Independence business pushed out after city says it’s a bad fit for arts district
Chris Bowers purposefully chose the western end of Independence when he opened his Pay Right Auto Repair business about two years ago.
His shop is close to home. He likes the location on tree-lined Winner Road in the Englewood Station neighborhood. Since opening, he’s built a loyal customer base mostly of residents from the surrounding neighborhoods.
And as the name states, he’s proud to offer repairs at prices that working people can afford.
“Our reviews say it over and over,” he said. “We’re here to help people.”
But his small shop sits on the edge of what city leaders hope will one day become a bustling arts district. And he believes they simply don’t want the likes of a repair shop near art galleries, restaurants and shops.
“They pushed me out,” he said. “It’s a mechanic shop and they don’t want it there.”
City officials recently revoked his business license after documenting violations of city code that bars overnight storage of vehicles outdoors. Across the street, another man wanted to open up a muffler shop, but was stopped by city hall.
The city’s tough stance comes after years of trying to turn a former retail center into an arts destination. But even some of the strongest advocates of the Englewood Arts District say it has a long way to go.
In pushing Bowers’ business out, elected leaders made clear they don’t want to see another auto repair business open up in the area.
“Please don’t take offense to what the city is trying to do,” Councilman John Perkins said at a recent appeal hearing on the matter.
He said the city had taken steps to enforce its zoning rules in recent years. And he said Bowers should be given some time to “find a more suitable location” for his business.
“In the arts district, we are doing things differently there,” Perkins said. “We’re trying to improve and move things forward.”
Perkins did not respond to a request for comment. At the hearing, he said he was concerned about letting Bowers stay because his shop was grandfathered in to current arts district zoning regulations. That could allow a new occupant to open another repair shop, so Perkins said the council needed to “monitor” the site after Bowers leaves.
Ann Hinojosa, president of the Englewood Business Association, said the area’s auto shops were there long before the city implemented its arts district zoning in 2011.
The arts district is home to the Puppetry Arts Institute, a gallery, Hinojosa’s pottery shop and a framing shop. But there’s also a dentist office, a church and several restaurants, including Hinojosa’ Mugs Up Diner. She said some of the non-arts businesses have found ways to embrace the arts, displaying artwork even if it’s not core to the business.
While Bowers’s shop hasn’t done that, she said she hasn’t heard any complaints about it.
“It’s not really artsy,” she said of Bowers’ shop. “But I haven’t heard anybody say let’s get rid of them, they don’t belong there. I’ve never, ever heard anybody say something like that.”
The Englewood Arts District
With a double row of American flags splitting the street in two, East Winner Road could be mistaken for Main Street in many a small town.
A neon Ben Franklin five and dime sign stands atop an empty storefront. Next door, turquoise and chrome pop on the near-perfect restoration of the two-story Englewood Theatre facade.
More than a decade ago, a local shop owner told the Independence Examiner newspaper that Englewood could become the “art deco district of the Midwest.”
But it’s not there yet.
The architecture bears witness to a bygone area when the neighborhood bustled with commercial activity. Over the years, retailers closed and left empty storefronts as big box stores encroached, said Monte Short, director of local nonprofit Englewood Arts.
Neighbors viewed the arts as a way to bring life back to the district.
“A lot of the spaces now are not vacant,” he said.
Eventually, boosters want to add two more gems to the area: On one end of the two-block strip, they plan to repurpose the old Glenwood Arts Theatre sign, spelling out Englewood Arts District instead. On the other, near the auto shop, they plan to display a historic trolley car.
Since 2008, the city has spent about $280,000 of its own funds and about $430,000 in grant funds on streetscape projects in the district, said Independence spokeswoman Meg Lewis. A planned 8-mile bike and pedestrian corridor may eventually connect the area to other parts of town.
The council recently approved a Community Improvement District for the area. Lewis said it will impose a 1% sales tax within the district to fund public improvements.
The district currently hosts an art walk every third Friday, a much smaller version of the First Fridays events in Kansas City’s Crossroads Arts District.
Short said the arts district zoning does outright ban some businesses, like gun stores and payday loan shops. But he said the zoning was meant to encourage a variety of businesses, not just art galleries and shops. The area is home to several hair salons, a small convenience store with a large MoneyGram sign and a tanning salon.
“You can have many, many things that are not necessarily arts related,” he said.
How it all started
City officials visited Pay Right Auto Repair two times in July.
In a letter, the city accused the business of violating three codes by storing vehicles outside, working on vehicles outside and by having inoperable vehicles on the lot. The letter scheduled a hearing, Bowers said, but said he did not need to attend if the issues were abated.
Bowers said vehicles sat in his lot because of an arrangement with local car dealerships. He frequently performs inspections for dealers prior to sale. And those dealers sometimes dropped off cars after hours.
But he said he fixed the issues by July 23.
He removed cars, put up signs warning against dropping off vehicles and hired a local tow company to patrol the lot after hours.
But the city still held its hearing on July 29. On Aug. 8, city leaders issued a cease operations order, notifying him that his business license had been revoked.
Sharlie Pender, Bowers’ attorney, argued that the move was unjustified during a Sept. 3 appeal hearing. He said his client had fixed his problem.
“You can’t shut down a man that’s making a living and has got to provide for a family of six children,” he said.
As for the arts district, the lawyer said that an auto repair business had been continuously operating at that location since long before it was rezoned as an arts district. The arts district allows for auto repair shops, but they must seek a special use permit from the council.
“He’s got a simple defense: he’s grandfathered in,” Pender said.
Car shop ‘interferes’ with arts district
During the appeal hearing, Mayor Eileen Weir started out by saying the action against the auto shop had nothing to do with the arts district.
“The arts district isn’t new,” she said.
But a few minutes later, she told Bowers that his business “interferes quite significantly” with neighborhood activity.
“I don’t think it’s very well suited for that particular location because of the activities that happen within the arts district,” she said.
Weir did not respond to a request for comment.
Independence records and airs video of city council meetings on its website, but video of that proceeding was never published online. The Star later obtained a copy of the city’s recording.
In that recording, the mayor said she was in favor of allowing the business to stay on a temporary basis to allow Bowers “an opportunity to find a place hopefully within our city that really is more suited for this.” She also asked for more clarity from city staffers on why the shop was facing such severe consequences.
“Because obviously what’s here would not cause us to revoke or attempt to revoke somebody’s business license,” she said.
Community Development Director Tom Scannell told the city council that the revocation of the license was only considered after multiple violations, but he didn’t share details of prior violations. More broadly, he said city hall was working to ramp up its code enforcement efforts.
“The city has never really, up until recently, has never really put the feet to the fire of the property owners to hold their businesses to the zoning that is required under their business license,” he said.
City documents show Bowers had one previous code violation in 2017 and two in 2018. He says he corrected all those issues.
City Councilwoman Karen DeLuccie told The Star that the arts zoning creates a situation where “the same rules do not apply across the city.”
“It looks to me like they’re trying to gentrify those four blocks and make it difficult for just regular people to run a business,” she said. “That car shop has been there for decades. It’s small, true. But it supports a family.”
The action against the business comes during a revenue shortfall in Independence. City leaders recently tried to trim health insurance benefits for retirees.
“And we’re chasing business away,” DeLuccie said.
Meanwhile, she said the biggest eyesore in the area is the vacant Comprehensive Mental Health building. The city purchased that building for $165,000 in April 2018, but the council has rebuffed her attempts to put it on the market.
“We’re just letting it sit and rot,” she said.
Short said the arts nonprofit plans to renovate the space into a maker space for artists.
A similar problem across the street
Bowers fought to stay open in his shop temporarily. But he began looking for a new location — in a place outside of the Independence city limits.
He plans to soon move to a new location in Raytown and has since dropped his battle with the city. Independence leaders agreed to let him stay on a temporary basis.
“Even if I win, they’re going to get me out of there eventually,” Bowers said.
But the move has cost him thousands in legal fees and moving expenses, he said. Rent at his new shop will be double the rate he pays now.
Dusty Smith can relate.
He planned on opening a muffler shop in the building across the street from Pay Right.
He paid his $75 business license fee and passed various city safety inspections. He checked in with city officials several times this summer to make sure he would be able to open. He said he was told repeatedly that he was on track to receive a business license.
So he signed a 12-month lease and spent thousands on repair equipment.
Then, he said city leaders told him he could not get a business license at that location. They cited the arts district zoning and said previous tenants had code violations there, he said.
Smith contacted Perkins, the city councilman in the area. He said he was advised he’d never receive a special use permit in that location.
Smith said he was devastated.
He had planned on participating in the monthly art walks: In his spare time, he welds art pieces together from scrap pipes. He had purchased paint to improve the building’s exterior.
And he believes a service business would help the whole area: Someone coming in for repairs is likely to wander to a nearby shop or have lunch at the Englewood Cafe, he said.
“It turned my world around,” Smith said. “I don’t understand why it couldn’t have been said right there up front what they wanted to do with the area.”
For now, a for sale sign hangs on that building. And Smith’s equipment sits at home in his garage. He’s had to find work at another shop, but hopes to eventually go out on his own again.
“It won’t be in Independence, I know that,” he said. “Not after all this.”
