Controversial diocese student housing plan for Troost on hold

A controversial Catholic Diocese proposal to build student housing on the former St. Francis Xavier School site on Troost Avenue is on hold for at least another six months.

The plan, which has encountered neighborhood opposition since 2012, has languished on a Kansas City Council committee agenda for many months and was scheduled for review Wednesday. Since there’s not yet any consensus solution, the Planning, Zoning and Economic Development Committee agreed to hold the item “off the docket.”

The proposal isn’t dead, but it isn’t expected to come back up for discussion for at least six months.

Committee Chairman Scott Taylor said he still hopes the project, a potential $14 million investment, will materialize.

“It’s a significant investment on Troost, and I think we want to encourage investment on Troost,” Taylor said.

The Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph wants to replace the old school near 53rd Street and Troost Avenue with a residential building intended primarily for Catholic students at nearby Rockhurst University and the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

For years, some members of the parish, plus leaders of surrounding neighborhoods, have complained the development would be crammed into too small a space and was not a good design. Some wanted the existing school building saved and repurposed.

In response to neighborhood concerns, the diocese had changed the building configuration along Troost, reduced the number of units from 85 to 82 and proposed more parking options after meeting with opponents and a mediator in the fall of 2015. But mediation failed to reach a solution that satisfied all parties.

Mike White, an attorney who has represented the diocese, said Bishop James Johnston is still talking to parties involved in the issue. Johnston was installed in November 2015, replacing Bishop Robert Finn, who had pushed the diocese housing idea.

This story was originally published January 18, 2017 at 2:14 PM with the headline "Controversial diocese student housing plan for Troost on hold."