Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Lee Summit has lots of local destinations, but where do you start? Green Street, a vibrant community space in the heart of downtown, is where Lee Summit comes together. Its three dynamic areas have something for everyone. Green Street Market is a modern event venue and home to the downtown Lee's Summit Farmers Market. Green Street Lawn is a covered performance space hosting live music, family activities, and more. Green Street Grove is a mixture of gathering spaces, an immersive playground, and bold architectural features. And all three areas host community events year round. So the next time you set out to enjoy the city you love, remember, meet at Green Street.

Hello Lee Summit, I'm Jordan. Here's your flash briefing for the week of August 24th. Fourth Friday's Art Walk is this Friday, August 28th from 5 to 8 p.m. in downtown Lee Summit. Explore local art, visit downtown shops and restaurants, and enjoy a fun evening in downtown. There will also be music in the park at Howard Station Park starting at 6 30 p.m. Everyone's encouraged to bring lawn chairs or blankets for seating. And a heads up for drivers, MoDOT will begin bridge demolition at 10 p.m. Friday, September 11th as part of its Route 291 North and US 50 interchange project. This is a Missouri Department of Transportation project, which also includes bridge replacement, roadway realignment, and ADA improvements. Learn more at MoDOT.org. Thanks for listening and have a great week.

The city of Lee's Summit has hundreds of traffic lights across its more than 1,000 lane miles, all managed by the city's public works traffic technicians. The work happens inside those metal boxes on the side of each intersection. Inside, technicians program a device called the controller. The controller communicates directly with each signal head via underground wires, telling each light when to turn on and off based on a program cycle. City traffic engineers design this cycle to allow traffic to flow as efficiently as possible for that particular intersection. In order to best match current traffic patterns, they install something called a detection system. Detection systems have taken many forms over the years, from sensors in the pavement to radar boxes. But in Lee's Summit, they primarily consist of cameras, which workers mount above the traffic signals. These cameras don't record video or your speed. Instead, they monitor the spaces at the front of the intersection and identify when a vehicle is present in a specific spot. Once a vehicle is identified, the detection system sends a message to the controller, which then adapts its standard cycle to best serve the cars that are present. The pedestrian button works in a similar way. When the button is pressed, the controller receives a signal requesting that it allow that section of the pedestrian walkway to go, which it then inserts into the signal pattern. Technicians also install something called a conflict monitor. The conflict monitor is a device in which they program all the potential patterns of lights that would lead to a collision. If the other systems mistakenly trigger those patterns, the conflict monitor sends the intersection into flash. causing all lights to flash red and directing drivers to treat it like an all-way stop. City traffic technicians implement and maintain these systems so effectively, we rarely consider them. But every time we safely pass through a signal-controlled intersection, it's all thanks to their work. So the next time you're waiting at a red light, remember the delicate coordination of super smart systems that move you through that space safely and efficiently every day.

Traditionally, we think as police officers, those responding to law enforcement needs within the community. But honestly, we are there to serve our citizens, and our citizens do go into crisis. They do have mental health crises, and we're being called to those scenes on a regular basis. In order to help serve those citizens better, we did initiate the Crisis Intervention Team Program. These are officers that are specially trained to de-escalate crisis situations. Recently, we've brought co-responders onto the scene, licensed, qualified mental health professionals housed within our police department. and they respond with those officers directly to those scenes where a crisis is occurring so they can interact with that citizen and get them the help they need right there on that scene.

The co-responders are either a bachelor or master level in a behavioral health related field. They wear plain clothes. They don't carry weapons or anything like that.

I have a police radio that I listen to all day. Listen for, you know, those key words. Mental health, behavioral health, crisis.

There's a lot of officers that just call for me. I have my own radio number.

I also have the ability to self-dispatch to them and say, 982 is en route. Officers en route. 914.

So typically I arrive after they've made it safe. I'll make contact and get kind of the rundown. And then I just kind of jump right in.

Like, hey, you know, my name's Allison. I'm a mental health professional. I'm here to help you. I'm not here to take you to jail or arrest you. Sometimes

All a person needs is a voice, someone neutral, someone outside that can listen. I do a lot of safety planning, including family, their support network. Who's close to you? If they're home alone, who can come over and hang out with you today? Can we lock away your sharps? Can we put up your meds? Do you need meds? Can we get you over to the urgent care to get you assessed for your medications? Some of them also are like, oh, I'm so glad you came. This made me feel so much better.

Our main goal as the co-responders is to, one, get people connected to the services that they need and also divert from emergency rooms and jails.

And they almost get a different view of the police responding. That lets me know you care and the officers care.

In 2020, we had 722 mental health related calls for service. 2022, by that time, 1,479. These mental health related calls for service are increasing. How we're responding to that is increasing the number of crisis intervention team officers we have available, as well as the number of co-responders we have available to respond on these calls.

So what I think is important for the community to know about the co-responder program is that we're here, we exist. All you have to do when you call 9-1-1 is ask for us. You know, say, hey, I want a co-responder to respond to this crisis and we'll go. I was really struggling about eight years ago on my personal journey with mental health, and I met some amazing social workers and amazing programs that have helped me get to where I am today. I really couldn't see myself doing anything else. We want to help, and that's what we love to do.

So I had a client, we got a call, she had some suicidal ideations and she really felt that she had nobody. And you know, in getting to know her story and getting to know who comes around and sees you, well then we found a support person and they responded immediately and we made a plan. I called back and checked on her in an hour and then I checked on her in two hours. We were able to get her into the additional services to where she talks to someone every week or more. I just took a person that really just thought they had nobody and nobody would show up for them and show them you do. And you'll be amazed who is in your corner if you just simply say, I need a little help.

Lee's Summit has two dog parks, Happy Tails and Dogwood Park. Dogwood Park is more on the north side of town. It's off of Victoria Drive, right off of Douglas. And Happy Tails is down south, right off of Ranson Road, near where the water tower is. Dogwood Park up north has a walking trail, a puppy splash pad, and an activity area for dogs so that you can work out your dog and work on different techniques and tricks and a lot of open space too so you can just run around and play with your dog. Happy Tails down south has a walking trail, a lot of trees, and also has a puppy activity area but doesn't have a splash pad. So if you don't want your dog to get wet, I would recommend going to Happy Tails. Both parks have a paved walking trail that goes all around the outskirts of the park so that the owners can walk around while their puppies play. It's important to also note that we do not discriminate against any type of breed. However, no aggressive dogs are allowed in the dog park and all participants in the dog park must have a City of Lee's Summit animal license and be up to date on their shots. I would also note that there is a separate area in each park for large dogs and for small dogs. And the definition of a small dog is posted on the gate. So outside of our dog parks, the rest of our parks require your dog to be on a leash at all times. There's a city ordinance requiring that. So our dog parks are the only place that you can allow your dog to run around loose outside of your own yard. We provide the opportunity for people to play with their dogs off their leashes and have a chance for the dogs to socialize so they can run around free off the leash inside of a contained space. They're open year round from 5 a.m. until sunset, no later than 9 p.m. And they're open all weather. So you can come play in the snow, you can come play in the rain, but just be sure to have fun. To find more information about our dog parks, please visit lsparks.net or find us on social media.

Keeping 500 miles of public sewer lines flowing keeps utility costs low and our environment healthy. The Lee's Summit Water Utilities Operations Team does this every day. Sewer lines can be blocked with everything from roots to flushable wipes to food grease. When a potential blockage is identified, teams use detailed mapping to locate access points. My camera's at 18038. A camera truck parks at one end of the sewer line and a jet truck at the other. The camera truck carries a rover-type camera, which the team lowers into the manhole. The operator then drives the camera into the pipe, where it views and records from its adjustable lens. Here, it can identify the cause and precise location of the blockage. The jet truck will then use high pressure water to remove the blockage. Starting at the opposite end of the line, the operator inserts the jet head into the manhole. Pressurized water shoots out of the head, clearing out debris and propelling it forward. The camera observes this process, and the two operators communicate via walkie-talkie to coordinate movement.

Hold it right there. Go ahead and fire it up, half pressure. I'm in front of you.

Once the jet head has passed the blockage, the operator reels it back in. The camera can then inspect the pipe to see if the blockage is cleared.

Yeah, go ahead and pull out. We're done.

With the job complete, the camera is removed, cleaned, and returned to the truck, and the crew moves on to the next job. In addition to addressing identified problems, the team will systematically check every line in the city in a five-year period, keeping costs low and our community healthy, today and for years to come.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. you

Calling to order the Planning Commission meeting Thursday August 27th 2026 at 5 p.m. Can I get a roll call please Edward Earrington here Peyton Hatcher you're sorry

Thank you. Now can I get an approval of the agenda? Mr. Chairman, I'd like to approve the agenda as presented. Second.

Thank you. And I get about.

Edward during 10. Yes, Peyton Hatcher, yes, Molly patch. Yes, Dana art. Yes, Terry trapped in. Yes, chip doesn't ski.

Yes.

Tanya John afford. Yes, Lee more.

Yes. Okay, now we thank you for that. We are at the public comments section. This is the general public comments that aren't related to any public hearing that we may be having related to a specific item on the agenda. Do I have any general public hearing comments? Is this related to in general? Yes. Okay. Yeah, I have this for you, Helen. You want to come up forward? I have Helen Hattridge. If you could just state your name and address for the record, and then you do have three minutes to give us your comments. Thank you.

My name is Helen Hattridge. I live in Winterset Gardens. My comment has to do with the proposal that I've heard about a development at Longview and Pryor, and I will just tell you that most of my neighbors are very concerned, and I'm going to give you some reasons why. Um, I've heard 430 ish units, which is a lot. Um, as you all know, we're being part of the city. We've had a lot of work on prior and long view and I personally don't see how it can, even though it's new, how it can handle that kind of development at that corner. Most of us moved out to that part of town because we liked the country feel out there. Um, David Gale has been recognized nationally for keeping the land the way it was and not over-developing, which is another plus for that area. And I also understand that the developer who's supposed to do it built an area around Blackwell of small homes, and I'm fine, everybody needs to have a home, but that he is using it as rental property, so they are using it as rental property. So that is a concern. If this developer develops this area, are these homes people are gonna buy or is it gonna be a big rental area? So I'm just speaking for a large number of people in my neighborhood and those are my concerns. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Sattrich. It's good to see you. Okay, I know that that is a development that's in the development process with the city, and so I know it's not on an upcoming agenda that I know of yet.

Yeah, so that has not been scheduled for an upcoming agenda, but since that is a item that potentially could come before this board, I would recommend not having a discussion on that at this time.

Okay. Well, I wasn't planning on doing that other than just stating the awareness of the development and that it's in the process. And it will be here for a future comment at some point in time. And I'm sure there'll be lots of yellow signs publicly noticing that. So due to come. But thank you for the early warning. Okay, any other public comments in general? Anything? All right. That's not on the agenda? All right. Oh, sorry.

Did you have some?

Oh, okay. Okay. Now can I get an approval of the consent agenda?

Yeah, Mr. Chairman, I'd like to make an approval of the consent agenda. Second. Second.

Okay, can I get a vote on that? Thank you.

Edward Earrington?

Yes.

Peyton Hatcher?

Yes.

Molly Pash?

Yes. You're out of time, Commissioner Hash. Yes.

Dana Arth? Yes. Terry Trafton?

Yes.

Chip Tuszynski?

Yes.

Tanya Jonaford? Yes. Lee Moore?

Yes. Okay, thank you. All right, let's move forward to item six on the agenda, public hearing. So I will now close the regular meeting and open the public hearing in the matter of... The Continued Public Hearing Application PL2026-078, Preliminary Development Plan, Blackwell Convenience Store, 2661 Southeast Parkway, KDP Hospitality Applicant. Okay. Anybody that would be interested in speaking on behalf of this application, please stand and be sworn in by staff. Thank you very much. Does the applicant have a presentation? There you are.

Yes.

Hello, sir.

Good to see you guys and gals. Oh, that's not me.

And will you remind us of your name?

Yep. My name is Matt Smith. I am the civil engineer representing the project. My address is PO Box 108, Greenwood, Missouri.

Thank you, Mr. Smith. Oh.

Sorry. Can you hear me now?

Oh, wow.

Does it go higher? Matt Smith, address PO Box 108, Greenwood, Missouri. I'm the civil engineer representing the project. And since this is a continuance, I was kind of directed to keep it a little bit shorter, not go over all the details from before, but kind of touch on what we updated. And so you'll have me as a civil engineer and Benson after me as the architect. And just touching on the location one more time, it's near Blackwell and Highway 50. Existing conditions, it's wooded area. I added some pictures. This is looking north off of Highway 50. So you can kind of see how high the highway is compared to the site where the trees are. This is looking west off of Blackwell. And this is on Shenandoah from the north. And this is at the entrance. Here's our site plan. again reminding so parcels 1 & 2 our future the building on the north side of parcel 3 is also future so we're not looking at those today but I wanted everyone to kind of see them notable updates we removed parking in that southwest portion in order to add a trail that kind of wraps around the parking still meets all the parking requirements we also added the speaker box and canopy I know we had talked about that last time of adding it to the presentation And then, like I said before, we have a decomposed granite walking trail that will go around the outside of the site. And this will also extend into Parcels 1 and 2 in the future. One of the things that a lot of the neighbors and the community mentioned last time was they like to walk around this area. So we thought it would be a good idea to add kind of a bit of a nature kind of walking area around the outside of the station and sitting benches as well. Here's the gradient drainage. We added in the trail. We added a few cross sections. So cross section A is going east to west, left to right. So on the left side here, or west side, we're doing a little bit of fill. Sorry, cut. So the blue line is the proposed grade. So we'll be cutting a little bit on the west side of the site and filling a little bit on the east side. So it's cut and fill. It'll be pretty much balanced, so we won't be hauling in a lot of import or hauling out a lot of export to keep the traffic down and keep the site balanced. And looking back from cross-section B, as you can see, you're on the east side, so it looks like there's more fill, but that's just the side that's being filled. Utilities haven't really changed. Everything is pretty much the same there.

So I'll let Vincent take over for architecture Thanks Matt mm-hmm, I'm Vincent Foster Licensed architect in Missouri with architectural engineering consortium. My address is 7 1 3 Kalin Drive, Jefferson City, Missouri Let's see These are from the presentation last time Just explaining the materials and some of the design features. This is a more comprehensive look at how the canopy outlined with the changed elevations would look from an aerial view. with with the again that same materials similar materiality with the different color palette we At the advice of the the board here we changed to a more muted color palette instead of something from the Florida Beach town Let's see. Here's just another view from the the pump side of the of the structure you'll notice the more conventional flat roofs and also No, over here on this is the west side, or sorry, the east side of the building where the drive-thru is. Previously, this was stone, and it was also brought up that we may want to open up this side to meet the standards. We had requested a variance for this particular side, but when we looked at the floor plan, we decided that we could open this up quite a bit to add more welcomeness to that facade. And the materials here. These are elevations with some of the materials and colorings that match the 3D rendering we have. And so we did add some of the required bollards and canopies to cover the drive-through area that we have. and tried to tie in the canopy, which is a standard from that particular brand with the building, some with sort of like the stone wainscot particularly around the columns in the building. This is an example of some of the ancillary items that are with the project here. So with that, I'll just, I guess, turn it over. Should I close it out?

Okay, we're gonna look for mr. Soto's presentation update.

Thank you Good evening Hector Soto jr. Senior planner I'd like to enter into the record exhibit a list of exhibits 1 through 23 I list of exhibits one through twenty three entered into the record uh... so just a quick overview i know i don't want to just reiterate a lot of the testimony that was given previously but just Kind of big picture, bringing everyone back up to speed is just to where we are. Overall, we're looking at a parent tract that's just under 11 acres of tonight's hearing is just focused on the area that's outlined in this lime green. So this constitutes phase one, though the immediate plan is just to develop the convenience store gas station with an additional tenant space for a possible future drive-thru restaurant use. The building at the north end, the 5,000-square-foot commercial building at the north end, is just conceptual at this point. And any... Any approval of anything over and above the C-Store and the Gas Island canopy area is subject to future public hearing consideration by the Planning Commission City Council under a separate application. So Mr. Smith had given you an overview of the summary of plan revisions, and they can basically categorize into four areas. One was building design and color palette, fuel canopy design, reduction of parking spaces and additional pedestrian connectivity based on past comments provided by the Planning Commission and area residents. So the images I'll be showing you here the next couple slides are just going to show kind of a side-by-side as to what was previously proposed which is going to be outlined in red and then what is now presented before you which is going to be outlined in green. So initially there were two of options that were being thrown out there, one with the flat roof design, one with the shed roof, and one of the comments was that this body wanted the applicant to just focus down on one particular design to consider for the proposed building. The applicant has come back with more of a traditional flat building design, as has been referenced by the applicant. The materials that are being used are stone-based wainscoting, fiber cement, siding, and nichiha, and a substantial amount of storefront windows on both the front. And it's a double-sided building. building, so you see the two fronts on both of these two images, but you'll see from the renderings that some of the changes that were incorporated did wrap around some additional storefronts along the edge of the building. The images on the top are the east building facade. So the initial proposal had no fenestration on the east facade. One of the comments back was to provide additional interest, visual interest. Was there a way in which perhaps some clear story windows could be introduced into that design? to introduce some more natural light interior to the building, but again, also to dress up that side and to, again, break up some of those large wall planes. So the applicant has done that by providing these clear story windows. They're showing about six panels up top. The bottom image is the west building elevation where the future drive-through window could be located. What they did was relocate the window a little bit further toward the edge of the building and then wrap around some storefront over half that facade, again, to allow more natural light into the building and to provide more visual interest. The previous design, the previous application that was brought forth did not have any fuel canopy design. None had been settled upon yet. So as Mr. Foster had mentioned, the canopy that's now proposed and depicted here is more of a typical metal canopy, but they are incorporating some stone wainscoting at the bottom of each of the columns to tie into the overall design between the building that it serves and the canopy itself. Comment was made previously about the overabundance of parking on the site. Some areas that were one one area in particular that was noted was at the south. west corner of the site, there was a bank of 20 spaces there just to the immediate west of the fuel canopy station. So with the new design on the right, the entire bank of 20 spaces has been eliminated, and as has been mentioned, that area is now being taken up by a kind of more of a trail, kind of a leg of one of the trails that's proposed to circle the proposed lot one area. even with the reduction of 20 spaces, overall, they still have about 11 more spaces than what is required. So losing those spaces still kept them in compliance with the UDO. There was some question about additional improvements to area connectivity, given that this area is frequented, just based on anecdotal testimony from area residents, that this area is frequented a lot by pedestrians. And there was some question as to what facilities would be provided to help draw in pedestrians from the periphery of the site into the area for those that are looking to patronize that business. At that time, there was initially here and also in Lyme, there was along the side of the J Road, there will be a private sidewalk that will provide a connection from Shenandoah on the north, wrapping around through the spine of the site and then connecting to the roundabout on the northwest corner of the site. In orange here is the trail that Mr. Smith had referenced. The image here on the lower left is an image that was presented last time that shows what other existing pedestrian and bike facilities already exist in the area. The magenta lines depict the existing street sidewalk network along the street, along Blue Parkway, Shenandoah, it's Blue Parkway along the north, and then Blackwell to the north and to the south on the east side of the site. The teal color represents a designated bike route through the area as well. There were some also questions that were brought up as to how this proposed development ties into some of the identified design principles recommended by the IGNITE comprehensive plan. What was specifically called out was how they lined up with some of the design principles for strip malls. This isn't quite an apples to apples case in that the example here given in the IGNITE comprehensive plan is for more of your monolithic linear structure. that is a strip mall. And some of these examples that are references here refer to infill and redevelopment opportunities for existing strip malls. But nonetheless, I can touch on how some of these principles here that are given as guidance tie into the existing plan. So in terms of service road and loading access, the comprehensive plan calls for strip centers to have more of a consolidated location for these service and loading areas. Again, this one is kind of more of a clustered, scattered development as opposed to a linear monolithic structure. So depending on the ultimate users of these medical and commercial retail buildings, it isn't really going to be possible to have one centralized location for service loading for each of the individual clusters. But focusing a little bit more on the C-Store, previous testimony from the applicant had indicated that this more, the outer east lane would likely be the location that would be used for being able to load into and out of the proposed building. The comp plan makes a point of of providing a significant amount of landscaping along the periphery of the site, along the streetways. along the street frontages to better define those areas and provide a more inviting environment for area residents. The applicant has submitted a landscape plan, a preliminary landscape plan, and based on the information provided to this point, all that they propose is consistent with compliance with the UDO for meeting the minimum requirements for street trees and parking lot screening and for street shrubs. Open space, the UD or the IGNITE Comprehensive Plan encourages the location of buildings or configuration of a site to better identify and to create more clear separations between areas devoted toward open space and the development itself. Again, this is a little bit more, overall the vision is for a little bit more of a clustered development. Buildings on the subject site one are already in a way that do allow for some use of the outer periphery along the north, south, and east side for more of a passive recreational area to provide that trail connection from the surrounding street network internal to the site. I TOUCHED PREVIOUSLY A LITTLE BIT ON SOME OF THE TRANSITIONS AND PEDESTRIAN ACCESS POINTS THAT THE UNITE COMPRESSIVE PLAN ENCOURAGES HERE BY HIGHLIGHTING THE TRAIL, THE J ROAD SIDEWALK AND HOW THAT TIES INTO SURROUNDING PEDESTRIAN AND BIKE INFRASTRUCTURE. Given all those changes, staff continues to be supportive of the application, subject conditions one through four. The only change to the conditions that are in front of you are just that the references to the plan dates for the preliminary development plan and the architectural renderings have been updated to reflect the most recent submittal. Beyond that, staff is here and prepared to answer any questions you may have and yield back to you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Soto. Before we go to questions for Commission, I just want to remind everybody that, you know, really we need to be focused on the preliminary development plan changes that have happened because everything that we had in two hours of conversation previous to this is already in the record and move forward with this application in any manner that it gets moved forward in or not. With that, I will open the floor for questions from commissioners, for staff or the applicant. Mr. Yarrington?

Yes, Mrs. Soto. I know you just referenced the pedestrian crossing. I didn't know if there was any pedestrian crossing going over from Shenandoah Drive from the north. I didn't know if we have any talks with... crossing Shenandoah. Since pedestrian crossing, you guys referenced that. I was just wondering if they had pedestrian crossing going from the site over Shenandoah.

So all of the crossings would occur at existing, I can highlight this a little bit better.

Oh, I see some there over at this circle.

Yeah. Yeah, so any crossing that's going to occur, well, that should occur if everyone's following appropriate, following the appropriate pedestrian paths is we have existing crossings here, a little bit outlined in gray here. I see that. You see them, so there are connections across the roundabout. Perfect. Both roundabouts on all four sides.

Okay. Thank you. Let me see. This might be for the developer. I know you spoke of the trash enclosure, and that has the same facade as the columns as well.

Yes, it will. It will.

Yeah, okay. No, I like the columns and how they look, so that's all I have. Thank you.

No questions.

All right. Any questions on this side? Mr. No. Commissioner Jana Ford.

Thank you, Chair. This would be questions for the architect, please. Well, I do appreciate the updates, and it's very fun to see the progress, so I appreciate that. But a couple questions about signage. So we have the canopy up here. Is there any intent to have the traditional gas price signage anywhere on here, or is it going to be like an entry pillar that calls out the restaurant and the C-store, or how is that being treated?

You mean to, like, draw people into the site overall?

Yeah, but also, generally, gas stations tend to have a monument sign that says, like, I don't know, Sinclair, Conoco, and then the gas pricing, and then if it's attached to a building, it says McDonald's or something like that.

Yeah, the pricing signage is not incorporated into this design at this time. Any signage for the actual brands that would be for the store would be on the building itself or on the canopy and, like, the corner. On the along the edge of the canopy so like a small sign for like like route 66 or what have you So as you're coming down parcel three on this on the north side There's not gonna be any signage there There's not any intended right now Okay

So considering this is a gas station, I see on the photometric plan that there's light fixtures along the perimeter, but there's none in the parking island. Was that studied because there isn't any need for any on those islands for safety? Or should there, like, am I not reading the photometric plan correctly?

Sorry, I'm trying to find it.

It's in our presentation. If you want to pull up our presentation, it's in there.

Oh, it's in there? Yeah. Oh, okay.

Second, yep. Sorry.

Sorry, can you repeat your question now that I have it up?

Yeah, you're fine. So the parking islands on this parcel three that you have, I see that there's light fixtures along the perimeter and then obviously underneath the canopy. Is there – I'm trying to ask the question without making it sound like a leading question, but essentially it's – is there enough lighting to not have any specific lighting posts on the islands itself?

Yeah, correct. The lighting intensity and height of the fixtures is such that it creates enough lighting to cover the parking areas as well. Okay. Yep.

And that captures the future development on the north of Parcel 3 as well, correct?

Yes.

Okay. Sorry to make you flip back. Oh, that's okay. I missed a question. It's about the canopies. Yeah. Yeah, that one's fine Is there going to be any islands between each of the gas fuel stations or is it going to be open like that? I'm not sure you mean are they I guess can a car drive between the bollards within each Bay and

Like, oh, so something in this area here where, like, my cursor is here?

Yeah.

Yeah, I would imagine something like trash cans or some kind of windshield cleaning items here that are non-permanent that would be placed by the developer after construction, yeah.

So in this view, there would be some kind of concrete buffer So no one could drive between. They could only drive on the north and south side of the canopies?

I see what you're saying. Yes, yes.

Okay.

Yes.

And then last question, drainage. Is this intended to drain underground? I don't see any. It's a flat roof, so I assume it's going to drain out, and it's not going to drain to hard surface, right?

Yeah, the system in place would be down through the columns or along the columns and then into an underground system to be carried away.

Thank you. That's all, Chair.

Thank you.

additional questions Thank My question is for the applicant related to the trash enclosure. I thought Commissioner Jennifer would get this but My question is I noticed in the first version it's it's it stays where it was and I was just curious about why that wasn't shifted down. So there'd be more direct access from you guys moved, got rid of the parking stalls. And so it just makes it like a line, but there's a kind of like a variation of a turn or something that the, to collect the trash would have to happen. Do you see what I'm talking about there, sir?

Yeah. So you mean slide it West?

Yeah. Towards the corner. Like, you know, see what follows the curbing or whatever.

Yeah.

I was just curious why you left it there versus sliding it over so it makes it easier for the trash to be collected.

Yeah, I mean, I see your point. We could definitely slide it over. I don't think we necessarily... So it wouldn't interfere with the gas pumps? I mean, it absolutely could. I mean, I was just curious. Yeah. That's all.

Okay. I think that was my questions. Thank you. All right. if there's anyone who wishes to speak on behalf or and make any comments related to this application um we'll let you come up and do that we want to make sure i know there's some people that came in that weren't sworn in the other thing i just want to remind you and i thank you so much for coming citizens and residents of this area for one to voice your your opinions um But just remember, we have all the testimony from the first hearing as well. And so just keeping your comments related to how you overall design and plan for this application as it's been amended would be helpful. So do I have somebody that wants to speak? I thought I had some people. Come on. There we go. So if you would come to the microphone and state your name and address for the record, and then we will give you three minutes. Thank you.

Good evening. My name is Tressa Wright. You were sworn in, weren't you? Yes, sir.

I thought I remembered you swearing in.

Yeah. Okay. Tressa Wright, 2541 Southeast Winchester Drive.

Thank you, Ms. Wright.

I'm here tonight in opposition to the Blackwell convenience store. We've heard this site described as a gateway to Lee's Summit. If that is true, then I believe the question before you is simple, and that is, what should the gateway to our community say about us? Residents have consistently raised concerns about traffic, pedestrian safety, noise, lighting, neighborhood compatibility, and quality of life. Many of those concerns still to me seem unresolved. Residents continue to ask how families, walkers, cyclists, and children will safely coexist in the additional traffic this development is expected to generate. A gateway is more than an entrance. It is a statement about who we are as a community. Tonight, the council is being asked to decide whether this gas station convenience store and a drive-thru restaurant is a statement Lee Summit wants to make at this location. What we've heard throughout this project is not opposition to growth. Residents are not asking you to stop development. They're asking you whether this proposal represents the best possible vision for one of the most visible entrances to our city. They're asking you whether it reflects thoughtful planning, protects surrounding neighborhoods, and enhances the character of our community here in the summit. As council members, your responsibility is not simply to determine whether something can be built here, but should it be built here? When future residents, businesses, and visitors enter Lee Summit through this gateway, what is the first impression we want them to have? A site this important should reflect our very best community. Tonight, I respectfully ask that you deny this application and send a clear message that growth in Lee Summit should enhance our community, protect our neighborhoods, and reflect a higher vision for this gateway location. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Thank you, Ms. Wright. Do we have other comments? Come on, sir. If you'd come up to the microphone, state your name and address.

My name is Scott Valentine. I live at 2613 Southeast Winchester. I believe my home is actually the closest, about 180 feet from the convenience store. And I think, you know, you don't want to relitigate some of the things that have been said, but as you know, many people are saying the same thing. And the main concern is, you know, first of all, the safety. I walk every morning. There's a lot of people all ages that walk along there. It's a residential area, that's what it is. That's what everybody bought into. I'm not against commercial development, but this is a convenience store. This is not a library, a church, or a medical facility. And that's a big concern just for the residential to merge and integrate with our neighborhood. Secondly, the traffic patterns. Now, I'm sure there's been a lot of studies on the traffic, but those roundabouts, two of them together, every morning when I walk, they're stacked by four right now. That doesn't include the Blackwell community, apartment community that's right around the corner that's going to have at least 800 residents. No wonder they want to put a convenience store there. I understand. But is it the right place for it? Number one. Number two, I've never seen a convenience store setting on two roundabouts like that. It does not make it easy to enter, to leave. The actual area to go into the back is right behind my house. So we're going to have trucks going back and forth. There's going to be noise. So, yeah, I definitely object to this. I don't think it's a good place, not just for my own home. You can certainly look through my eyes that I live there. I don't want my house to depreciate. I don't want noise. I want the neighborhood to be a residential neighborhood. But I also think, as someone else said here, it is actually right off the highway into that area. And it's the worst place in the world to create noise, to create all these different interactions with cars that are going to be turning different ways. It's not like a residential area where people have regular traffic flow, and then it slows down during the day. There's a lot of things that are going to happen differently with that commercial property there, convenience store, restaurant, drive-thru, than what would happen with any other type of business. So that's all I have to say. I think you should consider it. I think it is not just for my house, but for the neighborhood it should be considered. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Valentine. Yes, sir. State your name and address for the record.

My name is Eric Wishrup. My address is 2609 Southeast Winchester Drive, and I live next door to Scott, the gentleman that spoke before me. A little background. My background is in construction, so these gentlemen are, my type of customers. So I'm not against development. That's how I make my living. I am opposed to this development as it is currently planned, primarily for a few reasons. Number one, the traffic pattern that Scott mentioned, it's a 3,000-foot drive to get from the highway around the two roundabouts and to come into this convenience store. If I'm going to the Lake of the Ozarks on the weekend or coming back from the Lake of the Ozarks, I'm going on a foot trip that's three miles to the east. The other gas station is two miles to the east. The other quick trip is three miles to the west. I'm sorry. There's two gas stations, two miles and three miles to the west. There's literally five or six gas stations within three miles of this current site. So my house is next to Scott's. I am concerned about traffic coming in and going around the roundabout, going to the second roundabout, and then having to come past my house a second time. I mean, why is the design rooting all of the traffic past our houses? Can we figure out a way to make the traffic more convenient for the users that want to use a gas station, make it more convenient for them, and get some of the traffic away from our homes. Some of my other concerns, and I'm all for development. I mean, I've moved in there and I thought, great, this is fair ground, really nice, but I didn't expect that to last. So I'm a very reasonable person. I'm concerned about the trees. They help with the traffic noise from 50 Highway. So if there's any way to leave some of those behind or leave a buffer or put something in to act as a buffer, removing those trees is going to cause our noise to increase quite a bit. I'm concerned about the proximity of the gas stations. I'm concerned about the sight lines on Shenandoah coming around that corner into that entrance. If we have traffic backed up and you've got, we have people that fly down that road and there's literally people already that do donuts around those roundabouts at 3 in the morning or 2 in the morning and just I'm concerned that we'll have an accident with people trying to turn right into that and someone's going to hit them because they can't see very well. So I'm concerned about sight lines. I'm concerned about truck traffic trying to make that corner that has east and westbound in a very narrow lane divided. There's no way a truck can swing right, so I suppose you're going to force them all to go in this west entrance, but I don't know if that's the case. I'm concerned about that. Is there going to be no truck zones to keep them from driving on that portion of that and force them to come in from Blue Parkway? There was a note about the fast food speaker being directed away from homes. It seems like that's not the case based on the alignment of the building. Pretty minor concern. And then there's tons of wildlife on those trees, and some of that is probably protected species. So I don't know if that's been considered at all. And that's my time. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr. Wishman. Do we have anybody else? Okay, yeah. Come on up.

My name is Sherry Caldwell. I live at 649 Southeast Canterbury Lane, and my house backs right up to Blackwell. There's zero sound barriers. I've lived in my house for 30 years, so I had to go through when they built all this to begin with, and now I'm having to deal with them putting a convenience store in. I can tell you what time it is from when the traffic starts every day. because there's zero sound barriers. The congestion is ridiculous when they built those apartments. Now there's another roundabout that's put over there. We get trucks from the quarry that comes through barreling through those roundabouts as it is. The congestion and the traffic is gonna be ridiculous when this convenience store gets put in. The crime's going to go up, unfortunately. I'm a widow. I live by myself. I've had to put security cameras in my home now because of the condensed traffic and congestion and the influx of people. That's what I'm concerned with. We all want peace in our homes, and With that many gas stations that are right around us, we just don't need another one. I know it needs to be done, but if you've never been out there, that area is not that big of an area to put everything in that they're wanting to put in. It's going to be crammed together. I mean, I can tell you, my kids used to play over there. They told me exactly how big that area is. So that was my biggest thing, is the noise, the congestion, and the crime that's going to go up. So thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Caldwell. Did I see another hand, somebody? Yeah, there we go.

Hi, my name is Carrie Forbes, and I live at 650 Southeast Canterbury Lane. So I'm that first road, the street right up from the roundabout is where I live, a few houses up. So from my kitchen window, I'll see the lights from this convenience store all night long. I guess I have a couple questions is why they thought this needed to be here when there is truly right now five gas stations within less than five minutes away, soon to be six with the Costco coming in right down the street, and why one of the biggest gas stations in Lee's Summit, there are very few that have 20 gas pumps right that abuts right against residential neighborhood, which I love your pictures that you did for the presentation, but it only shows the woods from here down. They say it's a wooded area. Everything up there, everything there, everything there is all residential, and people only walk normally on the northern side of Shenandoah, and they're not going to walk around the gas station. I appreciate the thought on that. Anyway, the other thing what everybody was talking about was the safety. There is so much traffic around the roundabouts. During the day, there's two different schools with their school buses. Right down on Blackwell is a fire department, and so all day long, there's fire trucks coming down, there's ambulances coming down, and I am now retired, so I hear it all day long. So you've got all of that in the mix, so I just wanted people to be aware of that as well. and I guess I was wondering why this is needed, because we're right on the edge of Lee Summit. There's not a lot of development other than that one apartment complex, and the James A. Reid Wildlife is across the highway, so I don't foresee why this is needed at this particular place so close to residential. I don't think anybody's upset about the medical offices and all that kind of thing, because that's Monday through Friday, nine to five. It's not a 24-hour CONVENIENT STORE AND I GUESS MY QUESTION TO LEAD WITH YOU IS LIKE WOULD YOU WANT YOUR MOM OR YOUR FAMILY TO LIVE THAT CLOSE TO THIS BIG OF A PROJECT, THAT CLOSE TO WHERE PEOPLE ARE LIVING AND WALKING AND KIDS ARE RIDING THEIR BIKE AND WALKING THEIR DOGS. THAT'S ALL I HAVE TO SAY. THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME.

THANK YOU, MS. FORBES. ANY OTHER COMMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC? I DIDN'T KNOW. All right. Okay. Thank you for those comments. We appreciate it. I don't, I'm trying to think if there are some new questions. I didn't know if we had any additional questions from any of the commissioners based on the public testimony or anything. No, no, no, no, no. Okay. Just to refresh our memory. Mr. Chairman. Oh, sorry, did I miss you?

No, no, I just thought of something real quick. I think just to answer one of the questions from one of the people from the community that came in, entrance into this development will be through the roundabout down at the end because that entrance right there next to the Shenandoah, right across the Shenandoah text, that's only, there's a median there. So the entrance is only going to be through the roundabout. I just wanted to make sure that people didn't think that there'd be people making lefts coming out of that roundabout into there.

Okay. I did have a question to the applicant related to the lady's question around hours of service. Is it a 24? Is it a 24 hour? It is a 24 hour service. Gas station. Hi. Can you state your name and address?

3501 West Broadway Boulevard, Sedalia, Missouri.

Thank you.

What was your question?

The hours of operation.

Yeah, it will be 24 hours.

24 hours it is?

Yeah. As of now, that's what's planned, but it can change.

Okay.

That's what we're planning right now.

So is there any thought, I mean, I'm guessing you run other gas stations in other parts of communities?

Other parts of communities?

Do you run other gas stations?

We have the experience.

Yeah, I thought you did. So are those 24 hours?

The pumps can be 24 hours, convenience store can vary, the store inside.

Okay. All right. Thank you for that. I guess, I don't know if you can answer this question or if it would be your architect, but I guess my question was related to the number of pumps that you're choosing to put in there. It did seem like a lot when I looked at it as well. I was just curious. Because there's 20.

It's 10 pumps, but on either side. Both sides? Yeah. But it's five columns and two on each, two, two, two, two, and then either side.

Yeah, is that what your other, is that what your model looks for?

Yes, that's what it is for now, yeah.

Okay. Because I know in other gas stations that they're repurposing in the community, they've actually shrunk the number of stations that they're putting in just, I guess, for efficiency. I'm not really sure. But, okay. That was that question. Thank you.

You're welcome.

City, Mr. Soto, did he disappear?

Oh, here he is. I thought you ran off. He hid further around the door. On the hours of operation for a business, I mean, there's really, like, is that something that the, I mean, we have lots of other 24-hour gas stations in the city, so can you just explain the UDO ordinance or related to that? I mean, people apply for a business license, correct, and

That is correct. There are no land use restrictions tying the operations, limiting operation hours for drive-thru restaurants or for gas stations in the ordinance under the UDO.

Okay. That was my question. Thank you. All right. I think that we There was a traffic study that was done related to this project. We have no control over the way the construction of those traffic circles. I mean, that was all MoDOT, wasn't it?

Susan Berry, City Traffic Engineer. Yeah, when this interchange was built, this was all studied. The whole area was studied, and someone came up. It was before my time here, but Somebody came up with what they thought the land uses might be and analyzed it and put in all those roundabouts, including the one at Shenandoah and Blue. That was all part of the same construction project. So all of this is under the maintenance of MoDOT, with the exception of the Blue Parkway and Shenandoah roundabout is our maintenance. But anything over on Blackwell is tied to the interchange and is under their jurisdiction.

Yeah, okay. I just I mean I thought that was the case. I just wanted to make sure that was clear that We don't have any the city of Lee summit does not have any control over those roundabouts. That's all Moe dot They did go a little you know traffic circle Fun but it is very interesting you kind of get dizzy driving through that area, but I

Early on in this project, MoDOT was contacted about the access points, and, I mean, they verified we could not have an access point on Blackwell between the ramp and the roundabout.

Okay. All right. Thank you.

I'm curious.

Chair, you can answer that, but I'd encourage the...

Sorry. Why can we not have an access point on Blackwell?

I mean, if you want a convenience store, make it convenient.

Because I think it's not the time to have a conversation with the galley.

So if you want to ask the question to staff, I mean, basically, my understanding is that Modoc controls access to that. That's correct.

Those two intersections are very close together. And so they, you know. It's inefficient to put an access point right there. You'd need turn lanes, and that would back up into the roundabouts, and it's just not advisable to have access points that close to a roundabout.

Right. I mean, that's why they have the medians in there and the roundabouts positioned where they are. It was all studied, and that's why they do it like that. Yes. And they won't allow for access. Correct. Correct.

We did have that discussion. All right.

Thank you. Okay, we have also, I believe, part of this application, we have, Mr. Soto, there you are. We also have the noise and lighting part of this application that was studied, correct?

The photometric plan has been provided and it is in compliance with the UDO, yes. As it relates to, I guess were you asking if there was a noise study, is that what you're asking or?

Yeah, I know that sometimes we look at, for these applications, I know we know the sound drop-off of the distance to certain residences, and I think the gentleman said it was 110 feet or so from the... So I was just curious. There was a concern about noise.

There was not a noise study done with this application. Our ordinance does not require that one be produced. Historically, the times that we have asked for noise studies or just additional information on those have been tied most recently toward certain components, certain aspects of uses like car washes that have exterior vacuum stations, especially when they're particularly close to residential areas where there's been concern that the noise generated from the vacuum stations may negatively impact adjacent residences. Yeah, like a The decibel level above 90 or something like that. Correct. In this case, there was no car wash or no any kind of exterior detailing stations or anything like that.

I mean, I did have a chance to drive by the location. I did notice it kind of is up on a hill. And so when you're on a hill typically and you have businesses operating, sound does seem to travel off the hill. And I just... I MEAN, I CAN SEE IT. I DON'T KNOW THAT WE NEED TO DO A STUDY, BUT, YOU KNOW, WE KNOW BASED ON, YOU KNOW, OTHER STUDIES WHAT THAT, YOU KNOW, AND SO TYPICALLY I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT A DECIBLE LEVEL, MAYBE THE APPLICANT KNOWS DECIBLE LEVELS FOR SPEAKERS, OUTDOOR SPEAKERS. I KNOW WE DID TALK ABOUT THIS WITH THE COLVERS OVER ON THE OTHER SIDE OF

50 highway on 50 and the south side because the residents were concerned about the speaker being so close to there I mean is actually closer to there I don't have any personal knowledge or expertise on what the decibel level on those on on these would be I don't know if the applicant or one of their engineers does

Well, maybe it's information you could have, you know, regardless of what happens here tonight. Okay, all right. Thank you, Mr. Soto, I appreciate it. Is there any other, does the applicant want to respond to anything that has been brought up, make a comment about anything that has been brought up since? Okay.

Oh, there you go, sir. Well, I just wanted to touch on, I know someone had mentioned the traffic on Blackwell. We did try very hard with MoDOT multiple times, spoke to multiple people to have an entrance from Blackwell right as you pull past that first kind of off the freeway there. So it was not our first choice to go around, so we didn't design it that way to begin with. We wanted to enter on the east side as well. Okay. And then, like, you know, everything has been studied. Everything meets the level of service that is required. So just wanted to touch on that.

Okay, great.

Thank you, Mr. Smith. All right. Hearing no further testimony, I'm going to close the public hearing and reopen the regular meeting. This is where commission can have a discussion on this application. Any commissioners have any comments? Commissioner Hatcher. Thank you, Chair.

I would just like to say to the applicant team, thank you for all of the changes that you made. I think that's a great example of how the process should work generally, that you took all of the feedback for the most part. Unfortunately for me personally, as I said when I voted against continuing it, we were not able to change the use or traffic patterns, which was my personal issue with it. And I just unfortunately don't believe this to be a good spot for a high traffic C-Store as well as drive-thru restaurants. Primarily due to the roundabouts and overall traffic impact there. So I I do appreciate the design changes I I think it looks a lot better to be honest, but unfortunately that it was kind of To an extent a non-starter for me with with the traffic piece of it.

So, thank you Thank You Commissioner any other comments down over here Commissioner emeritus arts Chair Emeritus.

I just want to say to the applicant, for starters, I do appreciate the muted colors, the trails, and the lowering of the number of parking spots. As I said in the last hearing, I still am not in support... I didn't change my mind. I'm not in support of the project for two reasons. I do not like that traffic flow. I think it goes too far in toward the residential properties. And I just don't think it's a good fit for the character of this area. And so I will not be supporting it. But I do appreciate the fact that you listened and made those changes.

Thank you.

Go ahead, Commissioner.

Thank you. Really appreciate the applicant's update. It looks great. I appreciate the addition of the walking trail as well. That's going to be a nice touch. And I would be in support of your application moving forward.

Thank you. Comments over here on this side of the galley? Commissioner Janiford.

Thank you, Chair. I will echo. I do really appreciate the receptiveness of all the comments we made and kind of talking through the process of even going further by adding the trail and such. But unfortunately, I do not believe this is the highest and best use of this spot or land. I actually used to live off of Joel Avenue, which is two streets over. And I grew up learning and experiencing the extreme traffic growth. So I think this is a very good site for something That could be beneficial as a gateway and for the residents to enjoy without fear of security. That could lend itself to a more restricted access that this site gives. And I'm going to follow up with a positive sandwich. I do want to set everyone up for success, regardless of my thought on this application. But I do highly recommend that you kind of button up and finesse a little bit of the renderings and the plans. City Council is probably going to recognize the islands missing at the canopy. Things like that that you know they're going to ask, I think you should present anyhow. And then the last bit is just ensure that the renderings that you have provided include the plan elements. You've got little island bookends on the south side of the convenience store. I think it should be represented as well in the renderings. Other than that, thank you for your time and being receptive. Appreciate it. Thank you, Chair.

Thank you commissioner commissioner to since King close you got it.

Thank you, thank you to the applicant for listening and hearing what we said I would love to see those stone columns go all the way to the top that's You know, beauty and architecture is in the eye of the beholder. I can't control that. But you listened to us and you did make some changes. Thank you to the residents for coming out and speaking your piece. I love seeing residents come to give us their input. As a future person that's going to be living off of Blackwell I'm really looking forward to seeing what's going to be developed here. It is a gateway to our city And so it's important to make sure we make the right choices here one thing and I'm gonna lean on our wonderful city traffic engineer Susan Barry is one thing I like about roundabouts and I understand that They're inconvenient to drive, but they're inconvenient to drive on purpose because they're meant to slow everyone down. Now, people don't listen, and people don't follow the laws and drive speed limit. I'm including one. I do it myself. But if we drove the... Look at that. See, I got three minutes, too. No, just kidding. I'm going to start right now. If we drove the proper speeds... the roundabouts would work the roundabouts handle a lot of traffic. I'm not as concerned about this area as the traffic because as a civil engineer myself and this is part of what I do this is something I know so that's one one piece of it, but just understand it's it's very safe and they're much safer than than intersections with traffic signals or stop control so it's my 2 cents and I would make my decision here shortly. Thank you, Sherman.

You know, my struggle here is that this is a zoned commercial to planned community commercial area. The owner of the property is planning to put commercial there. A gas station next to a highway is where they are throughout our community. And so those are my struggles because when we look at zoning and we look at what the plan we set for this area, I mean there's going to be commercial here. So it's zone commercial unless somebody comes along and wants to, you know, the other options would be high density residential. But right now it's zone commercial. It could put any, but it's really up to the land owner to follow the guidelines. I do appreciate all the efforts you did to make this much more presentable to the community. I think it is much nicer than many gas stations, some that we have in this community. Do I really like where this is? Probably not because of the roundabouts, I agree. But I also know that having it somewhere else would be ideal. But that's not what's before us. So we have to make a decision on what's before us. And so with that, you know, I feel that I'm supporting this application to move it forward. So are there any other comments related to this? I think everyone else has had a chance to comment.

Chair, if I may, just respectfully, I'd Completely agree as far as like the zoning and everything and looking at it purely on a map on geography I would generally tend to agree I shared many though not all of the neighbors concerns over the location but I do believe because of the roundabouts and the fact that we can't get access to Blackwell I think the micro components of it in my opinion outweigh that yeah that it would be detrimental and honestly, I I think to the point of inconveniencing the convenience store that they won't generate as much traffic as possibly could expect purely based on where it's at on the map with the highway proximity. So generally I agree. I just, I do feel like the micro components of this traffic situation outweigh that personally.

Chair, could I respond to the traffic comment?

Are you done, Commissioner Hatcher? Yes, thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you. Go ahead, Commissioner Pesch.

Okay, thank you. I'm a fellow civil engineer as well, and I have not designed as many roads as my other commissioner, but I have designed one or two, and I know enough about how coordination with MoDOT goes and the process, and I'm sure the engineer did the best they could for this, and This sometimes is how it goes with traffic circles. They are safer. It's just everyone needs to learn how to use them a little better.

Thank you, Commissioner Bass.

One other thing, you know, and I would love to have Shannon tell me I'm wrong, but it's really not the commission's place to tell a property owner if their business is going to succeed or not. That's their decision. You know, if someone wants to put something there that's not going to attract people, that's their decision to make, their money to spend. And so as we look at these developments that come before us, we need to take them on the merit of what's before us. And if they want to put it there, it's their money, they can do it. So I think that's just something for us to think about. And Shannon, tell me if I'm wrong on that.

You are correct. That would get into business practices, and that's not something within the purview of the Planning Commission.

Okay there any other commissioner comments hearing no other.

One follow-up yeah to visit is his point. Our role here in the planning Commission is to make sure that we support the comprehensive plan on the strategic plan and the city feels comfortable recommending approval there in compliance with landscaping plan comprehensive plan and we are frustrated with traffic within the area and like on the The chair has said that we or Chip has said that we do not control who comes in and applies to put commercial in these spots. Right. As long as we are in compliance with the comprehensive plan is what I'm concerned about seeing in a planning commissioner chair. And so we just recommend approval or disapproval or do not recommend whatever we vote on. to the City Council. So some of the comments that were made not wanting it here would be valuable to the City Council. We have a certain purview within our position here and to recommend that they fit all the requirements needed to move forward or not. And then it will be up to City Council to approve or disapprove the project.

Okay, thank you Commissioner Yarrington. For one final remark, Commissioner Parth.

I would just say part of the comprehensive plan is to look at how it fits into the surrounding neighborhood and that's where I'm coming from with that and looking at all the other commercial properties and it's valid for us to be able to look at that at the planning commission because that is part of the plan we're considering.

Thank you, Commissioner. So, yeah, regardless of what happens here tonight, I did appreciate the promotion that we got earlier. But we are, you know, the ultimate decision lies with City Council. We make a recommendation or not as to the purview. And thank you, Mr. Yarrington, for the clarification there. you know yes there's still another opportunity to comment on whatever happens here tonight it sounds like we're split so I'm not really sure what the outcome is going to be but I will entertain a motion chair I move to

To recommend denial of PL 2026-078 Preliminary Development Plan Blackwell Convenience Store 2661 Southeast Blue Parkway KDP Hospitality LLC applicant.

Chair, for clarification and ease of understanding on the vote, we tend to recommend in the positive. That way you know when you make a negative vote you are voting against a project. So in this recommendation, since it's a recommendation for denial, a vote of yes is actually a vote of no for the project, if that makes sense.

Yeah, it just makes it a little confusing for us.

It makes it very confusing for the commission. It makes it confusing for the public as a whole. So just because someone makes a recommendation for approval does not mean they have to vote in the affirmative for it. Okay.

But there's a bigger hurdle at City Council if there's a denial.

If we can just, is there a second on the motion?

Second.

There's a second on the motion. So what that means is if you're voting for the motion of denial, which is a yes, you would be voting for denying the application. And if you would vote no on this motion, it would be to not, it's a double negative, right? So you're not voting in support of denying it.

Whether it goes before council as approval or denial has no impact on how they view it. So if it's going to be clearer, and my recommendation would be to do a vote for approval. If you don't approve it, say no. That's how it's written in our rules.

I can put a motion in. Okay, so I have a motion and a second on the floor though.

The seconder could retract the second and then we can start over.

Chair, I retract my second.

Okay, so then the motion is not seconded and then the floor fails for vote. So could I get a new motion?

Chair, I recommend approval for application PL 2026-078 Preliminary Development Plan Blackwell Convenience Store 2661 Southeast Blue Parkway KDP hospitality LLC applicants second All right.

I have a motion and a second for approval in the application. Can I get a vote?

Edward Earrington, yes Peyton Hatcher no Molly Pesh. Yes Dana areth. No Terry Trafton. Yes Chip to Zinsky.

Yes

Tonya John afford now. We more no.

I think the time that is a 4, 4, vote so the motion or the application will move forward without a recommendation.

So was that on record.

Yes, it was a 4, 4, tie the 4, 4, ties so it'll move forward without a recommendation to city council.

So okay, thank you very much. Right we are down to roundtable Any roundtable comments from our commissioners Or city staff I have a commissioner Jana Ford, thank you I guess When we have these applications traffic sound comes out a lot and I

Even myself, I have a hard time understanding decibels and the levels and what they could imply. Is it worth enticing or asking for an acoustical engineer to be present at some of these applications based on the application itself? to help us understand and walk us through the impacts?

Potentially, but we would need to set some perimeters because every use is going to create some type of sound. So as Hector had stated, typically those louder sound producing, the vacuums, the equipment for the car washes, yes, we'll go with that. If you look at, like, a speaker box, that's anywhere from 65 on the low end, maybe 75 decibels on the higher end, over 450 feet, which is about how far it's back from that property line. That's going to drop down to about 45 decibels, and this is all based on, you know, quick Google searching and doing some numbers there. That 45 decibels is about a low whisper. So if we do have a use that's being proposed that does have a louder sound generator than a typical use, yeah, that's something we would definitely look into. This type of use, it's a commercial use, it's standard, typical across the community, so it's not something that we typically have asked for in the past, but potentially we could.

Yeah, I'm just thinking because not necessarily specific to this application, but just a lot of applications tend to have some noise hesitation. And so I think it's valid based on the application and the use of it. So I just want to say it. So maybe it's something that could be incorporated when we get those meatier applications that has a higher sound implication, if that makes sense. That's all. Thanks.

Thank you. Anything else? Commissioner Jana Ford. Oh, you don't want to give an update on your progress?

Yeah, okay. It's been a week, let me tell you. We had our first bylaw review last week. I thought it was a really good discussion. We went through sections one through three. Articles one and two. It's been a week.

It has been a week. And it was number one on my update list.

Oh, you know what? You can take it over, Shannon.

You are the chair. I will let you take lead.

All right. It was very fruitful. It was interesting to kind of deep dive into the different bylaws and kind of update them to make them less ambiguous, outdated, and give us a little bit more flexibility so we can evolve as a commission. I believe Shannon sent out a second invite for the 24th. Happens to be my daughter's birthday, you know, in case you want to move it. So we're probably going to go through articles three, four, and five.

We're going to push through as many articles as we can.

I'll be quiet then. But it was great. Lee was there, Commissioner Lee, Morris, Commissioner Hatcher, and Commissioner Urington, and Chair Terry Trafton made an appearance too, which was nice. Yeah, so it's open to the public.

And you did a lovely job, all of you. Thanks. Mr. McGuire, I know you're anxious to talk about a few things.

As Commissioner Jannaford did state, I did send out a hold the date calendar invite today for the 24th, as well as the fourth Friday of the following month, just to get those on our calendars. It looks like it's going to just kind of be that reoccurring fourth Friday that It gives us on off planning commission weeks, so to kind of not overload everybody with meetings there. Tentatively, they are scheduled for 1 o'clock, but given some scheduling restrictions, we can evaluate that. Those are posted. Public are encouraged to participate and attend if they would like. So there's that. More information will follow. I do want to remind the commissioners that do sit on that chair that if you want to compile your notes and send those in to me so I can compile those and send those out to the board as a whole still, and I'll get those out quickly. Second note, Mayor's Housing Task Force item will be on next week's City Council agenda. The discussion is going to focus on what the next steps are. So if you're interested in participating and learning about that, I would highly recommend that. I can send you the link. You can participate online or you can participate in person. But I also encourage everyone to watch the meeting again.

That's next Tuesday at 5.

That is next Tuesday at 5 on the 1st. Sorry, 6 o'clock. Oh, 6 p.m. Yeah, it's the City Council meeting, 6 p.m., September 1st.

And they're discussing the plan to appoint public?

They are discussing the next steps to establish what that's going to look like. So at that point, I do anticipate us to have that kind of the guidelines of the makeup and how those will be appointed at that time.

Yes, thank you. And I know that we have one commissioner spot on that task force, or two commissioner spots, actually, myself and another commissioner. I have had three people initiate interest in serving on that. So we'll be talking through that as well and listening to what the mayor's kind of guidance is for that. But we'll be making that decision in the coming weeks before all that stuff is sorted out.

Is that the correct protocol for us to approach the chair if they're interested in that task force?

Yeah, I'd ask people in the last, I don't know when it was, I think it was the last meeting, just to send me an email with your interest in that and kind of, you know, what propels you to want to be interested in that task force. Thank you. Thank you.

That is all I have.

Anything else from over here? Commissioner Hatcher.

Just point of clarification. I let it go at the time so we could move on. I do understand that economic interests are not within our purview. It's more of like just if it doesn't go through that perhaps softening the blow. I do understand that piece of it. Yeah.

Well, and I think it's fine in comments to make comments that you think are relevant for the record. I mean, that's what this is about is a conversation between us It does help City Council to they do watch this and you know, it helps them in their decision as they move forward So I appreciate it I also appreciate all the citizens that come out and speak on behalf or support or you know have any comments So we like to have visitors. So thank you for that Mr. Jennifer one last comment.

Yeah, it's gonna be really quick In terms of like the economic stuff the way I look at the applications with the surrounding factors Just like what is the highest and best use I could anticipate so that's all Okay, thank you All right hearing no further roundtable.

I will now adjourn the meeting at I don't know what time it is 622. I missed it by 22 minutes. Sorry too late. You already turned it the gavel

Bye. Thank you.