Neighbors to Nelson-Atkins: Promise you won’t tear down those historic houses

About two dozen residents of the Rockhill and Southmoreland neighborhoods stood in opposition to a rezoning request Tuesday by the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, prompting the Kansas City Plan Commission to postpone further consideration until Dec. 20.

The Nelson wants to rezone residential properties it owns immediately to its north, paving the way to convert four houses on 45th Street to office space for museum staff.

The museum also wants to reuse part of the former Rockhill Tennis Club site, property it owns immediately to its east, for a sculpture garden and overflow parking lot.

But in more than two hours of testimony, neighborhood representatives argued that the museum had “presented a plan without a plan,” given that the rezoning request didn’t specify long-range intentions for the properties.

Plan commissioners said they were inclined to vote against the rezoning request in light of the neighborhood criticisms but would continue the case to allow museum and neighborhood representatives to keep talking.

Several residents sought assurances that the 45th Street houses plus the vacant Kirkwood house, which had been the former Rockhill clubhouse, would be maintained in perpetuity.

That “forever” request surprised Nelson representatives who had met Monday night with a few neighborhood leaders in an attempt to reach agreements before the commission hearing. That meeting had resulted in the Nelson committing to preserve the houses for at least 15 years.

“Protect those homes for 100 years,” pleaded Jim Wanser, a Rockhill resident.

Addressing only the next 15 years “is kicking the can down the road,” Wanser said, and is exhausting neighbors who fight incremental changes.

Attorney Charles Renner, representing the museum, told the commission that Nelson officials had agreed to 15 of 17 specific requests from the neighborhood groups and that there have been multiple meetings with the neighborhoods.

But several neighborhood spokesmen said Monday night’s meeting came too late in the process and that the stated agreements didn’t address all of their concerns.

Galen Mussman, president of the Rockhill Homes Association, said he couldn’t agree to the negotiated proposals without taking them back to homeowners in the area.

“We recommend no approval,” Mussman told the commission. “There has to be a master plan about what you’re going to do with those houses. We need a specific commitment.”

In addition to wanting the four houses on 45th Street to remain as “buffers” between the institution and housing to the north, several neighbors said they would never agree to the proposed reuse of the former Rockhill Club parking lot.

The museum currently is barred from using the former club property for anything but single-family homes or parkland, according to a city ordinance passed in response to earlier neighborhood opposition after the club closed.

Then and now, Rockhill homeowners said they don’t want additional traffic in their neighborhood directly east of the museum.

“We want the (Rockhill) parking lot gone,” Wanser said. “We don’t want 78 cars in that lot for anything.”

Laura Burkhalter, president of the Southmoreland Neighborhood Association, said, “Critical information is missing from the plan,” particularly about the Kirkwood house. She charged the museum with “demolition by neglect,” given that the former clubhouse has sat empty since 2009.

Marshall Miller, a Rockhill homeowner since the 1970s, and a few other area residents emphasized that they appreciate the Nelson as a valuable cultural and economic institution for the city.

But “it’s still a plan without a plan,” Miller said, and it still leaves open the possibility of more housing in the midtown area being destroyed by “institutional encroachment.”

City planning staff had recommended the zoning request to the Plan Commission with some conditions. Staff noted that an official Master Plan Development final plan must be submitted to and approved by the commission and, subsequently, the City Council.

That mandate would require the Nelson to hold more public hearings for future expansion phases.

Nelson CEO Julián Zugazagoitia and Mark Zimmerman, the Nelson’s director of administration, spoke at the commission hearing in support of the expansion plans. Both reiterated comments made in August and September at two public meetings held at the museum.

They said the museum has grown rapidly in collections and visitors in recent years and needs more space. Some galleries now are used for offices instead of art.

The museum already has a special use permit to use one of the four 45th Street houses for staff offices, and it wants to convert the other three, one of which has been vacant for years. The other two houses have rental tenants who were given 20-month notices to move.

Those who attended the hearing said they wanted to retain the residential character of the neighborhood around the museum.

This story was originally published November 15, 2016 at 5:06 PM with the headline "Neighbors to Nelson-Atkins: Promise you won’t tear down those historic houses."