioner Torres.

Yes.

And Commissioner Young. Yes. And Chairperson Rye-Whiteley.

Yes, and the motion passes 7-0 for case number 26320-02. All right, we will move on to our public hearings for the evening.

I'd like to make a motion that we reorder the agenda to facilitate this meeting.

Okay, I have a motion on the table for the agenda for the public hearing.

Do we need to know what it is first?

Yes.

Okay, you got your scorecards out here. Okay, under other business, number one under other business would be the first item that we would address.

No.

That's what.

No. I'm sorry.

Number two. It's under other business, but it's number two. There you go. Okay. Number two would be the first item that we would address. And then under the public hearing section, number four would move to the second position, the second item. Number two under the public hearing would become the third item that we would address. Number three, the current number three would move to number four. Number one. Currently under the public hearing, we move to number five. Number five would move to number six.

Madam Chair.

And number one under other business would move to the last, number seven.

Well, and that those two would actually be one. One follows the other. Well, there's one. We have one presentation for both of those cases simultaneously.

Yes. Yeah, but we're taking two votes, right?

Yes, you're going to take two votes.

So basically, other business is going to be one and two then.

Two is the first one. Under other business, number two is the first one. And then the number one other business would become the last one.

He says he puts them together when they show them.

No, well, that's number five of the regular public hearing would go with number one.

To expedite this, I will make sure to call out.

They would both be number six.

Okay, gotcha, never mind.

I'll make sure to call out the right case number. Okay. Commissioner O'Dell, did you have a question?

Yes, I would like to have him arrange it in order of the case numbers because I got totally lost.

Okay. I will call them out as we move forward, but we will start with other business. Number two, as a short-term rental, will be the first one. So I can repeat that order before we vote, if you would prefer.

That's all right. Okay.

So we do have a motion, and now we have a second. So I would call for a vote.

Commissioner Nesbitt? Yes. Commissioner Ferguson.

Yes.

Commissioner Ashbaugh.

Yes.

Commissioner O'Neill.

Yes.

Commissioner Torres.

Yes.

Commissioner Young.

Yes.

And Chairperson Wiley.

Yes, and the motion passes 7-0. So we will now begin with other business... It is case number 26463, and that is for a short-term rental. And staff, I look forward to your staff report.

All righty. This is case 26463, an application for short-term rental approval of the property located at 5217 South Powell Avenue. The property is located in southeastern Missouri, or sorry, excuse me, southeastern Independence in proximity to the city boundary. Here is a notification area map as required by city code. zoning district map of the subdivision and the surrounding properties shows the property is right on city boundary so to the east abutting the subject site is unincorporated Jackson County and low density residential properties and surrounding the subject site to the north west and south is the Brittany Ridge subdivision a neighborhood of similar characteristics age and design to the property at 52 17 South Powell The property in question is approximately 8,800 square feet in size. The dwelling was constructed in 2000 and encloses approximately 1,800 square feet of living area. The driveway can accommodate up to two vehicles without encroaching over to the sidewalk, and additional room is permitted for street parking. Here is a picture of the front facade. And here is street level imagery looking northbound up the street and southbound. Here's a floor plan for the basement level showing the garage. The main level where the front entry is located. And finally the second level. So a total of three bedrooms. And the parking plan for the proposed short-term rental. shows the driveway can fit three cars. However, in this case, the driveway can accommodate up to two cars without encroaching over the sidewalk, and one car is permitted to park on the street. The nearest short-term rental is located well outside of any required separation requirements. And staff do recommend approval of the application with the standard conditions for approval That concludes my presentation.

All right. Thank you very much. I'm going to go ahead and invite the applicant forward.

Chair, real quick question.

Yes.

Staff, you said there's three bedrooms?

That's correct.

I apologize.

Be just a moment.

Okay. I was reading it wrong. I thought it was bathroom four, not bedroom.

I do that all the time.

Okay. Thanks.

All right, please state your name and your address. My name is Alicia Gibson, and my address is 19405 East State Route 78, Independence, Missouri, 64057. I am the property manager on behalf of the applicants. I'll tell you about them. They mainly live in Denver, and the husband works at a local company here in the Kansas City metro, and he visits... one or two weeks a month for his job. So they would like to make some extra income on those weeks that it's not their main residence. I have met Gigal before. I work for Bear B&B. We have a few rentals in the area. We have over 10 years of experience and we have the availability to assess any problems that may come up with guests in 45 minutes to an hour. So I'm here for any questions you guys have and hope we get approval.

All right. Any questions for the applicant?

Chair.

Yes, Commissioner Nesbitt.

Are they going to be able to park cars in the garage or?

Yes, sir. There is guest parking in the garage. There's there's no personal property in there.

OK, so up to four parking.

Yeah. So and we wouldn't want too many cars coming and going anyway. It's only a three-bedroom with six guests, so hopefully people just carpool a little bit. So two cars in the garage, and then it is agreeable to the two in the driveway, and then I guess that they absolutely have to have that one parking spot in the street, but we try to avoid that. Just don't want anyone to get, like, sideswiped, you know. It's always a liability for street parking.

Okay, no problems, but, I mean, you've done this before, all the things through staff? Yes, yes, sir. Okay, thank you.

Any additional questions? All right, thank you very much. Okay, thank you. At this time, I will ask if anyone opposes to this case to go ahead and step forward. Anyone that opposes? Okay, please state your name and your address.

Jacob Potter, 5229 South Powell Avenue.

What would you like us to know?

We have concerns, safety concerns. This is the only short-term rental that we know of in our neighborhood, and we're basically concerned with parking as well, and noise, out-of-state ownership, and just basically public safety. I just remain concerned.

Okay. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Anyone else present that would like to speak in opposition?

Hi, sir. Howdy. Mike Potter. 5705 Westbound 40 Highway. Got Potter's Camper Sales. I'm sure you might have seen it. Been in business for 50 years. Lived in independence all my life. I didn't care much for that neighborhood when they built it beside me because I'm in the county. We used to be country. Neighborhood come in, there's good people back here. We all stand up for each other. It's a neighborhood. We've all seen what happens in Independence. I grew up there. Rental property in neighborhoods doesn't help it. We all know what rental is, but Airbnb I thought that was designed for places where there were vacations homes and places where people could go stay in a house when he was seeing You know sites of interest, but not in a residential neighborhood We want to keep it a residential neighborhood Houses are so high now that kids can't even get a start in them till the prices come down. We want to keep neighborhoods, neighborhoods, so when the prices do come down, maybe our interest comes down, kids can get into a home and start a home and a family. I'm just saying. You know it's true. I'm speaking from the heart, guys. And besides that, there's no fence on the back of the property. What's to keep People nowadays, because we've just seen it happen in Lee's Summit. You see it happen all over. Certain people take advantage of certain people. There seems to be no laws or people making people mind anymore. So I don't want no party animals in my backyard. And that's my backyard. Thank you for your time. I hope you appreciate what I said from the heart.

Thank you. Anyone else who would like to speak in opposition? All right. Anyone that would like to speak in favor of this case? Anyone to speak in favor? All right. I'm going to go ahead and invite the applicant back up to address any of the concerns that you heard.

Hello again. As far as noise, you all know that it is mandatory to install a noise monitor device inside the property. The homeowners have went ahead and actually installed one outside the property as well in the backyard. They also have... at least four exterior cameras to monitor the property themselves because, as I said before, this is their second home that they're going to be staying in regularly, and they want to make sure it's well kept and it is not a party house.

What kind of plans have you made to ensure that parties are not held there?

We always send guests house rules that there is hefty fines and even we can kick them out if they break the party rule of having more than the maximum occupancy of guests, if our noise monitor is going off continuously and they don't turn their music down or whatever it is, or with those exterior cameras we can monitor again, how many people are in the house or if there's an excessive amount of cars. So we do have those safeguards in place to make sure that the property is protected and the neighborhood as well.

Anything else you'd like us to hear? Not that I can think of, but if you have any questions, I'm happy to answer them. Commissioners, any additional questions?

Yes, I do.

All right, Commissioner.

What's your procedure when the guests show up at the house? Do you meet them, or what if your staff meet them at the house?

We do not meet them at the house. We give them a custom code to access the property, and we make sure that they checked in okay, but we do not meet them at the house. They can access the property by themselves.

Okay. And the cameras are the homeowners. So the only thing that you have would be the noise monitor.

Correct. Correct. Correct.

Okay. Thank you.

Thank you. What happens if you're not available within that 45 minutes to an hour?

Uh, we have over eight full-time employees and I personally also live here in independence. So that is, I would say out of the realm of possibility that we wouldn't be able to handle that.

Are you aware of any conversations that homeowners have had with their neighbors?

I am not aware of any, no. Okay.

Any additional questions?

Yes, I just remembered an additional question. All right, go ahead, Commissioner. I'm not sure how this works because I don't do this. If the noise monitor goes off, You got an app on the phone or how do you? Yes, sir.

Yeah, we have notifications. It's set to 50 decimals. So if it is continuous, more than five minutes of that, then we do receive a notification and we contact the guests immediately and ask them to quiet down.

So the app sends you the notification or is that how that goes?

Yeah, yeah. It's set to send. Yeah, I get a beep on my phone. I've only had it happen once with multiple properties, but.

Okay.

Yeah.

Well, I don't know about your phone. My phone's not always reliable. I don't always get notifications.

I'm addicted to my phone and so are some of the other, the business owner that manages Bear B&B. He also has access to that and this is his full-time business and his reputation on the line. So If there was some reason that Airbnb started getting shut down, we would lose our jobs. I would lose my job. So we wouldn't want that to happen. I didn't really go that far. It notifies multiple people, including myself, if that noise monitor is going off. And I always have my notifications set on. I also have a personal rental as well, so I don't sleep much. So sorry if that's getting off track.

So in other words, you're always close to your phone.

Correct.

Okay. And if it's not me, it's someone else. You have other staff members that also have it. Correct. So it's not just relying on one person.

Yes.

Okay.

Yeah.

Thank you.

All right. Any additional questions?

All right. Thank you very much. Thank you.

All right. I'm going to go ahead and close this public hearing.

Madam Chair.

Yes, Commissioner O'Neill.

I move for approval on that. On case number 26, 400-63. Right, I have a first.

Second.

And I have two seconds. All right.

I will call for the vote.

Commissioner Nesbitt?

Yes.

Commissioner Ferguson?

Yes.

Commissioner Ashbaugh?

Yes.

Commissioner O'Neill? Yes. Commissioner Torres? Yes. Commissioner Young?

Yes.

Chair Wiley?

Yes. And the motion passes 7-0 for case number 26463, short-term rental. I just encourage the owner and you to maybe make some...

Build a fence? That would be perfect.

All right.

What was that?

I don't know. I encourage the homeowner and the agency to reach out to those neighbors. All right, our next case is number, case number 262001, a special use permit.

No, it's 03.

Oh, excuse me, 03. Yes, special use permit.

All righty. This is case number 2620003, an application for special use permit approval for... Gabe, I'm going to...

Anyone having private conversations or additional conversations, please step out. All right, go ahead and continue, Gabe.

Yeah, absolutely. This is... Case 26200-03, an application for special use permit approval, the expansion of an existing car rental agency located on Nolan Road. Here's a notification area map as required by city code. A zoning district map for the subject site and surrounding properties shows that properties to the east are zoned residential of the Stuart Heights subdivision and the surrounding zoning district classifications and land use are commercial in nature and a mix of land uses including a Excuse me retirement home to the north as well as some financial services business services general retail restaurants offices and so forth so a variety of zoning districts along the Nolan Road commercial corridor and The subject property is an irregular shaped parcel of land, a second tier lot from Nolan Road. There's a paved access drive along the western property boundary that provides access to restaurants and offices and other uses located behind those first tier lots along the Nolan Road frontage. There is an existing natural berm along the eastern property boundary and photos of the property should show that a little later in the presentation. So here are the existing conditions of the subject site. So the subject site is or consists of, excuse me, a paved parking lot in the southern half of the of the tract and a grassy field in the northern half. The proposal is to use the existing paved parking lot to expand the operations of the car rental agency located to the south. In the picture here you can see the berm located along the eastern property boundary, so that abuts the residential subdivision to the east. Here are some additional pictures of the property showing the access easements and driveways. So south-facing leads you to 37th Street. West facing is access to Noland Road. And looking generally to the northwest, you can see the rear of the commercial building. There's a restaurant, general retail, business services to the northwest and another access drive leading to Noland Road. Here is a site plan for the proposed use of the property showing the existing paved area used to park overflow rental cars from the agency. And again, those cross-access easements are shown on the site plan. So you have access from the south and you have access going to the west to Nolan Road as well. The applicant has provided a landscape plan to complement the existing berm along the eastern property line. City code requires landscape buffers from any residential properties to a commercial property to deter any negative impacts of the commercial use. Staff does recommend approval of the special use permit request. And if you have any questions related to those recommendations, please feel free.

All right. Thank you very much. Right. Commissioners, any questions?

Chair.

Yes. Commissioner Nesbitt.

On that berm, aren't they supposed to have a fence also or.

The landscape code does not require specifically an opaque fence. So you can have a combination of multiple types of screening. And a berm is specifically listed in one of those methods of screening.

My other question is going to be, I'm kind of confused because that's not directly behind 3601, or is 3601 considered the whole strip mall?

So the street address for the strip mall is 3601 South Nolan Road. However, the parcel behind the strip mall has a Citus address assigned to it. So the tract itself has an address assigned to it of 3601 South Nolan Road. There is some duplication between the street addresses and the Citus address of the parcel.

I mean, we're saying it's going next to the Dollar General, correct? So it will be located... Well, the parking's directly, not directly behind what I'm thinking, not unless I'm wrong where the business is at. I guess I don't know where the business is inside there, that strip mall.

The business is inside the strip mall. There is a restaurant at the Northern Tenant Space. That's at Jimmy John's, and there's a drive-thru.

Right, okay.

And then there's some general retail in the strip center area. And I would have to take a look at the specific business licenses associated with the strip mall, and I'm more than happy to do that.

Okay. Well, I'm just curious. I mean, I'm trying to figure out where the business is. I mean, if it's directly behind the business, I can follow that being that. But if the business is on up, but, I mean, if the Jimmy John's is staying, I don't know which one's going out. That's why I don't know which businesses are taking over.

They're not taking over any of the businesses in the strip mall. So their location is located one block to the south at 37th Street and Nolan Road. So it's the southeast corner of 37th Street and Nolan Road. This lot is simply for overflow parking.

That's just strictly for parking.

For their car rental agency located...

So you're talking to Avis car rental?

That's correct.

Okay. Well, I'm trying to figure this out. Okay. So it's still not directly behind at all. It's okay.

That's correct. Yeah. But there is an access easement that provides Avis access from their commercial space at 37th and Nolan Road behind this strip center.

Who made it access easement?

That was recorded. I'm not certain what date that would have been. It's for the use of the commercial businesses in that corridor.

Okay.

Madam Chair.

Yes, Commissioner.

Gabe, can I ask you, do you know the lighting situation back there?

To my knowledge, there are no overhead or exterior lights at that lot.

Do you know if they plan to do that for security?

That has not been indicated to me as a part of this application, so that would be a good question for the applicant.

If they were in the future, would they have to apply for that, or is that something that they could just do?

They would have to apply for a permit, so we'd have to figure out where the electrical is coming from and ensure there's not going to be any bleed over into the residential subdivision to the east. Okay. Thank you.

All right. Any additional questions for staff? All right. I'm going to invite the applicant forward.

My name is Bill Moore. I'm an attorney with Rouse Fretts White Goss law firm located in Kansas City, Missouri here on behalf of the applicant The owner of the property who is Marshall Blount. Mr. Blount is here tonight also and could answer any questions that you may have regarding this Let me give you a little bit of history Kind of why we're here. I think as Commissioner Nesbitt pointed out it's for the benefit of one of his mr. Blount's tenants which is Avis Car Rental Agency. They're doing well. It's a very successful car rental business and so successful that the city codes people have been coming out and telling them that they have too many cars parked on that little postage stamp where their Avis rental office is. And so they, Avis approached Mr. Blount, who started searching for some locations for some additional property that he might be able to accommodate his tenant. He found this piece of property. This is, I mean, this is a piece of property that at one point probably had had a purpose. I don't know that anybody can tell us what that purpose was back then. If you know, there's that office building, that larger office building immediately to the south, and they had their parking lot. We suspect that at one time maybe they had a need for overflow parking for their office building, And so hence they paved a portion of the lot that you saw in the video. So no longer needed. It was there. It's actually an eyesore right now. You probably haven't seen through the video, but there's been evidence of homeless encampments on the property. That was before Mr. Blount acquired it. He just recently acquired it. And so part of what we're proposing to do is provide this limited area for Avis Company to have overflow parking for their vehicles that they are renting. And as you all know, if you've all rented vehicles, you come in and you pick up a vehicle and drive off. Well, the point here is to keep their rental vehicles, keep some of them up there, and then the staff would, on whatever basis, occasionally go get vehicles and bring them down to the rental office. And as it was mentioned, there's access to this piece of property. There's actually three easements that are available to provide ingress and egress for Two of them go directly to Nolan Road. One goes down to, what's that, 37th Street, I guess, through the existing parking lot of the office building. So that kind of gives you the background. So Mr. Blount, he's acquired it. His intent is, again, as you saw in the site plan, the intent is to put the berm up behind it. There's quite an elevation difference from... where this parking lot is and where the residential properties are behind it, and then another elevation change going down towards Nolan Road. It's an incline. So the intent is to take that area that's kind of in outline. That would be dedicated for the Avis rental vehicles. He would put some lighting in, some security lighting that would be designed to provide security to the rental cars that are being stored there, but not interfere adversely with anyone else. He'll be doing all the other things that are required under the conditions of the special use permit. So that's kind of, I guess, the simple story. Again, Mr. Blount is here, and if you have any questions, you can certainly call him up, and he can answer your questions for you.

All right. Thank you very much. Any questions for Mr. Moore?

Chair.

Yes, Commissioner.

Okay. So does he plan on re-asphalting it or cleaning it up and re-striping it? Is that the plan? Then he's going to put lights probably from the buildings shining backwards, it looks like, towards the residents?

No, no. Disregard the buildings because he doesn't own those buildings. So that lighting is not going to come from buildings. towards the The parking area the the lighting will be installed on the parking area Just like you would see you know any other parking light or parking lot right you'd have lights that shine down, okay?

Now he'll do the striping he'll be doing some paving right okay go back to the other picture gate That one there Because, I mean, we've got power poles there. I'm sure he's going to be getting the power from those power poles then, so they'll put a meter in there. So we're probably talking two or three light poles in the middle is what we're talking?

I'm going to defer to Mr. Blount on that.

Okay. Because, I mean, like I say, we do have trees that are already there that are grown. Are we going to be touching those trees, or do we know yet?

If the trees are healthy, the trees are staying.

Okay. Okay. Because, I mean, that's a good buffer already. It's built in there.

That's why I was trying to figure out what we're going to do down the buffer.

Maybe I need a little bit more information on the buffer because we do have the residents behind that we need to take care of.

Right. And that's why I think it was decided that the trees that are there that are healthy would remain. I think there's at least one tree there that's not so healthy. If it hasn't already been removed, that'll come out. But the trees on the backside between where... The vehicles would be stored in the residence. Those would remain as part of the buffer. And then he's going to provide this other landscaping. You had mentioned about the fence. Again, just kind of an interesting little factoid here. The lot line for the property that we're asking for the special use permit actually is up on the upper level. where the, you know, at the level where the residential properties are, I think almost every one of those properties has a chain link fence up there already. Okay. So, again, the buffer is kind of a combination, right? It's this natural buffer of probably, I'm going to guess, five feet elevation change, maybe greater, and then some additional landscaping.

Okay. The only thing that I would ask and the staff to look at, I know you want to put lights up there for lighting, but I'd ask that the lights go back towards the buffer and then shine towards Nolan Road instead of shine back towards the residence. That way we make sure the lighting is staying away from the residence.

Right. I'm certain that the lighting is not going to be up on that second tier.

It would be down on on the pavement area on the payment But I'm asking that it'd be put back that way and shine it towards Nolan Rose. That's shining towards the residents.

Absolutely that can be done Commissioner Nesbitt, are you wanting to add that as a recommendation?

I

I don't know if we can because we're not even looking at lighting. We're just doing the zoning. The lighting's going to have to come from the staff. I'm just asking that the staff look into that.

For special use permit applications, the Planning Commission does have the authority to add additional conditions for approval. So if you would like to make that a part of your motion.

Well, let's see what the applicant has to say, and we'll go from there.

Okay.

Bill. Yes, sir.

Commissioner, go ahead.

So I just want to be sure, because it looks like all you're really doing is resurfacing the lot that's already there, correct? That's correct. So the lawn stays, everything else stays. Right, right. Okay, thank you.

Yeah, and again, when this all started, we were kind of hoping that all we'd have to do is go to the city and get a permit, do whatever we needed to do to establish the parking lot, but because of the regulations that it was going to be a kind of an off-site parking area for an existing business, we got lumped into the special use permit. Would you like to hear from Mr. Blount?

I would.

Madam Chair, can I ask a question of staff?

Yes, go ahead.

It's kind of odd, really. Not my question, but the situation. So, now that they have this parking lot that's not a part of anything else, did you do any water retention studies? Are they okay with that? Is the existing okay or not?

I can answer that question. So, this is an existing lot and so unless they were to make some kind of building permit or something then that would be the only thing that would kick in any type of stormwater detention requirements. Keep in mind that the applicant would still have to provide a building permit for any kind of lighting and that lighting would have to meet our our lighting specification for parking lots. And so we would have to make sure that the lumens, et cetera, don't exceed or bleed onto residential properties. Okay.

Thank you, Rick. I appreciate that.

All right. Sir, I think we've heard it suggested that lighting is an important piece of this. So what are you thinking? And are you okay with the recommendation that may come along with some more conversations with the city.

With regard to the lighting?

Yes.

Yeah, I think it makes sense to provide some lighting back there.

Any thoughts on how many poles you would need?

I don't really know what the requirement is, but I want to make sure that my tenants' cars are safe and that my neighbors aren't kept awake at night.

Okay. Sounds like a nice compromise. Yes, Commissioner Nesbitt.

Do you know if they're going to put security cameras?

You know, we haven't gotten that far. Okay. When I acquired the property, my hope was that the traffic would kind of keep the troublemakers at bay. And I don't know what to expect there. So we are open to the idea of fencing and certainly cameras and lighting.

Okay. Guys, I mean, I know there is traffic flow through there because I've parked up there to go to eat the restaurants down there. So I know there's traffic flow up there. And to my knowledge, you don't... You cannot put any fences up there then for that, could you, to close off that whole property?

Well, not to close off the whole property. And I haven't explored it other than to get a couple of quotes for what it might cost to put a fence around this specific parking. Okay.

The drive line would stay open?

Oh, yeah.

Yeah, drive lines would stay open.

Okay. In fact, the parking that we're talking about is only on the back, the eastern half. If you see this, the striped parking, there's a square box that grabs two rows of that parking. Okay.

All right. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much.

All right. At this time, I will invite anyone who wants to speak in opposition to this case to come forward. Anyone who would like to speak in opposition? Seeing none, anyone who would like to speak in favor of this case? Anyone who'd like to speak in favor? All right. Seeing none, I'm going to go ahead and close the public hearing.

Madam Chair.

Yes, Commissioner.

I'd like to move approval of case 26-200-03, special use permit. And I think it would be appropriate to, even though you're going to do it, that we would like to see a lighting plan or a lighting plan be implemented. Correct.

Yeah. That's what I would think, yes.

I second that.

So we have a first and a second to add a recommendation regarding a lighting plan. Any discussion, staff? Excuse me, commissioners? All right. Do you need help with the writing of the motion? Okay. So we now have added another recommendation. I'm going to go ahead.

I'll just make sure that we're making this recommendation that the lighting plan's got to be scheduled on there before they can move forward to get the special use permit is what we're saying.

Madam Chair. Yes, Commissioner O'Neill.

I'd like to ask the staff. You mentioned earlier that we already have ordinances regarding light for this situation. Is that correct?

It is correct.

So why are we adding this additional amendment to this?

I want to make sure that they do put lights up before they put cars back there because there is no lights back there. That way it just helps defer problems in the future.

Staff, is that required?

So site lighting is not a requirement for a commercial space or commercial development. When site lighting is provided, it must comply with the city code regulations pertaining to the fixtures. So as discussed prior, full shield fixtures to direct the light downward instead of perpendicular or outwards to other abutting residential properties, etc. And as discussed previously, spillover light limitations to residential properties. So when it is provided, it is required to be in compliance with city code. However, no strict requirement for a commercial development to provide site lighting is in city code.

That's why we're recommending that this be done. That way it helps defer any problems in the future because there'll be lights back there for people to be seen.

Any additional questions? All right. We have a first and a second. I'm going to go ahead and call for that vote.

Commissioner Nesbitt? Yes. Commissioner Ferguson?

Yes.

Commissioner Ashbaugh? Yes. Commissioner O'Neill? Yes. Commissioner Torres?

Yes.

Commissioner Young? No. Chair Wiley?

Yes. And the motion passes 6-1.

Chair, I make a motion to approve case 26-200-03, Special Use Permit.

All right. Any final questions? We have a motion.

A second.

And a second. Case number. I will go ahead and call for that vote.

Commissioner Nesbitt. Yes. Commissioner Ferguson.

Yes.

Commissioner Ashbaugh. Yes. Commissioner O'Neill. Yes. Commissioner Torres. Yes. Commissioner Young. Yes. Chair Wiley.

Yes. And the motion passes 7-0 for case number 26203. All right. Our new order, case number three, would be case 26100-05. It is for rezoning on 40 Highway. which staff member is right.

Alrighty, this is case 2 6 1 0 0 0 5 an application for a request to rezone the property at 1 6 5 2 3 East US 40 highway from its dual zoning district classification R 6 and C 2 to a unified zoning district classification C 2 general commercial the property is located along US 40 highway just east of Lee summit Road and southern Independence and Here's a notification area map as required by city code. And a zoning district map of the subject site and the surrounding properties shows the subject site currently has a dual zoning district classification. The northern region of the property is zoned C2 or general commercial and the southern portion of the property is currently zoned R6 or single family residential. To the west of the subject site is a gas station zoned C2. South of the subject site are low-density residential homes. East of the site is a similar zoning district classification and includes a cell tower and public or civic use. And north of the subject site across US 40 Highway is a combination of a school, general retail store, and restaurants. here's an aerial image of that proposed or excuse me the site subject to the rezoning request the site is comprised of approximately six and a half acres, or six and a quarter acres, excuse me. There is a total of three existing buildings. The site is residential in character, and the residential dwelling on the site is characterized by bungalow-style architecture. And then there is an existing driveway from US 40 Highway. However, the majority of the site is undeveloped. The applicant has provided a site plan as part of their request. This site plan includes the addition of a parking lot and the existing three buildings. The rezoning request consists of an adaptive reuse of residential property for the applicant's proposed culinary arts institute and trade school. So a street level image of the front facade of the residential dwelling. And street level imagery along 40 Highway looking east towards the public and civic use and looking west towards the gas station and restaurants. Staff recommends approval of this rezoning, and no conditions for approval are included with the rezoning request.

All right. Thank you very much. I would ask for the commission if you have any questions for staff. Anyone? All right, is the applicant in the room?

Yes, ma'am.

All right, go ahead and come forward. Tell us about your cooking school.

Okay, my name is Sabrina Johnson. Before you ask, do you want to read my address?

Yes, please.

Yes, it's 7211 Marion Avenue, and that's Kenton City, Missouri, 64133. This is really a labor of love for me. The property is... I'm sure you all remember right next door was Stevenson's Apple Farm. And as a child coming from the inner city, you know, it was a big deal for my mom to take us there, right? And it established... memories for me, right? I have over 25 years of experience in corporate America doing IT development and project development. But my labor of love is I always love to cook and to teach. And so my son, who played for Mizzou, allowed me the opportunity to retire once he was drafted to the NFL. So once he did that, it allowed me to start my catering company and I started, uh, an endeavor into, um, urban farming, um, organic growing, organic food and things of that nature. And so when I was looking for a place to do this and I saw that Mr. Knapp had put his property. up for sale, I just got so excited because it brought back the memories of the C. Lewis's Apple Farm. And he's a, Mr. Knapp was an older gentleman. It had become very overgrown. It needed a lot of love. And so, but I could see the vision of having the Culinary Institute. I'm the culinary and the collective is a lot of business individuals like myself who are retired who want to give back to the community. And too much is given, too much is required, right? And in the state of the environment right now, people need help. People need help in retooling themselves, They need access to food. 15% of children in Missouri are food insecure. And then health and wellness. And so what we were trying to do, the project is called The Providence, which is the beginning. And we have the school, the trade school there where we will teach construction, HVAC, and also I would teach culinary on the campus. These are AI-resistant jobs. So we are bringing, we are training the workforce of the future. We're also going to be able, because it's such a big property, then we're able to do some urban farming in which we can grow organic products, have a site. I've been talking to REAP, Urban Product Push, Canbees, other organizations, where we could partner where individuals can come to the site and get produce. Not everybody can afford whole foods or sprouts, right? But to be able to have a place that is central to Kansas City, Independence, Lee's Sunbed, Blue Springs, not everyone has a car. Can they travel downtown to the market? So if we're able to bring that there and people have access to food, That's our goal. And so starting first, because it's such a, it's a big dream, I have to start with the engine. And the engine is the school, the event space, and potentially the restaurant, which will be student-led, to self-sustain our project. So that we don't have to, like we know we have money coming in that will pay our bills and allow us to reinvest in the community to have... phase two, which is our community supported agriculture. So that's my dream. It's a big dream, but I hope that when we started, it was a bit overgrown, but I plan to make that corner beautiful. And I promise to be a good steward of the property, the steward of the land, and not to put up any abstract buildings or apartments or anything like that. It's going to be a place where you can come and reset yourself. and be a part of nature again. We'll have classes, cooking classes, you know, retreats, camping. I've already been talking to some of the directors with the school district about the kids coming in and things like that. So it's a big plan. We have a project plan. I'm not doing this alone. I have a board of 10 people who are professionals in finance, real estate, educators, community development, all of these people that will help me bring this vision to life. Okay. Great.

Any questions for our applicant?

Chair?

Yes, Commissioner Nesbitt.

Okay, so on your first plat you sent here, I see you plan on first building a restaurant with a parking and all that stuff, correct?

Yes, we're required to do any type of commercial. If it's done per my meetings with Zoni, we're required to do a parking lot. Right. Yes.

Okay, but my biggest question is, and we see this a lot, I know you got a nice dream. Do you have the financial backing to get this dream going or does it just start out small and we're just going to wait years? Oh, no.

Oh, no. We've already invested. Well, I personally invested.

I'm not worried about how much you invested. You own the property or the corporation owns the property then?

Well, I'm the corporation. I'd be on the property.

I love somebody come, new dream and all that stuff. I'd love that. I mean, because that land's been sitting there vacant now probably for at least 20 years, I'm thinking. Yeah, yeah. So, I mean, yes.

And I do have funding. I have investments. I have a bank right now ready for me to get this.

You're ready to go once we get you on the bus.

Yes, sir.

I am ready to go. I look forward to this because, I mean, it sounds great. I don't know what kind of food you're going to have. It's going to be the best food you could taste.

Next meeting, I'll cater it. I'll bring it up here. I mean, we're going to have some farm to table, some healthy, you know, selections and things like that. But we'll also have some home down really good food.

Okay. My only other question I have, I know it's a big wide open area. Do you know if there's any homeless back in there? Cause they're just kind of bad.

Yeah. So, um, if you saw the picture, there's like all these little trails all the way through there. And so, um, the great thing is this, one of my board members donated a golf cart. And so we always go through and look at the property and we notice, um, to the west in the back along the quick trip line. There were some camps, not on our side, but on the quick trip side that has been covered by the brush. And so we have, they're not currently there now, but they've left tons of debris and things back there.

That you guys will take care of all that stuff. Yeah.

We've been cleaning up the whole line on that side. Right.

Okay. Well, that's a nice size lot. I mean, that'd be great. I mean, I'm all for it. I just want to make sure you had the funding to get going. I hate people come and make all these plans and it sits there for years and nothing happens.

No, this is it for me.

Okay. Thank you.

All right. Any additional questions for our applicant? All right. Thank you very much. Thank you. At this time, I will ask anyone who's in opposition of this case to please step forward. Anyone who's in opposition? Okay, anyone who wants to speak in favor of this case? Anyone to speak in favor? All right.

Hello.

Hi there. State your name and your address.

Shane Ray, 7211 Marion Ave, Kansas City, Missouri, 64133.

What would you like us to hear?

This is my mom. Sorry, I got my beautiful daughters here as well. I was a student athlete at the University of Missouri. I was able to be drafted to the NFL, make a lot of money and able to actually make plans with my mom to give back to people in the community. I just want to let you guys know that for us, this is something that she stays up all night working for. She invests all of her time, all of her focus You know, my story is my story and what I've been able to do in the community and give back. But what she's trying to do and with my assistance is I really and truly think is something incredible. It's something that I think will be a beacon in that area, something that looks very well, something that's well put together and will also give people the opportunity to create jobs for themselves and educate people. I'm just here to back my mom up and hope you guys will approve this. I really think it's something excellent and thank you.

Thank you very much. You're a good son. Anyone else who'd like to speak in favor? Anyone else? Not seeing any, I'm going to close the public hearing. Yes, Commissioner.

I make a motion we approve case 26-100-05, rezoning 16-523 East US 40 Highway. Second.

I have a first and a second. Any further discussion? All right. I will call for the vote, please.

Commissioner Nesbitt? Yes. Commissioner Ferguson?

Yes.

Commissioner Ashbaugh? Yes. Commissioner O'Neill?

Yes.

Commissioner Torres? Yes. Commissioner Young? Yes. Chair Wiley?

Yes. And the motion passes 7-0 for case number 2605. Congratulations. I think we're all excited to see what you do. All right, we are gonna move over to our new case four, which is case number 261-2501, which is a rezoning, excuse me, PUD on US Highway 24.

Alrighty, this is case 2612503, an application for approval of a rezoning and planned unit development for the property located at 20691 East US 24 Highway. The property is located at the intersection of Little Blue Parkway and US 24 Highway, generally Northeast and Dependence. Here's a notification area map as required by city code. And a area zoning map of the subject site and the surrounding properties shows that the surrounding zoning district classifications predominantly consist of residential zoning classifications to the east of the subject site consists of low density residential properties. To the south is attractive vacant land. To the west is an existing single family subdivision. That'd be the Blue Mills subdivision. And to the north of the subject site is that US 24 highway. The site consists of approximately 34 and a half acres. It's in close proximity again to the intersection of Little Blue Parkway and US 24 Highway. And just to reiterate, established suburban neighborhoods exist to the west and rural agricultural and undeveloped land to the south and east. There's a street level imagery along Little Blue Parkway going northbound around the curve. and southbound. And some pictures of the existing conditions of the property shows that the property consists of a rolling terrain with a westerly aspect. Here is the preliminary development plan Consisting of a total of 196 Lots Property line of the proposed development this preliminary development plan is for Lots that are smaller than what is conventionally permitted under the development code as opposed to the standard 7,000 square foot lot size the proposed plan The average lot size in the proposed plan, excuse me, is approximately 4,100 square feet. The applicant has provided amenities as a part of their preliminary development plan, and the northern corner of the property community garden is provided as well as a leg of a of a walking trail and a bench area in the southwest corner of the property, a sport field and playground along with another portion of the walking trail. As part of the preliminary development plan, landscaping is required. So a few excerpts from the preliminary development plan shows a monument sign at the entrance off of Little Blue Parkway, along with the landscaped area, street tree plantings throughout the subdivision, and a buffer along Little Blue Parkway from the rear yards of those first tier lots. The applicant has provided elevations for the proposed planned unit development, and here's three of those elevation examples that they've provided. There's about a dozen elevations in the packet in the agenda for tonight's meeting. Staff does recommend approval of the rezoning and preliminary development plan request with the conditions outlined in the staff report and up on the slide. And that concludes my presentation.

All right. Thank you very much, staff. I appreciate that. I'm going to go ahead and start with the question. Maybe more of a statement. I really appreciate you working with a developer who is trying to address the housing needs in our community. Are you seeing other communities like this start popping up? And I know you approved the recommendation, but how comfortable are you with the smaller lot size, the distance between the homes? Can you give a little more? on that particularly?

Yeah, absolutely. City staff did review some other subdivisions in the surrounding metropolitan area. There's one in Independence that was approved about 10 years ago. Newtown at Harmony is a planned unit development out on Truman Road that features lots that are smaller in size. The lots in the Newtown at Harmony subdivision are smaller than the proposed lots of this subdivision. So those would be closer to like 30 foot wide at minimum, and these would be 40 feet wide. There's another subdivision that city staff looked at in Grain Valley. The name of it is failing to come to me. However, that subdivision also features smaller lots than what's proposed here as well. In those subdivisions, they were developed or are still in development. City staff are confident that this proposed planned unit development can meet all the city's engineering standards, building code requirements, design standards, the development code. Thank you very much.

All right. Any additional questions for staff?

Sure.

Yes, Commissioner Nesbitt.

Okay, so the houses, I know what you're talking about is Harmony Heights. They had access to the rear for their garages and parking, and I don't think any frontal parking on the streets. What I'm looking at here, you said it's got a 20-foot setback from right away, or is that a 20-foot setback from the street for the house? What's that?

So, you know, we actually, city staff discussed this, and we thought of you, Commissioner Nesbitt.

I'm sure.

The setback is from the right-of-way line, so that's excluding any sidewalks or driveway approaches, and city staff felt the 20-foot setback could comfortably fit any modern vehicles as opposed to the 15-foot setback.

Okay. Now, the other place you're talking about out in Grandview, they're mainly all rentals. I want to make sure we're not doing any rental things, correct? Correct.

I may defer to my supervisor here, Rick.

So from what the applicant has expressed for this project, I believe they intend to have an owner occupied for these.

Okay. How's the Harmony Heights going today? Are we finishing more phases of theirs?

I'd have to look at the additional phases, but it may still be in development.

Because, I mean, that's been going on now for 15 years? Yeah. Okay. Thank you.

Question?

Yes, Commissioner.

How is the HOA that's going to come in here or be organized, how are they going to keep people from renting that out?

So with any single-family development, I mean, long-term rentals are something that would be allowed. So somebody would be able to, at some point, rent a house. Now, I know some HOAs may put into their covenant that somebody has to own that property for two or three years before they're allowed to rent it. but that is not something that we can necessarily prevent entirely, that at some point a single-family house could be rented long-term. Now, if it were to ever be like a short-term rental, they would, of course, have to come here before this commission.

So does the HOA have the right to do that?

I've seen it done before where they'll basically put in there you know and again not necessarily speaking for this one but I have seen HOAs put in that property owners that buy a house have to be in there and live in it for several years before they're allowed to rent it so as far as the legalities of that I'm probably not the best person to answer that but what about the guy next to you HOAs can put in just about whatever they want But it's up to them to enforce it.

Okay.

And that's where they run into some difficulties. Sure.

That's what I figured. Okay. Thank you.

Any additional questions? All right. I'm going to invite the developer or applicant up. Please state your name and your residential address.

Good evening. Good evening. My name is Brian Ron, 1000 Northwest High Point Drive, Lee Summit, Missouri. I'm here for the applicant this evening at West National Holdings, and we are part of Ward Development. And we have our building partner here this evening as well, which we're working with Summit Homes on this particular project. We're excited about the project, and as was mentioned earlier, you know, We've worked really, really hard going through this to, from the ground up, create a product that can address housing needs that has been a real struggle. You know, as we've been looking at this project, not just the land, we've also looked at the architecture. We've looked at a lot of different things to be able to bring homeownership, you know, where it hasn't been available before. We are looking at being able to have a beautiful community at under $300,000. You know, that's been very, very difficult to be attainable, you know, in this area. And, you know, when I look at what's out there, you know, you either have a choice, you can go into a multi-family type situation, you can go into an existing home, and there are some beautiful existing neighborhoods in the area, but there's very little as far as new communities that would be anywhere near this. So the thing that makes this possible is us as a developer, we're a very strong developer. We've been in this area for over 50 years. We've developed thousands of lots. We're working with a building partner that has the ability to bring a product that's not just, as was mentioned, we submitted 12 different elevations. That wasn't all of them. A lot has gone in this, so there's a lot of variety. There's a lot of opportunity there. Now, Part of the magic of this is the footprint of the home. It is designed that we can do a lot with you know, an individual footprint that, that matches through the community. So we're doing things to bring the cost down. You know, when we looked at, uh, you know, what are we going to do as far as amenities in the community? We wanted to have, you know, things very outdoor active driven. So as we look through a presentation we have this evening, you know, in addition to, you know, just sidewalks and stuff like that, we put in trails and then we did a mile, uh, perimeter project where there's different fitness stations, active fitness stations for people as they go through the community. We have an area where it's just a field. Well, sometimes you just need a place to go throw a ball. So we've gone through and looked at what can we do. Now, Could we, at the price point that we're hoping to bring attainable homes in, could we do large clubhouses and could we do swimming pools and all those things? No, we couldn't. But we still wanted those active outdoor amenities, and we didn't want a community that didn't have features that made it attractive. The area is beautiful. The community that we've designed we feel is beautiful. We've come up with architecture that we feel is going to not only complement the area that's already there, it's going to help that area to become even better. So as we go through this this evening, I'll answer any questions. We're excited about it, and we're hoping that you will be too.

Do you want to play? How do I play?

All right. So... Just a small presentation that we put together. This is what we're envisioning a street view being. As we mentioned, these homes all have two-car garages. They have traditional architecture. This is one of our fitness pods that we mentioned. So as we go through the community, we have five of these. And what we've envisioned is there'll be a fitness apparatus, a bench. This is where we would like to put the mail. These are in a loop the whole way through the community. This is the layout, as mentioned. They are smaller lots, but we've decided to really try to have as much open space as possible. Almost the entire west side of this subdivision is open space. Now part of that land there, the triangle-shaped piece, belongs to the City of Independence, and that's existing stormwater management. We've incorporated that together with our project. When you're looking at this, and we're always looking at how do you buffer to other communities and stuff like that, Almost none of this is directly in somebody's backyard. So you have green space, you have amenities, you have two lots there where the road connects, but we're not putting these homes directly right into backyards. And that's a common thing that we deal with often. We've been able to do some things here to make an excellent layout for the community. As mentioned before, we have the trails. We have a lot of natural features. This is that loop that I mentioned with the five stations. As you go around, we have a one-mile system that incorporates both the internal sidewalks, trails. There's also a playground there on the west side. And, you know, The big part of this community that makes it really special, we feel, is the attainable aspect of it. We're going to get into, as we talk about that, the elevations were already brought up. It's not just that we've come up with different plans. There's different materials, colors. things to create unique opportunities in the neighborhood. You mentioned rentals. Well, we are looking for a for sale community. We want people to be able to have home ownership. That opportunity is not there in most of the communities around. We mentioned us as a developer, Ward Development. We mentioned Summit. We're both very strong companies. We've done a lot of work in the Kansas City metro. And we're able to bring this project through to completion. And with that, we appreciate your consideration of the project. And I'm here to answer any questions. And I have engineering staff, and I have Summit here as well to answer questions.

All right. Thank you very much. I'll start with one question, and that is just, I saw three different examples. So I'm assuming economies to scale and to keep the budget, there will only be a few options of the housing?

No, actually, that's where we were discussing earlier. Like we submitted 12 different elevations, 12 different homes, and we actually have even more than that. Now, one of the things that's been exciting about this and working with our partner is The footprints are similar for each home. But earlier in the staff presentation, there's even a three-story variety. So there's some things that we're doing to, outside the box, make these homes attainable. But we also did not want to just build boxes going down the street. So as you look at these, they have pitch roofs. They have porches, two-car garages. There's variation in front. So there's a lot of things, a lot of thought has gone into trying to come up with a solution to this problem.

Okay. Any questions, commissioners?

Chair?

Yes, Commissioner Nesbitt.

So I'm looking at elevation two. That's not over 45 feet? That's a three-story?

So that one, I believe, if I remember correctly, is 37 feet, but I would have to look that up. But no, there is a maximum allowed, and I have discussed that with staff.

Okay. um the only other question right off the top of my head that i know it's it's just a preliminary preliminary but i would like to see that that walking trail cannot be taken away is that a mandatory thing for you guys or is that something that's just in writing to make it look good right now

No, we are intending to put the walking trail in, and as mentioned earlier, there is going to be an HOA on the property, and that is in a tract that is owned by the HOA.

Okay. So if I look at this ride, similar to the Arborees down there, what you guys are building, something close looks like that, except you're going to have front entrances instead of back entrances.

Is that the Grain Valley project?

No, that's the other one in Independence. Okay.

I'm not familiar with that particular... Oh, the Grand Valley one's the same way.

They've come in through the back, so...

Yeah, so the one in Grain Valley off Seymour there, I'm familiar with that, but no, this is going to be more traditional front entrance architecture.

Okay. Now, I have seen some other ones way out in Overland Park that had some real wild-looking architecture. Are we going to do anything like that, maybe, to break them up, break the views? I mean, a couple of them do come in close to that where they've got three different pitches on the roof. I mean, that's what I'm saying. They've got some out there that look even worse than that, if you ask me, but... I didn't know if that's anything in design, too.

So, you know, it's intended that we do have a variety of roof pitches and designs there. But of the elevations that have been designed for this project, the bulk of them are very traditional, more of the two you see on the side. And we are anticipating... kind of scrolling back through here, that that type of street view right there is what we're anticipating this neighborhood to look like. There are ones that have variation, but the bulk of them are not what I would consider non-traditional.

What about color codes?

The colors, there are some different colors there. For some of those questions, we're there on that. You know, I'm I'm doing in this particular we we build homes as well But in this one we have a building partner and they they're gonna be the ones handling that so I'd like to bring him up And introduce them.

All right, were you sworn in sir?

No, ma'am. Why not?

Okay, if you would raise your right hand Do you promise to tell the truth to this planning commission tonight? If so say I will I will all right Thank you, and then state your name and your home address My name is Aaron young

10450 Holmes Avenue, Kansas City, Missouri, 64130. Okay.

Based on what you've heard, what do you want to share with us?

I am the Vice President of Development for Summit Homes. We're proud to partner with Board Development on ArborLin. Summit Homes is, you'll notice on our logo, underneath the Summit logo, which is a Clayton company, which we We are a part of a national organization, but we're a local builder. We've been in the Kansas City area for 25 years, and being a part of communities is important to us. Being partners with the municipalities that we build in is important to us. The other thing that's very important to us is our mission to provide attainable housing. and to provide attainable housing in a way that fits the character of communities and fits the type of neighborhoods that places like Independence want to see. To speak directly to the question that brought me up here in terms of color codes, we would establish the Homeowners Association for the project. So the CC&Rs would be would be created by us. We would manage the homeowners association until there were enough residents, enough lots had been sold in the community for the HOA to be self-sustaining. And there would be an architectural review committee as part of that HOA. And so the paint colors and door colors and what elevations were chosen, those would all be reviewed by the architectural review committee that was part of the HOA. And the recommendations of that committee would be based entirely upon what's going to be approved by the city in terms of the elevations, the building styles, the architecture styles that are approved as part of this preliminary development plan. Those are going to be the guidelines that are going to be used by the architectural review committee to approve home plans and colors in the neighborhood. To speak a little bit to your question about the variety of architecture, Brian mentioned earlier that we're talking about small lots, but we have a lot of not only different elevations but different floor plans that we can provide that will fit on the same footprint. So you could have a three-bedroom, you could have a two-bedroom, you could have a two-story. We have a couple of ranch plans that are available So the composition and character of the neighborhood, while it would be consistent from what we call a build box standpoint, we'll certainly have the ability to provide variety in terms of appearance and optionality for people that want to buy homes in the neighborhood in terms of what they want to have.

Question. Are these slab homes or are they basements? Basements.

Our intent is to create as many slab buildable lots as we can, but it's ultimately the homeowner's choice as to whether or not they want a slab home. We will compact. We'll have compaction performed on the lots, but if a homeowner wants a basement, they'll get a basement.

Okay. Well, I mean, but once you put a basement, the price probably goes up, correct?

It has a price impact. That's true. That's what I'm saying.

So most of these are probably going to be slab homes. And my next question is going to be, we're in a tornado place. What house structure are these houses going to be for tornadoes? Is there going to be a safe room inside that will withstand a tornado or is there not?

Until we know exactly what floor plans we're building, I can't give you an answer to that question.

Okay. Because, I mean, that's why I like to have basements. But, I mean... Okay. And then the color thing is that I don't like somebody going and put it in a pink house. So that's what I'm saying.

We don't want pink houses in our neighborhoods.

And then my other question is going to be, what kind of timeline are we looking at for phase one, phase two and phase three? Are we looking two years, five years, 10 years, 20 years?

We don't have a firm timeline established. Generally, if we open a phase of, say, 50 units, we would expect to sell through those 50 units in probably 18 months. So I would say under current absorption rates, we're about 150 lots, right? So 200 lots, I would expect that to be probably a little under five years.

Okay, because, I mean, we've had a lot of subdivisions come through here, get approved, and nothing happened. So that's why I like to know a time frame for looking at things.

Well, given the fact that we're obligated to buy the lots after they're developed, we are just as motivated to sell houses here As you guys are, because if I don't sell it, I just have to sit there with it on my books. Right.

Okay. Thank you.

All right. Any additional questions?

Yes.

All right, Commissioner.

What's your intent, if any, about backyard fencing, like open fencing or no fencing? No.

We will give individual homeowners the option to build a fence. We won't require that they build a fence, but they will have that option. We'll specify a range of materials that they can use. I can tell you that it certainly will not be chain link, but they'll most likely have a choice.

of fence materials and they'll like i said they'll have the option to build a fence but they won't necessarily be required to okay so this isn't like some other places where there's there's zero allot lines they do actually have property correct there are side yard setbacks and there are separation between between the homes and so how far apart what's the distance between property line to house to other house

I believe it would be five-foot side yard setbacks.

So the actual setbacks in the design on the plat are three. The design is five. So the anticipated minimum distance between homes would be 10 feet.

The minimum lot size is 40 feet. The product that we would be putting in there is a 30-foot wide product.

Okay, so there's 5 feet, 30 feet, 5 feet. Correct. And then the backyard depth is?

So on the backyards of these, I think most little lots, I think the smallest ones are what, 105?

There was a 105.

So that's approximately correct. So you have 20 feet from the property line, not the curb. And then, you know, what is the build depth? Generally, I think they're about 55 feet. Okay, so you have 75, and so you have a little over 30. I think the rear setbacks on the platter are 20, but, you know, I think the minimum based off the bill box, you're probably 35.

Okay, walk me through that again, because how far off the curb is the building line?

Well, off the curb is 11 feet from back of curb to what's the right-of-way?

Can you repeat that question?

So typically back of curb to property line, is it 11 feet?

About 11 feet. That's correct. Yeah.

So you have 31 feet from back of curb to the front of the home. Then you have, you know, 30, I'm sorry, what did you say? 55. 55. And then, you know, when we say 105, that's not from back of curb, that's from property line. So it would be... 105 minus 75, you would have 30 feet to the rear property based off that build box on the smallest lots. We do have bigger lots, but those are on the smaller ones.

And not to interrupt the applicant here, so city staff are reviewing the plat, just a little closer up view of it. So the smallest lots are 90 feet in depth with that 40-foot width at the frontage. All right.

And is this site fairly level?

It is. So it is gently rolling. As mentioned, we are anticipating slab homes. So it's being graded to anticipate that unless foundation is requested. So yes, this site does not have a lot of grade change.

So what are you going to do with the water?

So in addition to the detention pond that's already there, that when it was originally put in, it was anticipated to pick up the water from this site, we actually have four more ponds that are going into this site. Okay.

So the runoff of the house, the roof line, the roof, and the driveway. I guess the driveway goes in the street and it goes out to the basins. But what about, because, you know, flat places, close together, wet year, it could be kind of a mess.

So this, you know, whenever we put the subdivision in, you know, we have our engineering team. you know, folks with us here tonight also, you know, we do anticipate that each one of these is going to have a building pad. We have experience with, you know, similar size side yard setbacks and things like that, like Meadow Creek and Belton, we did the same size setbacks. Those were on slabs as well. And, you know, we have experience working with that. You know, here it's not completely flat. and I can bring Richard up and he can speak to the grade a little bit more, but it's not completely flat, and we've put a lot of effort into working with the stormwater, both for what's already there and what would be anticipated. Because although the lots are smaller, the footprint of this home is significantly smaller. So as far as the impervious coverage, we have a lot of green space, both on the lot and in the neighborhood.

Commissioner, would you like to have the engineer come forward?

If he's willing to.

Were you sworn in, sir? Yeah. All right. Thank you. Could you state your name and your local address?

Sure. It's Richard Michael with HG Consult. Address is 25604 Northeast Colburn Road, Lee Summit, Missouri, 64086.

Can you address the drainage?

Yeah. How long you guys want to be here? We talk about drainage a lot. Yeah. So like Brian said, the ratio of the impervious coverage on the lot is really no different from a standard lot. It's just condensed. It's smaller. We have... Design, everything, it's called preliminary, but from an engineering standpoint, there's not much preliminary in what you're seeing today. There's been a lot of work for the design to get to this point. Multiple preliminary reviews with staff as well as official submittal reviews. So the grading for the site is pretty far along. There are a couple of side streets that were intentionally graded that are a little bit steeper, 5%, 6%, not steep by steep standards, but steep for this site. Most of the front-facing streets, though, we're trying to grade anywhere from 1% to 2%, and that's just because these buildings sit so close together. If you separate the finished floor elevation, you're looking at walls, and with 10-foot separation, there's not room for walls. So as far as stormwater runoff, I want as much water in the street as I can get just because that's where the bulk of the storm sewer system is. So as you can see from the roofline, we're looking at at least half of those buildings will shed to the front. Driveways slope to the street as well. It's not unlikely to think that roof drains can't be designed and connected and manifolded to the front as well. So for the rear yards, you're looking at typical just grass. And so back to backyard faces each other. It's not uncommon to have rear yard swales to catch that water in a series of field inlets and then connect into the overall storm sewer system. So staff can confirm we are. We are fully compliant as far as release rates go. That's part of the reason of the four extra detention basins. We've tried to build them with some character. So there's a series of wet and dry. Wet being more of a desired amenity. You can walk around it. So with the staging of those areas, a lot of that has to do with the existing topography of the site as well as what we're trying to do with the proposed grading.

So when you talk about a wet, when you're talking about something that might need an aerator?

Not necessarily. No, wet as in just it's wet, but not to the size that an aerator is.

It's not a pond.

It is a pond.

It's a pond every once in a while.

It's a pond, depending on what you want to call it. Yeah, it holds water, and it's meant to be wet until it perhaps, you know, isn't. I mean, if it's really dry, but by rule, you're supposed to have those four foot deep plus sediment accrual, so... If I say it's wet, it probably is going to stay wet for a while if it gets built properly, which there's no reason to think it would. Okay.

Any additional questions? All right. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Chair. Yes, Commissioner. This is going to be the staff. If the subdivisions go through, school district-wise, are we good? For elementary, all that. That's the biggest thing, probably.

Give us just one moment to consult on that and get an answer for you.

I know it's nothing for you guys, but that's just something we've got to look at for the whole area. It's got enough elementary. I mean, you're 196. I mean, that's probably a good another 200, 300 kids. We're hoping.

We actually did look at that, and I reached out to the school district, and I gave them information on the project. So they had the opportunity to know what we have coming down the road. down the road here.

That's Fort Osage, correct?

Correct. I contacted, I believe, Snodgrass, but he's retiring and so I have not heard back.

Okay.

I have nothing to add to that answer.

We don't know if we have enough Elementary wise to sustain a subdivision that size without But that's gonna be up to the 408 school district, but I don't like to put burdens out there without somebody knowing something We would not be able to answer that question as to the capacity of the school district All right, thank you very much

All right. Is there anyone present who would like to speak in opposition of this case? All right. We will just start with the first person to come forward. State your name and your address and let me know if you've not been sworn in.

I have been sworn in.

Yeah. Yeah, I will just remind everybody, please state your case. But if somebody previously has said the same thing that you want to say, just acknowledge that you agree with them. And that way we will get through the individual conversations in a manner that's most expeditious.

But please state your name and your address. Lisa Stewart. 20313 East 16th Street North in 64056. I live in Blue Mills subdivision in the neighborhood and I first want to say that I did not receive a letter that some of the other people are receiving. They sent it to the people that live on Milburn, which it runs parallel to this new neighborhood. The other people in the neighborhood did not get letters. We know this because we have a Facebook page in our neighborhood, and that's why I'm here, because I did not receive a letter, but I was told about it. I have a few concerns. I am retired from Fort Osage, worked there 25 years, recently retired, and I can say that the schools are very overcrowded. Every building, from elementary to middle school to high school, very overcrowded. They cannot sustain. The superintendent that they reached out to is now retired. And that's probably why nobody is here representing the schools. And I would hope that you would at least please speak with somebody at the schools before any of this is ever approved. Also, I have a very concern with the two entrances to this new neighborhood. I have a concern with an entrance coming off of Blue Mills neighborhood into this new neighborhood. for what number one what reason do they need a neighborhood entrance from our neighborhood to get to their neighborhood that produces more traffic in our neighborhood that produces more foot traffic more car traffic more noise timber creek neighborhood which is on the south of our neighborhood city of independence already approved several years ago for their neighborhood to connect to blue mills on the south side so now we have all of their foot traffic and car traffic cutting through their neighborhood to get to our neighborhood to get to 24 highway and that's that's produced a lot of traffic in our neighborhood I live on a relatively quiet street quiet neighborhood and this I would like to know what street they plan on having that cut through road and for what reason do they even need a cut through road why can't they have their own entrance of a blue parkway it's going to be a completely separate neighborhood than ours They don't need a separate entrance and they're going to be their own community. They don't need to be attached to our community also These homes he was saying was going to be in the three hundred three hundred thousand dollar range I Do know with Jackson County when they do the taxes we have an older neighborhood in Blue Mills neighborhood the taxes aren't our houses aren't three hundred thousand dollar homes and This being so close in proximity to our homes, this is going to raise our taxes in Blue Mills as well. We live there for a reason, and it keeps our taxes down. This will definitely raise our taxes, and I know this will happen for a fact. And I hope you guys would take all this into consideration with the 196 homes, with the schools. My major concern also was the cut-through road and the taxes. and the more foot traffic that this is going to create on our neighborhood. I would appreciate those considerations. Thank you.

All right. Next person who would like to speak in opposition.

Ma'am, I was not sworn in in the beginning.