Dunkin’ is eyeballing an old office parking lot in Overland Park for a new coffee shop with a drive-thru near Johnson County Community College.
The Overland Park City Council Monday evening signed off on the rezoning required for the drive-thru at Quivira Road and Cody Street over staff’s objections. The council approved the application 9-1.
The new restaurant, which would eat up some of the unused surplus parking in the College Oaks Office Park, would be about 2,000 square feet. The drive-thru is planned for the west side of the building and outdoor seating is planned for the south side.
City staff didn’t support the rezoning request
- Overland Park planning staff recommended the city council deny the application to shift the property from Planned Office Building District to Planned General Business District.
- The project is not in line with the long-range land-use plans for the site that envision more office development on that particular property.
- “It was staff’s opinion that a more comprehensive redevelopment plan would be better so that development could complement the surrounding uses and not create an isolated drive thru,” Leslie Karr, interim planning and development services director, told the city council.
- She noted it would likely attract “thoroughfare” traffic to the area that would be unrelated to the office park.
- Still, the Overland Park Planning Commission recommended approval of the rezoning application last month, 5-3.
Future of office development uncertain
This area has mostly office buildings with some commercial properties, including a McDonald’s with a drive-thru, to the west.
Though it is currently a parking lot for College Oaks, the site was rezoned in the late 1980s for a two-story office building that was never built, according to city planning documents.
Councilmembers did reference the shaky future of large-scale office uses, particularly whether it’s viable to build more at all as work from home and hybrid work becomes more of the norm.
Councilmember Scott Mosher, who used to work in the area, also said that parking lot has long been underutilized.
He said he’d support putting a drive-thru in the location, particularly after pick-up and drive-thru windows became something of a necessity during the pandemic.
“For this to be a viable business in that location, a drive-thru is a must,” Mosher said.
Overland Park pursues land-use plan update
- This application also comes while Overland Park and other cities in Johnson County reexamine their comprehensive plans — long-term planning documents that, among other things, identify land uses for the future.
- Karr said that process in Overland Park is still in the early stages, but there is likely going to be a push to see more mixing of uses that are naturally “supportive” of each other.
- Councilmember Jeff Cox also forecasted some of this property and others like it might be facing redevelopment or reimagining down the road anyway.
- He also said he didn’t think this Dunkin’ location would impede those efforts down the line, suggesting that it might fit in nicely.
Heley preferred redevelopment with a housing element
- Councilmember Logan Heley cast the lone dissenting vote on the rezoning application. Earlier in the meeting though, he said he “almost got to overcoming” his hesitations.
- “If this were to be more comprehensively redeveloped,” he said, “I would hope that multifamily housing or some sort of condos or apartments, especially this close to Johnson County Community College, would be part of that conversation.”
- Councilmembers Melissa Cheatham and Faris Farassati were absent Monday.
Related news: Drive-thru coffee shop in revised Overland Park development plan
