Wyandotte County leaders vote to approve eight-story Strawberry Hill development
At its first in-person meeting since the onset of the pandemic, the Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kansas Commission cleared the way for an eight-story residential high-rise near the Strawberry Hill neighborhood.
The commission heard three separate requests from Sunflower Development Group, which wants to build the $41 million, 129-unit tower on an acre of land at the corner of Sixth Street and Central Avenue. The developer sought a rezoning of the property and an amendment to the city’s master plan.
All were approved.
Commissioners voted 8-1 when it came to all three requests. Commissioner Christian Ramirez, District 2, was the only commissioner who voted against.
“We need the full support of the community, not just part of it,” said Ramirez before announcing he would vote against the apartment.
Mayor Tyrone Garner voiced his support for the project, saying that it would help revitalize parts of downtown Kansas City, Kansas.
“It’s not unique to our metro area but is desperately needed in Wyandotte County,” Mayor Tyrone Garner. “We can’t keep having developers come in and push them away.”
Garner said that he’s driven to surrounding counties and has seen all different kinds of developments in bordering Johnson and Leavenworth counties.
A residential building like this one would help bring more businesses and help sustain the current businesses, he said.
District 2 Commissioner Brian McKiernan said that the commission’s approval Thursday was still a part of the initial process to get the high-rise raised.
“We’re not even to halftime, yet,” McKiernan said. “Why don’t we leverage this development as the opportunity to fix some stuff. Let’s get stuff for the community, both locally and broadly.”
The project, currently called 505 Central, had drawn opposition from residents of the Strawberry Hill and Russian Hill neighborhoods, some of whom formed a group, the ClearView Coalition, that raised concerns about the project’s height and its impact on traffic and parking in the area.
After the UG’s planning commission approved 505 Central in March, the ClearView Coalition organized a protest petition, which would have raised the threshold for the project’s approval from a simple majority of six votes to a supermajority of nine votes by the full commission. Homeowners’ signatures were gathered, but the petition was ultimately not certified after UG staff determined that certain names didn’t match those on the deeds of the homes.
Mark Moberly with Sunflower told The Star earlier this week that, if approved, his firm would seek tax abatements to help pay for costs associated with the project, but, he said, “We will not be asking for a 100% incentive. The property will produce a level of taxes substantially more than it does today.”
Moberly also said Sunflower is committed to contributing “no less than $250,000” for traffic and pedestrian upgrades nearby.
