Residents in Roe Circle, a cul-de-sac of distinctive mid-century homes in Prairie Village near 75th Street and Roe Avenue, can now see the Prairie Baptist Church parking lot from their backyards.
And they’re not happy about it.
The church, which sits at 75th and Roe, removed several trees on its property that butt up to Brush Creek, which runs between the church and the Roe Circle homes.
Residents say they are upset about the trees’ removal — not only because, without the trees, there’s now additional noise and light pollution coming from the busy intersection at 75th and Roe — but because, they say, neither the church nor the city of Prairie Village notified them about the removal.
Instead, residents say they woke up one morning in mid-May to the sound of trees being torn out of the ground adjacent to their properties.
But both the church and city say Prairie Baptist is private property, and a formal notice was not required before the tree removal operation commenced.
Still, residents aren’t satisfied. They say the trees’ removal could ultimately lower their homes’ values. They also argue that the trees’ removal potentially violated the city’s new tree protection ordinance, which went into effect June 1.
But city officials say that ordinance only applies to certain activities, such as new commercial or residential developments, and was not relevant in this case.
‘A long history of a giant problem’
The hillside behind Prairie Baptist is no stranger to erosion issues.
Rev. Kathy Picket said the hillside hasn’t been stable since the Army Corps of Engineers first dug into it in the 1960s in order to put up walls along Brush Creek.
Time and time again, the property has been reworked without being totally stabilized, Picket said.
When a section of the church parking lot collapsed in 2013, eight parking spaces were lost and a safety fence was installed.
Prairie Baptist sold an adjacent property immediately to the west of the church along 75th Street to Sharp Law for $600,000 last summer and used that money to buckle down and fix the hillside.
After spending thousands of dollars on engineering studies, Picket said the church was told the erosion issue extended to both sides of the lot.
There was no other option, Picket said, as engineers told the church that the severe damage underground required the trees to be removed and the hill reinforced.
Picket said the tree removal is the result of “a long history of a giant problem.”
“We were faced with a much bigger repair job than we ever imagined it was going to be,” Picket said.
Residents frustrated
Amy Dix, a Roe Circle resident, woke up to the sound of a large claw ripping trees out of the ground across the creek.
She and other Roe Circle residents — who are a tight-knit community, Dix said — began to protest the trees’ removal.
One of the main concerns, Dix said, is how the trees’ removal may impact property values.
Roe Circle is made up of several well-maintained, mid-century modern homes, often referred to as “The Revere Homes,” built in the 1940s and 1950s and once featured in a photo spread in Life magazine.
The exteriors of these homes, including manicured lawns and landscaping, are just as important as the homes’ interiors, Dix said.
While the trees aren’t on residents’ property, Dix said she and others on Roe Circle feel not every option was explored by the church.
Her concerns and those of her neighbors, encompass a variety of issues — from worries about the impact on their home values to the effect on the environment.
“There’s no one winning right now,” Dix said. “It feels like we just killed a fox habitat, an owl habitat, we have an ugly view — and nature is such a big part of why we live in Prairie Village.”
Light and sound leaking over the church’s parking lot from 75th Street are also sources of concern Dix said.
The city, church and Roe Circle residents did meet the same afternoon that construction began in May, but Dix said the damage had already been done and that the meeting resolved nothing.
Why no notice was given
Neither Prairie Baptist nor the city of Prairie Village informed Roe Circle residents that the trees were going to be removed, leaving them with a sense of hopelessness, Dix said.
“They didn’t give us a chance to say what our other options were, because now from our mid-century modern homes, we can see 75th Street,” Dix said. “It’s really unsightly and unfortunate.”
When the church sold property to Sharp Law and the firm submitted a rezoning request, Picket said the city held community meetings and notified nearby residents accordingly.
Based on that experience, Picket said she and the church were under the impression that news of the tree removal would be relayed to the residents by the city.
Keith Bredehoft, Prairie Village public works director, said formal notice wasn’t required because the trees sat on the church’s property.
There’s also no city ordinance requiring notice when there’s no new development involved.
Both Bredehoft and Picket say they believe formal notice to the Roe Circle residents would have greatly helped the situation and potentially avoided some of the hurt feelings.
Now, the city is looking into how it can change the process in the future and potentially require review by staff for similar situations in the future.
The church is working with residents to find a solution to the light and sound issues, as well as their concerns about their backyard views, including potentially building a privacy fence.
“We do want to be good neighbors and we do want to be able to do the best that we can to recognize the difference it makes for [Roe Circle residents],” Picket said. “But at the same time, we really didn’t have any other options.”
