Lee’s Summit advances large housing project after developer drops apartments
Lee’s Summit City Council members gave a green light to plans for Legacy Ridge, a large housing development on a roughly 130-acre site near Lee’s Summit West High School, Tuesday night.
Council members voted 8-0 in favor of advancing both a rezoning and a preliminary plan for the site at the intersection of Ward Road and Hook Road after developer Griffin Riley Property Group modified an earlier version of its plans and removed 300 apartment units from the project. Under the plan council members saw Tuesday, the community would have around 500 total housing units, with a mix of single-family homes, villas and townhomes, as well as nearly 74,000 square feet of commercial space.
“The themes that we heard from the neighbors and from Planning Commission, and then you all by extension, was that people wanted more ownership opportunities,” Griffin Riley vice president Jake Loveless said to council members Tuesday. “They wanted less density. They did not want apartment buildings.”
Revised plans show around 200 single-family homes and 90 townhomes for sale, as well as 90 townhomes and around 130 “active adult villas” for rent. The site would also have “essential neighborhood retail” at the Hook Road-Ward Road intersection.
The rezoning would move the site from an agricultural designation to a mix that would allow residential and commercial uses.
“We need these neighborhood centers in our community,” said Mayor Bill Baird. “I think of areas that developed so fast with single-family that they didn’t have neighborhood centers in certain districts. It’s nice to be able to have a high-quality neighborhood center that people can get to and access, and they don’t have to drive. It’s a big town, sometimes you have to go 10 to 15 minutes to get places.”
Loveless told council members that the goal is for the project to create more “missing middle” homeownership opportunities in the $300,000 to $600,000 price range.
“We wanted to deliver a thoughtful but financially stable community that responds to the market, respects its neighbors, and supports the long-term growth of Lee’s Summit,” he said. “We’ve listened, we’ve adjusted this plan.”
Council member Hillary Shields hailed the development’s mix of housing types: “It gives families the ability to have different generations and people in different phases of their life, all close together. I think that’s really nice.”
Said council member Trish Carlyle: “I appreciate that there are many levels of ownership options and rentals all in the same area, so it covers all the bases, except for apartments, in one area. I think that’s great, and I think will really be great for the development.”
