Large development projects in Kansas City, Kansas, moved ahead Monday night at the City Planning Commission meeting.
The remote meeting Monday night was on Zoom.
Developer Willie Lanier Jr. presented information about the downtown development that will replace the Reardon Center at 500 Minnesota Ave., Kansas City, Kansas.
The project came back to the City Planning Commission for preliminary and final plan review because there were additional apartment units added to the project, according to the planning director, Gunnar Hand. He said they have been working out the final details for the project.
The Reardon Center redevelopment will include a new, smaller meeting space that can hold 350 people for banquets or 500 people in conference-style seating, once the pandemic is over, according to Lanier.
Besides the meeting space, there will be a 94-unit apartment building with commercial space on the first floor, a fitness center, a small park on the corner of 6th and State, as well as an athletic field near 6th and Nebraska, he said.
Lanier said this will be a transformational project for the downtown Kansas City, Kansas, community.
The project is across Minnesota Avenue from the new Merc grocery store, and also is close to the University of Kansas Health System’s Strawberry Hill behavioral campus and close to the U.S. courthouse, as well as close to the Hilton Garden Inn and the Board of Public Utilities.
The project was approved 8-0 by the Planning Commission and will move forward to the Unified Government Commission for approval at 7 p.m. Oct. 1.
Homefield project
The Homefield Project, a redevelopment of the Schlitterbahn water park at 98th and State Avenue, unanimously received the City Planning Commission’s approval that it conforms to the master plan.
The project received conformance approval for three of the six project areas, 2B, 3 and 5. Homefield would use STAR (sales tax revenue) bonds to finance the redevelopment of the water park into a youth sports destination.
Curtis Petersen with the Polsinelli law firm told the planning commission that there was a provision in the STAR bond statute that says the Planning Commission has to take any STAR bond plan and determine if the project plan is consistent with the intent of the Prairie-Delaware-Piper master plan.
These project areas were already developed under Schlitterbahn; the water park had previously qualified for STAR bonds.
One planning commissioner, James Connelly, said that he didn’t see any plans included with the information on the new development. There was a text description for the project. The uses, according to the planning director, will comply with what is in the master plan in the three large project areas. The planning staff recommendation was in favor of a finding of conformance.
Petersen said there wasn’t a specific site plan yet, and Hand said the designs will come back at a later time to the Planning Commission.
This will not go on to the UG Commission for approval, according to officials, as just the Planning Commission approval was needed.
Riverfront Redevelopment District project
Also receiving the Planning Commission’s finding of conformance to the master plan was the Riverfront Redevelopment District project at 200 S. James St., near the Kansas River.
According to an attorney for the project, Aaron March, approval was a technical requirement of the STAR bond statute.
There will be a TIF (tax increment financing) project plan coming up before the UG Commission for the development’s first project area, he added.
The Riverfront project includes 225 to 240 apartment units, he said. The master plan for the area was recently amended to change from industrial to mixed use.
Hand said the staff had reviewed it and found it in conformance with the master plan. He said they are in the process of reviewing site plans for the project, which could come before the planning commission in October.
Connelly said he would like to see the plans when they are approving these items.
According to the UG legal staff, they were only asked to approve a finding that the apartment project would conform with the master plan, at this time.
Hand said in the future, he could add more information about the projects for the board.
This item on conformance, also will not go to the full UG Commission. The UG Commission will consider on Thursday, Sept. 17, a public hearing date for the project, possibly to be Oct. 29.
Menard’s Epic project
During the Board of Zoning Appeals meeting on Monday night, Menard’s received approval for variances from the requested number of parking spaces and also from the specified height of a fence.
Menard’s is planning a development at 3115 S. 18th St.
Tyler Edwards, representing Menard’s, said it had the same design at its stores around the nation. About 400 parking spots is the number it typically needs, he said. He mentioned that contractors shop during the day, while homeowners shop at night, affecting the number of spots needed.
While Menard’s was requesting 404 parking spaces, the UG’s formula for parking, based on square footage, called for an additional 432 parking spaces.
Also, Menard’s requested a variance for the height of the fence that surrounds the store. All of their stores have a 14-foot tall fence, Edwards said. Fences can’t be more than 8 feet tall under city regulations.
The planning commission approved the parking variance on an 8-0 vote, and also approved the tall fence on a vote of 7-1.
The Menard’s project may have a public hearing on Oct. 29, if the public hearing date is approved at the UG Commission meeting on Sept. 17.