The Prairie Village City Council on Monday spent more than two hours discussing housing-related topics in the city’s ongoing and, at times, fraught debate over how to address affordability concerns.
Monday’s meeting was the first time the city council formally waded back into the housing discussion since approving hotly contested housing recommendations last summer.
After Monday’s discussion, the city council unanimously directed city staff to prioritize two topics — short-term rentals and addressing long-standing concerns over teardown-rebuilds — for future discussions.
One priority: short-term rentals
- City Administrator Wes Jordan agreed city staff can work on a review of short-term rentals, like AirBnBs and Vrbos, in areas of the city zoned for single family housing, which makes up the vast majority of the city’s acreage.
- Over the past year, other Johnson County cities, including Shawnee and Overland Park, have looked into adding new restrictions for short-term rentals.
- “It’s a complex question for me,” Councilmember Chad Herring said. “I think the negative impacts, particularly in terms of home ownership, home value, having homes that can be owned or occupied by people who live there long is a greater good for our community — but I do think there are plausible reasons for some people to need those units who live and work in our community.”
Another priority: teardown-rebuilds
- At the same time, Jordan said city staff can also be working on new neighborhood design guidelines in some single-family districts, with the aim of limiting teardown-rebuild projects.
- Jordan said city staff receive the most complaints about the size of teardown-rebuilds in R1-B single-family districts because lots in R1-B zones are smaller than lots in R1-A zoes and allow the new builds take up more lot size.
- Councilmember Ron Nelson said 15 years ago, there were a few houses north of 75th Street that were not proportional to the neighborhood but now, the same area is being overrun by teardown-rebuilds.
- “You drive down Tomahawk, you see huge houses, huge,” Nelson said. “Frankly, in my view, Olathe houses or south Johnson County houses next to a Prairie Village Cape Cod that, frankly, destroys both.”
ADUs were also a hot topic
- On Monday, several councilmembers shared concerns about accessory dwelling units that may need plumbing, worried they could potentially stress the city’s infrastructure.
- Councilmember Dave Robinson said he agreed with Councilmember Ian Graves that code language around accessory living quarters needs to be cleaned up.
- Accessory dwelling units, such as backyard “granny flats,” have been a point of concern for opponents of the city’s housing recommendations.
Next steps:
- Jordan told the city council that city staff will come back to get a better sense of the size, fit and other neighborhood design ideas for prospective guidelines in R1-B district.
- Staff also needs to discuss how to embark on the neighborhood design guidelines process and who to include in the process, he said.
Go deeper: Watch the entire meeting embedded below.
