Johnson County group that fought affordable housing plan now appeals judge’s ruling
Some Prairie Village homeowners are appealing a judge’s ruling that declared invalid their November ballot initiatives aiming to restructure city government.
It’s been a whirlwind month in Prairie Village as the city and the group PV United fight in court over whether residents can vote on limiting the mayor’s powers and cutting the City Council in half. The group, which formed to oppose the city’s affordable housing plans, submitted three ballot initiatives last month to make sweeping changes to how the city is run. The city asked the court to decide on their legality.
Johnson County District Court Judge Rhonda Mason on Friday issued a final ruling throwing out two of those petitions. One would have restricted rezoning, while the other would have adopted a new form of government with weaker mayoral powers and only six council members, as opposed to the current 12. Half of the council would have been ejected midterm, which some called unconstitutional.
The judge ruled that one petition, which would abandon the city’s mayor-council form of government, met the legal requirements to be placed on the ballot. But City Attorney David Waters said if that proposal were to pass, nothing would change: State law requires a city’s form of government to remain in place until a new one is adopted.
Residents, the city said, would need to bring forward another petition for the next election to actually restructure the city government.
But even with that petition deemed legally sufficient, voters won’t see it on the November ballot. While the issue was tied up in court, with both sides waiting on clarification on the judge’s ruling, Johnson County Election Commissioner Fred Sherman said the deadline had passed for his office to have time to place any new questions on the Nov. 7 ballot.
“Due to logistics required to prepare ballots and the need to meet legally mandated deadlines,” Sherman said, “the Election Office is now past the point at which it can accept additional items for the November ballot.”
Now, PV United is appealing the judge’s ruling.
“With a barrage of costly, taxpayer-funded lawsuits and legal maneuvers, the Prairie Village City Council appears to be succeeding in delaying a vote of the people on the citizen petition issues that mean so much to thousands in our community,” Dan Schoepf, with PV United, said in a statement. “While it’s often said you can’t fight city hall, at least they can’t deny our right to weigh in on City Council members’ actions in the November election. We remain deeply committed to preserving what makes our community so unique, despite the city’s aggressive attempts to run out the clock and silence us.”
Even though the initiatives will not be on the November ballot, Prairie Village residents will still vote to elect six council members. And PV United has been promoting candidates that oppose the city’s affordable housing efforts, arguing that Prairie Village is too dense to allow more apartments or other multi-family housing.
In a statement, City Administrator Wes Jordan said, “The City does have the right to file a cross-appeal and will consider that possibility in the near future.”
The judge’s final ruling on the petitions came after a confusing week, following the city and PV United arguing their sides in court. The city’s legal counsel argued there were multiple legal flaws with the petitions, which is why they asked for a judge to decide whether they met state requirements to be placed on the ballot.
Mason earlier this month issued an oral ruling from the bench, deeming the petitions to change rezoning and adopt a new form of government were not legal, but deciding the petition to abandon the form of government was valid.
But then later that day, the judge submitted a written ruling amending her oral order to say that the abandonment petition was not valid. Instead, she said the petition that would adopt a new form of government and halve the council could be placed on the ballot.
In an expedited process, the judge said the election office had given her until that day to issue a decision, so the office could have the ballot language in time.
Confusion over the contradictory rulings led the city to file a flurry of motions in court, arguing that the judge’s initial oral ruling was correct. The judge took the issue under advisement for the rest of the week, and the election office then said it was too late for any new issue to be added to the ballot.
On Friday, the judge affirmed her oral ruling. But Prairie Village residents won’t see any question about the form of government on the ballot this time.
This story was originally published September 20, 2023 at 10:46 AM.
