Shawnee could be on track to revise its current long-range development plan, more commonly called a comprehensive plan.
Earlier this week, the Shawnee City Council started workshopping the plan, known as Achieve Shawnee, during a council committee meeting. The conversation focused mostly on multifamily housing and mixed-use developments, which usually combine commercial and some kind of higher density housing in one area.
No changes were made this week to the Achieve Shawnee plan adopted in 2021, but multiple councilmembers signaled they have some revisions they’d like to see made to the plan in their wards.
“We want it to be reflective of what the governing body thinks,” city manager Doug Gerber said of the comprehensive plan. “But we also don’t want to change the comprehensive plan every 20 minutes because there are new views, right?”
What is a comprehensive plan?
- Though not binding like an ordinance or city code might be, comprehensive plans are used by municipal governments to identify long-term ideal development patterns for a city.
- Ken Boone, a land architect with Olsson Studio, said they can serve as a roadmap for developers who want to build in the city as well as for planning commissioners and city councilmembers tasked with considering those projects.
- These plans usually focus on zoning and more specific land uses and usually last for 10 to 20 years.
- They also are usually approved after a prolonged process of community engagement and public discussion.
What’s in Achieve Shawnee?
- Shawnee’s current comprehensive plan — the city’s first in more than 30 years — identifies areas appropriate for different types of housing density, commercial developments, open space, industrial zones and other distinct types of zoning in districts.
- It also describes a few areas where some kinds of hybrid development may be suitable, particularly in central Shawnee and in downtown.
- The plan also briefly discusses transportation and other variables to consider in development, like traffic infrastructure and parks development.
- There are also sections dedicated to broader descriptions of potential ares of growth in the city, like more residential uses out west, mixed development around 67th Street and I-435 as well as commercial zones in the southwest corner of the city.
Next steps:
- What exactly councilmembers want to change in the comprehensive plan was not discussed.
- However, this is the beginning of a conversation likely to end in some form of Achieve Shawnee revisions, which councilmembers have been asking for for months, council president Eric Jenkins said.
- They did not set a date for further discussion, but Jenkins predicted any revisions might get put on the back burner during the budget approval process that started over the weekend with a council retreat.
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