Prairie Village council allows Slim Chickens plan

Despite several homeowners crying foul, Slim Chickens is one step closer to becoming a reality in Prairie Village.

The city council on Monday approved a request for rezoning and a preliminary plan that would allow developers to build the Arkansas-based fast-food restaurant specializing in fried chicken on the 1.37-acre lot at 7930 State Line Road.

Planning for the development had been slowed by significant objections by homeowners on Somerset Drive whose properties abut the proposed site, which currently features a vacant office building.

In July, planning commissioners recommended rezoning and approving the preliminary site plan for the restaurant franchise, which will feature a double drive-thru. Since then, city council members have twice sent the proposal back for additional tweaks. The revisions were requested after the council agreed with residents who live behind the property that the restaurant would generate too much noise and other distractions from drive-thru speakers, traffic, light pollution and smells.

Slim Chickens Kansas City region president Mo Yeganah; Jeffrey Bartz of the civil engineering firm BHC Rhodes, and Mitch DiCarlo of Block & Co presented revised site plans to the council on behalf of the applicant.

The revisions include relocating the dumpster and majority of parking spaces to the south side of the property away from homes. The drive-thru and speakers were brought closer to the building. An 8-foot tall privacy fence with substantially increased evergreen landscaping was added to prevent car headlights from shining on homes as they drive through the parking lot. The fence and landscaping would also help buffer noise to the north and west.

Even with the requested changes, the plans still proved to be controversial. Discussion over the matter lasted about two hours, taking up the majority of the meeting. The council heard from four homeowners who are against the restaurant because of problems they already experience from the Panda Express restaurant located next door to the proposed Slim Chickens.

“We do not want Slim Chickens in our neighborhood,” said Carly Bailey, one of the residents whose home neighbors the property. “The only like kind establishment to Slim Chickens is Panda Express. It has been a resounding failure. People don’t want the noise and the lowered property values. With two fast food restaurants behind us, property values will drop. For sale signs will go up. The building they are proposing is not the image of sophisticated, vintage Prairie Village.”

Yeganah said he was hearing a lot of misconceptions about the plans and wanted to let the city know that the company would invest in the area.

“We will bring exceptional quality to the community. This is not a chicken shack. We are here to be a responsible part of the community. To bring jobs and also revenue to the city,” he said.

Councilman David Morrison said he could understand why homeowners in the neighborhood would prefer an office building to a restaurant.

“The people that purchased their home in that area, I think we have a responsibility as a council to respect their decisions,” Morrison said. “When they purchased their property, they expected the immediate property in the area to be zoned a certain way. But you certainly can’t anticipate everything. The only constant is change.”

Councilwoman Sheila Myers spoke against the proposed restaurant.

“I really do appreciate that you have done what we’ve asked you to do and made some improvements, but there’s a problem with this site,” Myers said. “There’s a problem with the traffic flow. The site does not support the use that we are trying to zone it for. We’re trying to retrofit this business in this spot,” she said.

Councilman Andrew Wang countered that the restaurant would be a good fit for the area.

“This is unfortunately to me not a neighborhood that we’re putting a restaurant. It’s a highly commercial, highly trafficked corridor. It’s called State Line,” he said. “I think the work’s been done. The business is there. If it were highly successful, no one would be able to buy it. It still would be full of tenants. It would be an office building. It’s not that any more. What fits in this area is what we’ve got.”

The council eventually voted to approve the zoning changes and preliminary design plans with the added conditions that the fence around the property be built high enough to prevent headlights from shining on homes behind the property and that the parking lot be revised to move spaces away from the neighboring homes.

Myers was the only present vote against the rezoning plan. Councilwoman Ruth Hopkins was absent from the meeting, which meant her vote automatically counted against the proposal.

Slim Chickens can now move forward with final site plans for approval before construction begins. This will be the second location of the restaurant in Johnson County. The franchise opened in Overland Park in August. They typically have about 30 employees per location.

This story was originally published September 24, 2015 at 8:59 AM with the headline "Prairie Village council allows Slim Chickens plan."