The KC Foodie Park proposed for the old Indian Springs mall site at 47th and State Avenue is on the agenda for tonight’s City Planning Commission meeting.
The meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 10, at the Commission Chambers, lobby level, City Hall, 701 N. 7th St. Kansas City, Kansas. According to the agenda, a public hearing on the project is included in the meeting.
The project is seeking a change of zone from planned business park, planned commercial and planned limited business districts to planned light industrial and industrial park, planned non-retail business and planned general business districts for a mixed use development.
Distribution, food service center, office and commercial space are planned for the 49.2-acre former Indian Springs Shopping Center site. The site addresses listed are 4600 Orville Ave., 4601 State Ave. and 4602 Orville Ave. The site is located near the intersection of I-635 and I-70.
A final plan review and preliminary and final plat of KC Foodie Park also are on tonight’s City Planning Commission agenda.
According to agenda information, it will be a 234,716-square-foot distribution and food service center, also with office and retail buildings.
According to the agenda document, there has been no public opposition so far to this project. The Unified Government planning staff recommended approval of the project if the developer complies with all of its stipulations on the plan.
If the project is approved by the Planning Commission, next it would go to the Unified Government Commission for approval.
The applicant, Scavuzzo’s, is represented by the Polsinelli law firm in this zoning application. Richard Scavuzzo, chief executive officer of Scavuzzo’s, spoke at a community meeting on the proposed project in November.
About 75 persons attended the community meeting on the proposed project on Nov. 28 at the Painted Hills Country Club at 71st and Parallel Parkway, Kansas City, Kansas. At that meeting, community residents asked the developer to include minorities in the firms working on the project as well as in the employees there. Also, Kansas City, Kansas Area Chamber of Commerce members asked for inclusion in the project.
Information from that earlier meeting included:
Three proposed pad sites along the north edge of the development would be restaurants, Scavuzzo said. A little south of that would be more restaurants, some retail, and food service-based home delivery customers, he said. The order and delivery concept is popular with retail and would be brought to food service. He also mentioned a convenience store as a possibility.
A four-story office building would be the headquarters office for Scavuzzo’s, he said. It would include a test kitchen and offices, with space for culinary training for students. Other tenants also would be located in the office building.
A food service center building on the south side of the property would replace Scavuzzo’s current operations, he said. The facility would produce more energy than it would consume, he said. There would be a solar farm on the property, he added. The goal will be a gold-level LEED certification for the facility, he said. Trucks will be limited to the southeast side of the property, he said.
If approved, a small family-owned food service company could set the pace in its industry through innovation, he added.
In answer to a resident’s question, Scavuzzo said that his company currently has a little more than 100 employees and he would expect that number to increase to around 200 with the new development. The jobs would pay around $20 per hour, he said. Currently, there are five Wyandotte High School students working with his company in an after-school program, he said.
For an earlier story on the KC Foodie Park proposal, visit https://wyandotteonline.com/kc-foodie-park-proposed-for-indian-springs-site/
The Planning Commission document for the foodie park is at http://public.wycokck.org/sites/planning-agendas-minutes-staffreports/Agendas/COZ%203174%20and%20FINAL%20PLAT%20KC%20Foodie%20Park%20and%20PR-2018-36.pdf
A rendering of the Scavuzzo distribution and cold storage facility proposed for the Indian Springs site is included in the agenda documents.
