An ordinance that would allow mobile grocery locations in the northeast area of Kansas City, Kansas, was sent back to the Planning Commission for more work on wording.
During the Unified Government Commission meeting on March 1, Commissioner Gayle Townsend said that while she thinks the mobile market is a good concept, she had concerns about the details involving the wording of the ordinance.
She sought to more clearly define what sort of vehicle could be used for a mobile market, and she preferred to have more than 100 feet distance between the mobile market location and residences.
Rob Richardson, UG planning director, said the ordinance change was brought forward at the suggestion of those who are trying to temporarily serve the northeast “food desert” area of Kansas City, Kansas, with a mobile grocery. Instead of approving each location of the market with a special use permit, the ordinance would allow different locations that do not need a permit. According to Richardson, the ordinance was based on similar ordinances used in other communities with mobile markets.
A grocery store for the northeast area has been a frequently discussed topic of Northeast Master Plan meetings, and at a recent UG meeting, the mobile grocery was proposed as a stopgap measure until a brick-and-mortar grocery store could be built. (A video of a Feb. 22 UG meeting on the Northeast Master Plan is online at YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPs0LMk2x1E.)
A grocery store was one of the top items residents wanted, as expressed in a survey that was done as part of the Northeast Master Plan, according to officials. The UG and Northeast Area Master Plan group may look at co-op models for a grocery store, if a traditional one cannot be built, according to one official at the Feb. 22 meeting. However, there isn’t yet an operator for a grocery store, according to officials, who said they are working on it.
At the March 1 UG meeting, Commissioner Harold Johnson said he didn’t hear any opposition to the mobile market ordinance at a recent UG standing committee meeting, and he would like to see the project move forward.
Commissioner Townsend said while she agrees with the concept, the ordinance lacked a sunset clause and there was no way to appeal it. She said she would probably get phone calls about a mobile grocery market parked near residences. She also did not like a provision allowing them to operate seven days a week, and she noted that people had a right to peace and quiet in their homes in residential neighborhoods.
Commissioner Jane Philbrook said she had talked with persons who are trying to provide a way to get fresh food to residents of the northeast area. If the UG could get someone to build different types of standing grocery buildings in the area, then the mobile market would just move to a different area that needs it.
Currently, she said elderly persons here are faced with transportation issues, and are not always able to get to a store to purchase their food.
“I think we need to take care of our community,” Commissioner Philbrook said. “If we don’t like something we passed, we can come back and change it.”
However, Commissioner Townsend said instead of trying to put forward an ordinance that has flaws in its language, they should try to fix it now, not be in a hurry and not create more problems.
Commissioner Brian McKiernan said that based on earlier meetings, he understood that the mobile market would not be in the same place every day. It would be in designated parking lots, such as church parking lots, and would not be open past 7 or 8 p.m.
During a public hearing on the issue, Matt Kleinmann, Lawrence, Kansas, said he had been working on issues concerning healthy food access in the northeast area. He said the point about distance from homes was a good one, and he believed that they could work through any questions and find a way that the program could work.
Broderick Crawford, Kansas City, Kansas, said that as a resident in the area, he felt it was imperative that something was done to provide fresh, healthy food in this area. He understands that any concerns could be worked out. It has been too long for individuals in this area not to have access to fresh, healthy food, he said.
Stephanie Kimbrough, a Kansas City, Kansas, resident, said at the public hearing that she was “very disappointed” her elected officials have decided to put a Band-Aid on a wound in the northeast area.
“Too long we’ve been neglected, and underrepresented, and underfunded,” Kimbrough said. “To hand me something as superficial as a food truck instead of an actual economic investment in that area is very disappointing. Who’s going to regulate to make sure that my safety or the safety of the people who are purchasing from this truck is going to be insured? Who’s going to take the responsibility of the citizens in that area, who, with the increased amount of people, debris and public safety, are we expecting our overtaxed police officers to continue helping us with supervising?
“Who’s going to take over the responsibility, and to use the gross overstatement of ‘anything is acceptable’ is insulting to the tax-paying citizens of that area. No, I don’t want ‘anything.’ I want a sound economic plan, just like we would do at the Legends, just like we would do at 78th Street, just like we’ve done on 47th Street, I deserve it, too, right there on 29th and Stewart,” Kimbrough said.
She also asked who would take care of the debris in this project.
“I am disappointed immensely to say, here is a token, here’s the crumbs off the table, instead of a purposeful economic plan to help the northeast section,” Kimbrough said. “We have a plan, we sat there for several months talking about what we wanted in our area, and how we wanted to revitalize our area. It’s disappointing and disheartening. What happened to the Healthy Campus that we were planning at Big Eleven Lake? What happened to the economic revitalization that we spent months working on?
“It is disappointing that you are OK with saying, ‘It’s OK just to hand you anything,’ instead of saying, ‘Let’s work together,’” Kimbrough said.
The UG Commission sent the ordinance back to the Planning Commission for more work on the language on a 9-1 vote, with Commissioner Philbrook voting no.
The March 1 UG meeting is on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zASAKdCPUI4.