Overland Park limits the height of future apartment buildings. Why the changes? | KCUR

A divided Overland Park City Council approved changes to the city’s development code, including new restrictions on the height of apartment buildings.

Although city staff characterized the changes — which also include other amendments to the city’s Unified Development Ordinance — as “interim” and “incremental,” the proposal still sparked heated debate among council members at the Monday, Nov. 4, meeting.

Ultimately, the council approved the changes on a 7-5 vote, with Mayor Curt Skoog casting the deciding affirmative vote.

Remarkably, the code changes set a height limit for apartments in the city’s most densely populated multifamily zones, labeled RP-6.

They also eliminate a minimum height requirement in the same RP-6 areas and codify so-called “transition zones” between higher-density multifamily projects – which are typically several stories tall – and established areas with suburban homes nearby.

Apartment height limit split Overland Park City Council

The discussion on the topic — which was initially on the meeting agenda but was removed at the request of Councilman Jeff Cox — lasted more than an hour and at times devolved into debates about the philosophy of housing in Johnson County’s largest city.

Previously, the changes to the Unified Development Ordinance passed through the Overland Park Planning Commission without objection and passed 9-0.

Additionally, city staff have said these changes are intended as a “patch” of sorts as the city prepares for a widespread overhaul of city development codes to bring them in line with the new comprehensive plan, Framework OP.

Ultimately, the municipal council approved the adjustments to the development code 7-5.

Council President Logan Heley and council members Cox, Melissa Cheatham, Scott Mosher and Richard Borlaza voted no. Mayor Curt Skoog’s yes vote was necessary to approve the amendments.

Councilman Chris Newlin was absent from last Monday’s meeting.

What development codes are changing in Overland Park?

Most of the updates are focused on residential construction, but there are also some updates for other land use types.

Current planning director Brian Monberg said at last week’s meeting that the changes made so far reflect neighbors’ concerns about recent projects that have gone through the planning process and common variance requests from developers, as well as changes in the development industry.

The changes approved last week include:

• Apartment buildings in the city’s densest residential area, RP-6, may not exceed five stories without a variance request from a developer.
• The apartment building height of at least four stories in the RP-6 district has now been eliminated.
• The new height limit will not affect multi-family units in larger mixed-use projects.
• The update also codifies transition zones between the two densest multifamily zone classes, RP-5 and RP-6, and adjacent single-family residential areas. They also cannot go to areas designated as suburban neighborhoods or rural transition zones in the new Framework OP long-term plan.
• Buildings can now be as long as 150 meters, provided there are some design elements or modulations to break up the facades. Previously, buildings were not allowed to be taller than 60 meters without an approved variance request.
• Additionally, these changes make way for the city’s housing readiness pilot program, aimed at accelerating pre-approved housing designs in certain areas of the city.
• It also highlights some changes related to commercial building materials and deviations from the requirements in that area.

These changes are “interim,” Monberg said, meaning they are intended as a stopgap measure to bring part of the city’s development code into compliance with the new standards established in Framework OP, prior to a larger update that will probably take several months. complete.

‘Why are we closing ourselves in?’

During the meeting, councilors were divided over the changes to the Unified Development Ordinance, with emotions running high at times.

The main disagreement was over the new height limit for apartments in zoning RP-6, with several council members questioning the need for such a limit.

“We should not add roadblocks to adding housing in our community. We need to do everything we can to encourage housing,” Heley said. “I think this seems like an unnecessary way to make building housing in our community more difficult rather than easier.”

At one point, Councilor Mitrisin offered an alternative motion that would have approved the amendments without the apartment height limit.

“Why do we box ourselves in?” Mitrisin asked. “If anyone thinks they can support housing in our community, I don’t want to negotiate against them right now.”

That motion was defeated by a vote of 4-7, falling short of the nine positive votes that would have been needed to deviate from the planning commission’s recommendation. Borlaza, Mitrisin, Cheatham and Heley voted in favor of Mitrisin’s alternative motion.

Ultimately, Mitrisin voted to approve the amendments as recommended.

“I don’t want Overland Park to be that.”

For his part, Cox decried density in housing projects, but did not go into detail about the issues he has with these specific updates to the Unified Development Ordinance. He said the council’s housing decisions “degrade what Overland Park is and why everyone loves it.”

“I’m trying to preserve what’s beautiful about Overland Park, and there’s a big cost associated with density,” Cox said. “There is a cost to this incessant push to make us a city from a suburban community…I just don’t want Overland Park to be that.”

Ultimately, support for the amendments won.

“I see this as a way to solve some of the challenges that both our residents and our developers have faced on projects that this council has looked at,” Mayor Skoog said.

Cox also complained that the topic was initially on the consent agenda. (Normally, items approved unanimously by the Planning Commission, as these proposed changes were, are placed on the approval agenda for council approval without discussion.)

However, Cox believed the proposed changes focused on key issues that the council had been arguing about recently. He said he would have preferred to discuss these changes in a study session before they ended up on the City Council agenda.

In response, Skoog said any insinuation that the City Council was not transparent or had malicious intent in its handling of the issue is “outrageous and wrong.”

Next steps

The city still plans to conduct a full review of the Unified Development Ordinance in the coming months.

City staff have indicated that these upcoming changes will likely include additional or different changes to Overland Park’s standards for apartments, though it’s unclear what that might look like.

Any future changes will also require approval from both the Planning Commission and City Council.

Overland Park also continues to develop a new special purpose district for the College and Metcalf area which could set separate standards for building height, width and other factors to encourage mixed-use redevelopment in that prominent corridor.

This story was originally published by the Johnson County Post.