JoCo neighbors call development near school ‘completely unacceptable’

Neighbors of a Blue Valley elementary school turned out in force this week to oppose an adjacent commercial strip center, but the Overland Park planning commission let the proposal move forward.

“Please consider the character of this area, the safety of our children,” resident Jessica Holthaus pleaded with the Planning Commission on Monday, in opposing a rezoning to allow a low-slung office and retail center on the southwest corner of 151st Street and Quivira Road. The center would be right next to the Morse Elementary School playground in the Blue Valley School District.

Concerned homeowner and father Royce Heitsch was more blunt, saying, “This proposed development is completely unacceptable.” He was among about three dozen people who attended the meeting to oppose the project.

The commission voted 7-2 in favor of the development, with members Rob Krewson, Steve Troester, Mike Flanagan, Janie Thacker, Kim Sorensen, Robinett and Ned Reitzes voting yes. Tom Lund and Bob Gadd were the lone dissenters.

The rezoning goes to the City Council on Oct. 1 and neighbors are gathering protest petitions that could require nine affirmative council votes, instead of the normal seven votes.

The rezoning on the 2.82-acre tract would go from rural residential to a planned office building and business district zoning that would allow a one-story office building and another one-story building with sit-down restaurants, plus 146 parking spaces.

The site is within Overland Park’s boundaries near the border of Olathe. It lies east of a residential neighborhood with single-family homes on large lots. Many residents of that neighborhood, Morse Village, worry about traffic, and the safety of the children walking to school and on the playground.

Plan Commission Chairman Tom Robinett said he and other commission members also had received about 60 or 70 emails in opposition. “We do read those,” he said.

The commission nonetheless endorsed the proposal by Travis Schram and Day3 LLC, saying the vacant ground has gone undeveloped for more than 30 years. Members weren’t optimistic a better development would come along.

“It may not be the best use, but I think it’s a viable use,” Plan Commission member Reitzes said.

City staff recommended approval of the plan and noted that the site’s potential uses are somewhat limited by the Johnson County Executive Airport, 3/4-mile to the west. Staff said it’s unlikely that a day care, assisted living facility or similar type use would be approved in the airport impact area.

Keith Gooch, senior planner with the city of Overland Park, told the commission he didn’t know why the site was never included in the school’s development. He said a church had owned the site for years but never used it. Instead, the property was sold to the developer.

Gooch said the city had studied the traffic impact and found it would be minimal, given extra capacity for cars at 151st and Quivira. He acknowledged motorists may make U-turns on 151st to get into the development, but said that type of maneuver is done safely by drivers elsewhere in the city every day.

The developer’s representative, Jeff Skidmore, a civil engineer with Schlagel and Associates, said the developer had already eliminated an entry to the development off Monrovia Street in response to neighborhood concerns. He said they would continue to work with the school district and residents on landscaping and additional buffering designs to alleviate ongoing concerns about the development’s proximity to the playground.

Melissa Hillman, general counsel for the Blue Valley Schools, told the commission that the district would like to have more conversations with the developer about ways to enhance neighborhood safety, including a possible “revised buffer.”

Residents noted that a 2007 proposal for an office use at the site was also supported by city staff and the plan commission but rejected by the city council. They are now pinning their hopes on a similar council vote this time around.

Plan commission member Janie Thacker asked Skidmore why this plan includes retail as well as office, making it more active than the use that was previously rejected.

Skidmore replied that he considers this to be a “less intense” type of retail that makes sense at these two highly visible streets. He said it gives the developer a bit more flexibility on how the project can unfold.

Plan Commission member Mike Flanagan said it’s the commission’s job to find a good use for the land, and he thought this could work, given the constraints imposed by the airport impact area.

“This has been a difficult piece of land to work with for a long time,” he said. “It’s time to do something with it.”

This story was originally published September 19, 2018 at 5:30 AM.