Kansas City eases parking requirements to spur affordable housing along transit lines
Developers building apartments will soon get a break on parking requirements if they agree to add to Kansas City’s affordable housing stock.
The City Council voted unanimously Thursday to approve an ordinance easing parking requirements for apartment buildings where at least 20 percent of the units are affordable for residents making less than 70 percent of the area median income. That equates to rents under $850 per month.
The Housing Committee endorsed the measure last week as a part of the council’s effort to craft a comprehensive housing policy. A top priority are plans to encourage and subsidize affordable housing construction. They include a $75 million housing trust fund to create and preserve 5,000 affordable units over the next five years. The city has yet to identify a funding source for the proposal.
Under the ordinance passed Thursday, the city would only require just one parking spot per two apartments in projects that set aside affordable units. Parking, particularly structured parking, can be a huge cost for multi-family developers.
“The goal of the legislation really is to ensure that every transit corridor will have affordable housing built within any projects next to it,” said Councilman Quinton Lucas, 3rd District at-large, chair of the housing committee.
An earlier version of the ordinance called for density bonuses, which would allow extra units on a given lot as long as some are set aside as affordable.
Lucas said the city code didn’t allow a blanket “upzoning” without rezoning smaller individual parcels. He said he wanted to find another way to pursue the change.
Another major, more controversial, proposal would require that any project receiving tax incentives set aside at least 15 percent of units as affordable. That has been put off until May 9.
The council also approved a $3.2 million contract with the Heartland Center for Behavioral Change at 15th and Campbell streets to rent 110 beds for the city’s municipal inmates and police detainees.
Kansas City currently pays for space in the Jackson County Jail’s complex, but the county wants the city out at the end of its contract June 25. The city is also weighing an agreement with Johnson County, Missouri for another 50 beds, but the council won’t vote on it until at least next week.
City officials are still seeking a long-term answer. Staff is looking at options for building a jail with up to 440 beds, but council members this week waved off the idea for the moment in favor of a discussion about ways to reduce incarceration.
Council members also received word from the City Clerk’s Office Thursday that an initiative petition backed by transit activist and perennial municipal candidate Clay Chastain had collected sufficient signatures to qualify for the ballot.