Over 1,000 Prairie Village homeowners are yelling ‘Stop!’ Listen to them on rezoning

The signs in front of more than 1,000 Prairie Village homes feature large letters reading “Stop” — but they have nothing to do with traffic. What they want to stop are amendments to zoning proposals recommended by the City Council that many homeowners believe would damage their property values.

When a home and lot become a resident’s largest financial asset, any perceived threat can morph into a large protest movement. And that’s what Village Vision 2.0, a development guide for the city’s next 20 years, has come to represent for many.

Prairie Village, initially developed after World War II, is unlike its large sister cities of Overland Park, Olathe, Lenexa, Shawnee and Leawood. Those cities feature large, nearby rural areas where diverse development can be expanded. Prairie Village is landlocked and fully developed, with more than 90% of that development in single-family tracts. That makes locating multifamily units there more difficult and, perhaps, controversial.

Village Vision 2.0, adopted in January 2021, hopes to make residential development within the city more diverse and inclusive by creating more affordable housing (think apartments and duplexes).

In June, the City Council accepted recommendations based on ones from the Housing for All Toolkit authored by United Community Services of Johnson County, which states: “A sufficient supply of attainable and diverse housing types is critical for robust local economic growth.”

The council directed city staff to begin working on implementation of the recommended strategies. Those included zoning law changes that allow attainable housing “by right” in more zoning districts, including single-family residential. A “by right” clause would eliminate the need to rezone along with public hearings and city council approval.

That set off alarm bells in neighborhoods throughout Prairie Village. The “Stop” yard signs were printed, and volunteers went door to door alerting other homeowners.

“I love the village feel,” said Lori Sharp, one of those volunteers. “I love being engaged with my neighbors. I know the rules that are in place right now regarding my property and what’s going to happen within my neighborhood and have input into that.”

Sharp and other zoning opponents worry that could be taken away.

“What’s the problem?” asked Brooke Morehead, a former city councilmember. “What are we trying to solve here? What’s the purpose of turning the town upside down?”

She rejected statements by Vision 2.0 supporters that zoning opponents didn’t want low-income, Black and brown residents in their neighborhoods.

“For me, it has nothing to do with that,” Sharp said. “It has to do with my property rights and the character of the neighborhood.”

Morehead said there currently are nine apartment developments within the city, and that sites for others might be found within current commercial areas. She said the lowest Prairie Village apartment rent she knows is about $900 a month.

After the council’s June action, the requested changes went to the planning commission, which wants to study and understand the requests in more detail. A commission response to the council is expected sometime next year.

Daniel Runion, a former two-term councilmember, said the strong homeowner opposition prompted the City Council in October to recommend to the city planning commission that the multifamily change be removed from the council’s June directive. He added that the council’s recommendation to remove the multifamily provision was not likely the final word on the issue.

“It may have been something to placate the opposition for now,” he added.

Morehead said a provision still in the proposal would allow the owners of a home “by right” to add an accessory dwelling unit, or ADU — a separate, standalone residential building — on their property and then offer it for rent.

“If ADUs are allowed, rental apartments would occur without any notification of neighbors or approval by the city’s governing body,” she said.

The goal of more affordable housing and diversity for Johnson County is admirable. But it is much more difficult to achieve in Prairie Village than in other Kansas City suburbs because of the overwhelming density of single-family homes there. The city should stay with current zoning tools rather than create new, more harmful ones that upset homeowners. Listen to your neighbors.