The proposed multifamily housing project The Zarah in Shawnee will not move forward.
At a Shawnee Planning Commission meeting on Monday, Doug Allmon, deputy community development director, announced the developer withdrew plans for the project, which was scheduled to go before the planning commission that night.
“We have decided not to move forward with the remanded planning commission and to also remove the application from consideration,” Brian Jones, president of Brian Jones Enterprises, the project’s developer, wrote in a letter to the commission.
The Zarah proposed adding apartments and townhomes
Proposed for a site at 5095 Old K-7 Road, the project would have comprised a mix of apartments and townhomes that would have included nearly 185 multifamily housing units, including apartments and townhomes.
First proposed in May to the planning commission, the project called for four three-story apartment buildings and seven two-story townhome buildings as well as on-site amenities like a pool and clubhouse.
The site is used for agriculture, with one single-family home on the property.
The Shawnee City Council had already expressed doubts
On Aug. 28, the city council sent the project back to the planning commission after almost three hours of discussion.
It faced scrutiny by the city council, who expressed concerns about density, traffic and public safety.
Neighboring residents also opposed it, ultimately filing a valid protest petition against the project proposal this summer.
Neighboring communities rallied against it
At both commission and city council meetings where the project was brought up for discussion, neighboring residents voiced their disdain.
Their fears for the project included: Overflow parking spilling into other neighborhoods, its environmental impact and public safety concerns.
At the city council meeting, it was enough to convince some councilmembers, such as Eric Jenkins, to send it back to the commission for review.
“I was favoring the project. It looked like a good project,” he said at the meeting. “Then I come in here tonight and I hear some pretty good arguments.”
The city council voted 7-1 to remand it to the commission.
The project will go back to city council
The commission voted 8-0 to return the withdrawal of the rezoning request and preliminary development plans for The Zarah back to the city council with no action. Commission members Leo Nunnink and Bruce Bienhoff were absent.
“The item will be disposed of with a final vote [by city council] so that it’s not just kind of floating in air, if you will,” Allmon said.
The city council is expected to vote on the project’s removal Oct. 9.
Go deeper: As debate over housing rages, development in Shawnee cools
