The Overland Park City Council on Monday voted to deny a developer’s proposal to rezone land to build townhomes near the site of the former Incred-A-Bowl entertainment complex.
The details: Property company N. M. S., LLC proposed a roughly 3-acre townhome complex at the northeast corner of West 151st Street and Antioch Road, immediately behind the former Incred-A-Bowl.
- The proposal included a total of 18 homes across five buildings, in addition to some buffering trees and landscaping.
- Each home would have had two stories, three bedrooms, three bathrooms, a basement and a two-car garage.
- The site would have also neighbored the existing Brittany Pointe and Brittany Highlands single-family neighborhoods to the north.
Bigger picture: Property agent Paramjeet Sabharwal, who proposed the townhomes project and also owns the corresponding site, also owns the now-vacant and unsightly Incred-A-Bowl next door.
- Sabharwal proposed a weight-loss treatment facility for the former Incred-A-Bowl after purchasing the shuttered indoor entertainment complex in 2016, but that business never opened.
- Instead, the site has remained vacant, and Sabharwal has since acquired 250 pages of code violations for the property, including violations for broken windows and potholes.
Neighbor’s opposition: The townhomes have previously been brought before the city’s planning commission three times, and each time the primary concern voiced by residents is the belief the owner will not maintain the townhomes.
- “The are too many reasons to list why this plan is a horrible idea,” resident Kristi Uenishi said. “[Dr. Sabharwal] fails to maintain every property he owns… [he] takes months to come within code and is many times threatened with legal action before complying.”
Council’s decision: A motion to deny the rezoning request passed in a 9-3 vote, with several on the council also expressing concerns with the property owner and access to the property.
- The proposed access to the site for these townhomes was on either side of the former Incred-A-Bowl building.
- “I have no problems with accessing the rental property through an easement. We do that all over the city,” Mayor Curt Skoog said. “What’s different in this project from other ones is we have not done it by an existing building that has a completely different use.”
- Councilmember Paul Lyons said he liked the idea of the townhomes being a buffer between the neighborhoods and commercial spaces, but would prefer the property be merged with the former Incred-A-Bowl space to make one large development.
What’s next? Skoog ended the discussion by asking Sabharwal to follow community standards with maintaining his property. He said the city is willing to discuss with owner how to get the Incred-A-Bowl building “to a higher and better use besides just sitting empty.”
