Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

All right, welcome tonight to the Planning Commission meeting. Would you please stand and join me for the Pledge of Allegiance? All right. Welcome to the City of Independence Planning Commission meeting. It is Tuesday, August the 11th, 2026. If you plan to speak tonight, I would just ask that you please stand at this time. Raise your right hand. And do you swear to tell the truth to this body tonight? If so, say I will. I will. Thank you. You may be seated. All right. I will call for the roll.

Commissioner Ferguson.

Yes. Commissioner Ashbaugh. Yes. Commissioner O'Neill. Yes. Commissioner Torres. Here. Commissioner Young. Here. And Chairman Wiley.

Here. Here. All right. Staff, we look forward to your reports. I will entertain a motion first on the minutes from last meeting.

Madam Chair.

Yes, Commissioner. Okay. I have a motion.

Second.

And a second. Any discussion or questions about the minutes? All right. Seeing none, I will call for that vote.

Commissioner Ferguson.

Yes.

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

Yes. And the motion passes six to zero. I will also entertain a motion. We have a case to continue.

Chair.

Yes. Commissioner Young.

I make motion to continue case 26-200-04, special use permit 1717 South Appleton Avenue to the August 25th meeting.

All right. I have a motion to continue a case. I second. And I have a second. Any discussion on this one? I will let you know from the meeting yesterday, I did find out that the address wasn't updated. And so it just didn't make it in the timing and need to be continued in order to meet all the required deadlines. So you guys will get to entertain that one at next meeting. So any questions? All right. I'll call for that vote. Commissioner Ferguson.

Yes.

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

Yes. And that motion passes 6-0. All right, if you're going to speak tonight, I'm just going to ask you to help us expedite the meeting by when you first get up to the podium, just state your name and your address and then anything you want us to know. If you have questions, address them only to me, the chair, and we will make tonight as easy for you as possible because I know this could be daunting sometimes if you've never come to a planning commission meeting. All right, staff, I...

Chair?

Yes.

I'd like to make a motion to move case 26-400-86, short-term rental 16-012, East 31st Street South, to the next item on the agenda.

to the next one at the start of our hearing. Okay, great.

Second.

So we have other business for the benefit of the citizen. We'd like to just move it up. And so whichever staff member has the short-term rental, we'd like to move that up and have that be next in the agenda. I have a first and a second. And I will call for that vote.

Commissioner Ferguson.

Yes.

Commissioner Ashbaugh.

Yes.

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

Yes. And the motion passes 6-0. So our first hearing for tonight will be on the short-term rental on East 31st Street South.

Who's the lucky staff member?

All right.

We'll call you up later, ma'am.

I have to forward this real quickly. Okay.

We didn't give you very much time, I know.

Too far.

Okay.

Okay, this is case 26486. Applicant Carolyn Rossetti requests to operate a short-term rental at 16012 East 31st Street South. As you can see from the red dot on the vicinity map there, it's basically along Lee Summit Road between 23rd Well, in Glendale Gardens, south of 23rd Street there. So here's the notification area, specifically along 31st Street south, just about half a block to the east of Lee Summit Road. And zoning map, as you can see, it's R6 single-family residential all around. The uses are all single-family homes in that neighborhood. Here we go. The lot is 8,276 square feet in area. The residence has 1,237 square feet of living area, and this was a subdivision that was plotted back in the 60s as a paved single car-wide driveway that can accommodate up to two vehicles. And they could, of course, have one in the street. They will not be letting the applicants park in the garage. That will be kept locked. And as you can see from the photo on item number five, the property has a gravel driveway that cannot be used for parking. It either has to be removed or paved or at least effectively blocked with fencing and large obstacles. This is the floor plan. They have a basement, but it will be locked. So in addition to the garage, you won't have access to the basement as well. So here's the evacuation plan. You can see the back porch and how you get out the front door just to the west of the garage. And here's your parking plan. As I repeat, it shows the garage is not accessible and they've got a paid parking area that will allow for the parking of two cars. And you also have the potential for street parking as well. So this is the area out in front of the home. So this is eastbound, looking at the neighbor to the east and the other households along the street. And then on your right here, you have the westbound. You can see a little bit of their front yard where the sign is there. And the home's going back toward Lee Summit Road. So as far as other short-term rentals in the area, the only one anywhere near here is along Porter. They're in the same subdivision a little bit farther to the east. Among our staff recommendations of note, the maximum occupancy shall be limited to four adults because there's two bedrooms. And note again, number eight, the property has a gravel driveway that must be removed, paved, or effectively blocked, i.e. fencing, lawn ornaments, et cetera. So I'm ready to take any questions you may have. We recommend approval.

Great.

Are there any questions for staff? I have a question. Go ahead, Commissioner.

It says on here maximum number of bedrooms, two, but on her picture it shows three. Oh, it says bedroom, though. Oh, okay. Thank you.

Okay. You had an additional question?

No, just we need the report to reflect that there's only two bedrooms going to be used. I know the written says it, but to Commissioner Ferguson's point, it is on the map of the house.

And revision will reflect that.

Thank you. Any additional questions? All right. Ma'am, now we would call you up and state your name and your home address.

My name is Carolyn Rossetti. My address is 16012 East 31st Street South, Independence, Missouri, 64055.

All right. What do you want us to know about your short-term rental?

Well, I did it mainly for FIFA, but my management company sort of screwed up my listing. For 17 days of June, I didn't get to be listed correctly. so I got no listings and by the time they got me listed it was half over for June and people usually book a little bit ahead so I wasn't getting any listings and then it was basically over with the 15th of July. So I figured well after all that work that I've done I may as well continue on for a while. Okay. So that's why I wanted to do it, because of high taxes, and I just like to pay off my house by the end of the year.

All right. That's a good goal. Can you tell us a little bit about how your experience with the actual short-term rentals that you did during FIFA?

Oh, it was wonderful. I had 17 days of rental. I had five different groups. The first one was four and they were from Argentina. The second group was three, I believe, and they were from Argentina. another group of four, I think, and they were from Ecuador. And the next ones were from Ecuador. And then I had one single gentleman after all the games were over, come and stay for four nights. It was really weird. But yeah, but it was all good experiences and everybody seemed very polite, very nice. I didn't meet any of them, just talked to them on the phone, gave them their code to get in and stuff like that and answered any questions they might have. Yeah, it was very, very rewarding.

And then I just want to clarify the third bedroom will not be used.

No, that's an office, and there was no way I could move out the big desk and stuff like that. So I just rented two, and I put a deadbolt on it and the garage from the inside and the basement.

Okay, good. And then you heard what needs to happen to the driveway. Which route are you planning to go? What are you going to do?

Well, I can do just about anything. Right now I have one of those lifetime... picnic tables they're the plastic coated gray heavy ones really nice it's sitting in the driveway and then I've got today I went to Home Depot and bought some metal fence little fence things that hook together and they stick down in the ground and I put those far enough across the front of the drive so that it was noticeable but I could still get the trash can to the street without hitting the cars and stuff. And I put some flower pots by it, but Brian thinks they need to be a little bigger, so I'll get something bigger.

Okay. Any additional questions for our citizen? All right. Thank you very much. Thank you. Is there anyone present who would like to speak in favor of this case? Anyone who'd like to speak in favor? Seeing none, is there anyone present who would like to speak in opposition of this case? Anyone in opposition? All right. Any final questions for staff? I do have one. Brian, she kind of mentioned it, but Will somebody from development go and check and make sure that the driveway is handled correctly?

Yes, I actually talked to her a few minutes ago about going out there later this week.

Okay. All right. Thank you very much. All right, I will entertain a motion. Oh, I will close the hearing, and then I'll entertain a motion. I have a motion from Commissioner O'Neill. And do I have a second?

Yes.

All right, thank you.

All right, I will call. I move that we approve case 26400-86, short-term rentals for address 1601. 12 East 31st Street South. All right.

We have a first and a second.

I second that case.

All right. I will call for the vote. Commissioner Ferguson. Yes.

Commissioner Ashbaugh.

Yes.

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

Yes, and the case passes six to zero, and that is case number 26486, short-term rental at 16012 East 31st Street South. All right, good luck, and I hope you have great success. Thank you. All right, we will move on now to our hearings at the Number one on the agenda, it is case number 26-100-06. It is a corrective rezoning for 221 North Chrysler Avenue.

Okay, again, this is case 26-100-06. And the applicant is Samuel Goldsmith requesting to rezone property from C2 general commercial and R30 PUD high density residential plan unit development to R6 single family residential.

Excuse me, ma'am. You'll have to follow up with him later. May I leave now? Yes, you may leave. That's all I have. Absolutely. I wish all our citizens were that polite. All right, go ahead, Brian. I apologize.

So, again, this is the vicinity map, and you can see that it's not far from the square to the west along where Chrysler runs into Truman Road over by the college, by Graceland. So... From the map here, you can see the properties that were within 185 feet that were notified of this zoning correction. And again, the reason why we're doing this is you can see from the drawing on the right that this particular house sits partially in a multifamily district and Partially in a commercial district. So we are attempting to Or correct this for the the applicant so he can be able to refinance his home So the neighborhood here the lots to the north and south have a similar issue and It is actually our intention to Revisit this as a city issue later The city initiated issue later. So north and south has those two zonings as well. To the east is an 01. It's actually our residential use. It has a duplex on it. And to the west is the grounds of Graceland College. So the comprehensive plan, of course, envisions this whole area for residential uses. complies with the plan to eliminate that commercial component. The property characteristics of this home, as you can see here in the picture, this lot is deep but very narrow, 6,970 square feet in area, and the residence is 1,037 square feet. This property was platted as Vernon Place back in 1886. The property's structure here was constructed and is still used as a single family residence. And again, if the zoning were denied, the property owner would have difficulty refinancing his property, thus this request. So street level imagery here. This is looking northbound, so to that commercial building you see there is right next door. Butts-Truman Road is an auto repair use. And then looking back south, you've got other bungalows similar to this one of size and era. And then across the street is the... grounds of Graceland College. Staff recommends approval of this rezoning, and I'm ready to take any questions you may have.

All right. Commissioners, any questions for staff? All right. Seeing none, I will invite the applicant forward.

Hi.

Good evening.

State your name and your address.

Samuel Goldsmith, 1519 North Seminole Drive, Independence, Missouri, 64058. All right.

Tell us about your need for rezoning.

Yeah. Please forgive me. This is my first appearance. I'm very nervous.

Just take a deep breath. No big deal.

With that being said, Mr. Bryan did a wonderful job summarizing our need. This is... derived from the hardship of high overhead costs and maintenance of the property, uh, not being able to refinance the property. Um, we're just looking to have the, um, zoning match the usage. Uh, that's what our lender has told us. That's what our lender requires. Uh, this was somewhat of a learning curve for us. Um, so lesson learned and, um, I think I'm going to keep it short and sweet. That is the meat and potatoes of this situation.

Okay. All right. Any additional questions? All right. Thank you. We'll call you back up if we need to.

Thank you, ma'am.

Thank you. All right. Is there anyone present that would like to speak in favor of this case? Anyone? Anyone to speak in opposition of this case? All right. Not seeing any. If we have no further questions for staff. All right. I will go ahead and close the public hearing.

Madam Chair.

Yes, Commissioner Ashfa.

I'd like to move approval for case 26-100-06, corrective rezoning of 221 North Chrysler Avenue.

All right. I have a first.

Second.

And a second. And I will call for the vote.

Commissioner Ferguson.

Yes.

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

Yes. And the motion passes 6-0. Case number 261006. Corrective rezoning at 221 North Chrysler Avenue. All righty. Next on our agenda is case number... 26-100-07, also rezoning for 914 and 916 East Frederick Street. And who's the lucky staff member this time?

That would be me.

All right.

So this is case 26-100-07, an application for rezoning the property at 914 to 916 East Frederick Street in approximately northern Independence, a couple blocks south of 24 Highway with College Street on the west and Kiger Road on the east. The majority of the neighborhood is zoned high density residential. So that designation was assigned to the area in 1965 upon the adoption of the zoning ordinance. There's a mix of land uses within that zoning district. So a variety of residential uses, including multiplexes, apartments, duplexes, and single family houses characterize this area. This particular request involves rezoning the property to single family for the development of two single family homes. The majority of the site is mostly open space with a stand of mature trees. The site slopes down toward the street in Even though the aerial image here on the slide shows one single taxable parcel, the property consists of two legal lots, part of the South Orchard Home subdivision. Here's a street level image of the subject site. So as you can see, the site is being currently Graded so there's some land disturbance occurring on the site. There are two building permit applications under review and those applications are contingent upon approval of the zoning to single family. Looking east towards Kiger, you can see a multiplex on the north side of Frederick Street, and then looking west, you can see some single-family homes, so a variety of land uses in the neighborhood. Staff recommends approval of this rezoning request, and that concludes my presentation.

All right, any questions for staff? All right, I will invite the applicant forward. All right, tell us your name and address.

Hello, my name is Jordan Branstetter. The address is 2003 North Ponca Drive.

Okay, and what do you need to do with this land? What's going on?

Yeah, we're just trying to build two houses here. The zoning is R30, and we're just trying to bring it down to two residential homes.

Okay, all right. Are you building them to sell? They're going to go in our rental pool. Okay, all right. Anything else we should know?

I think that's it.

Okay. Any questions for Jordan? All right. We'll call you back if we need to. Thanks. All right. Uh, Gabe, any concerns about changing rezoning or building to, uh, properties on this land?

No concerns. Like I said, the building permits are in review. So their approval of the building permits is contingent upon approval of this rezoning. Um, Staff are looking at a corrective rezoning for parts of the rest of the neighborhood. So where, you know, similar to the last rezoning request, it's a subdivision or development that's been single family in nature for a long time. In this case, vacant land. So city staff are looking at corrective rezonings around town.

So in your opinion, corrective rezoning would provide potentially more housing in our community, which is greatly needed.

Correct.

All right. Thank you very much. All right. Is there anyone present who would like to speak in favor of this case? Anyone? Anyone? All right. Anyone who'd like to speak in opposition? All right. I am seeing none.

Any final questions for staff?

Okay. I'm going to go ahead and close the public hearing.

Chair?

Yes, Commissioner Young. Did you have a question?

I have a question.

All right. Commissioner Ashfall.

Gabe, yes. Is the lot a little small because they're going to build two, so are those lots a little small for that? And I know they could probably build a home on that. I just didn't know if that's why it's still in review.

Give me one moment.

Would you like to go ahead and come back up? Sure.

Come on. Come on up.

According to the plot plan, both lots are 50 foot wide. We've built quite a few that we've turned in and got approved that are 50 foot wide. We'd have five foot easements on each side.

Okay. Garage or how many bedrooms?

Yep. So our plan are usually a four, two and a half. These ones are going to be a story and a half, which will match everything else there. I just think putting an apartment complex on that street would be ridiculous. So kind of bringing better homes, single family, than putting like a duplex, sounds like it would kind of fit that neighborhood a lot better than multifamily or anything like that.

Yeah, I agree. That sounds great. Just wanted to know. Thank you.

All right. Thank you very much.

I would add, if I may, that the county, a lot of times the county, when you have the same property, they'll merge them. So there's actually already two lots there. 50 is smaller than our current R6 standard. However, it is not uncommon in the older parts of town. Sometimes they're 40 or 45 feet in width. So... It's not outside the realm of a single-family residential size.

I didn't know if that overlay that we did earlier for the smaller homes included that area or not. It sounds like it doesn't really have to. I just wondered.

Overlay for?

Danglewood. I think it's outside. It's on the other side of Truman from my understanding.

Yep. Sorry.

All right.

Thanks.

All right. Any additional questions? All right. I will close the public hearing. And Commissioner Young, did you want to add something?

Chair, I just want to make a motion that we approve case 26-100-07 rezoning 9414 and 9416 East Frederick Street. All right. Second. I have a first and a second. And I will call for the vote.

Commissioner Ferguson?

Yes.

Commissioner Ashbaugh? Yes. Commissioner O'Neill?

Yes.

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

Yes. And the motion passes 6-0 for case 2-6-100-07, resigning to 9-14 and 9-15, excuse me, 9-16, East Frederick Street. All right. And our final case for the evening, case 26-100-08 is also rezoning 515 South Powell Road.

Yes, this is case 26-100-08, an application for rezoning on the east side of Powell Road north of Truman and 23rd. You can see there on the vicinity map. So this site was approved for a couple development proposals in the past that did not pan out. The current zoning designation is a planned unit development. The plan was a development of multiplexes. That application was approved by the city council, but the development never came to fruition. So since this site has been annexed into the city of Independence, it has remained undeveloped. Abutting the property to the west across Powell Road there is an area zoned residential agriculture. To the north, our property is zoned single family residential and it includes a trailer park, To the southwest is a developing subdivision that includes duplexes and single-family lots. So the proposed rezoning to residential agriculture does conform with the character of the surrounding land uses and zoning classifications. The site is... Almost 10 acres in size. It is characterized by predominantly wooded area with some trails winding through. And again, that area contains mostly low density residential uses. And to the south, there are some public and civic uses and other industrial properties at the intersection of Truman and Powell. site so kind of hard to make out but it's a gravel approach from the street that's a city truck parked there and again that's predominantly wooded area for this property looking north and south you can see the general characteristics you know wide open spaces low density residential

Staff again recommend approval of this rezoning request All right, Gabe could you Explain just a little bit about a lot versus Where a house is already built and they're rezoning to agriculture What the intent is?

Yeah, absolutely so in this case you could call it a hobby farm potentially, for lack of a better term, or agricultural uses for personal use, whether you sell your tomatoes to a farmer market or make your own salsa. So In this case, that's that's a request. It's a large tract of undeveloped land city code does guide development so in this case a Bonafide, you know a structure for for agricultural uses is not permitted in say a single-family subdivision unless you have a house. So in this case, rezoning to residential agriculture is a good fit for the applicant because they're requesting to build a high tunnel hoop house and other storage buildings for farming implements or what have you.

So mainly for a greenhouse type of structure versus a dwelling.

Yeah, exactly. Correct. Yep.

All right. Go ahead and invite the applicant forward. State your name and your home address.

My name is Ryan Jennings. The address is 515 South Powell, Independence, Missouri, 64056. All right.

Tell us about your idea here and what you want to do with this land.

Well, I'm weeks in, about a week in, as an applicant with the state of Missouri for the Urban Agriculture Cost Sharing Program, of which they match 75% up to $15,000 for a greenhouse. Long term, you know, someday may build a house there. But, you know, short term, we'd love to get a greenhouse built, as Gabe said, along with a secondary structure to... pole barn style building to house some of the equipment to maintain that greenhouse.

Right. And if you do end up wanting to build a house, you know, you'll have to come back and redo the process. Okay. That's not my primary residence. Okay. Great. Anything else we should know about the use of your land?

Not at this time.

Okay. Any questions for our applicant? Any questions? Yes. All right. We'll call you back if we need to. Thank you. All right. Gabe, just because I'm not aware, can you give me some idea or explanation of what he just talked about with some kind of cost-sharing program?

That is a little bit outside of my realm, to be honest.

Okay. It's outside of mine as well. Sir, would you have any more information about it that you could come back up and share? Sure. Has to be on the microphone.

I'm sorry to make you get back up That is a grant with the state of Missouri that helps stipend Or fund a potential greenhouse with some requirements that a certain percentage of that produce will be given back to the community Okay, I I knew there had to be something else.

I didn't know so all right All right. Thank you very much. Oh another question, sir So are you

What you're planning on growing, are you doing this organically, or are you planning on doing any pesticide applications?

Organically.

Organically.

Yeah, currently there's not any utilities, so our irrigation system is the pond that you saw on the map. I've got a current garden planted temporarily. It's a new property to us this year, but definitely organically.

Okay, and if you're going to sell the produce, I assume you need to have some kind of permit.

Not going to sell the produce. No, it's for personal use or donation only to the community.

Okay. Okay. All right. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Right. Is there anyone present like to speak in favor of this case? Anyone present? Not seeing any. Is anybody in opposition? No one in opposition. All right. Any final questions for staff or the applicant? All right. I'm going to go ahead and close the public hearing.

Madam Chair.

And entertain a motion. Commissioner Esfah.

I would move that we approve case 26-100-08 rezoning 515 South Powell Road.

I second.

All right. A first and a second. Thank you, Commissioner Ferguson. And I will call for the vote.

Commissioner Ferguson?

Yes.

Commissioner Ashbaugh? Yes. Commissioner O'Neill?

Yes.

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

Yes. And the motion passes 6-0 for case number 261008, rezoning for 515 South Powell Road. Thank you very much for what your plan is. All right. Any questions, comments, anything from anyone? All right. I'm going to put you all on this duty. The next meeting I will not be here, so everybody remind Eric. All right.

God, wait. You can misbehave. All right.

And I will adjourn this meeting.

She's feisty today.

We'll be on the call anyway on Monday.