After more than a year of strife over the housing recommendation discussion, Prairie Village took a step to clarify where the city is — and has been — in the process.
The Prairie Village City Council on Monday approved a motion brought forward by Councilmember Greg Shelton that declared the city is not actively working on certain aspects of the housing recommendations, including the promotion of accessory dwelling units in single-family neighborhoods — a sticking point for the resident group opposed to the housing recommendations, Stop Rezoning Prairie Village.
Some councilmembers at the Prairie Village City Council meeting on Monday said taking a moment to clear up confusion around attainable housing will help heal the community. Meanwhile, their colleagues and some members of the public suggested the city was only trying to gain goodwill, but ultimately accomplished nothing.
This comes after Shelton, alongside councilmembers Dave Robinson and Terrence Gallagher, placed an item on the Oct. 2 agenda to remove accessory dwelling units, lot size modifications and those housing recommendations from an April priority list.
After 45 minutes of discussion, the city council approved the motion in an 8-to-3 vote. Councilmembers Bonnie Limbird, Lauren Wolf and Ian Graves voted against the motion. Councilmember Chad Herring was absent.
A copy of the motion, shared with the Post by city staff, is below.
Some residents question the timing of the motion
Resident Tom Clough said because accessory dwelling units are in Village Vision 2.0, the city’s comprehensive plan, a motion to remove them from a priority list accomplishes nothing.
He also said that the city council knows that even if accessory dwelling units are removed from the discussion now, the housing type can be brought back up in future discussions.
Clough asked the city council to defer a vote on a motion to remove accessory dwelling units from the conversation until the new city council is seated.
“This is your opportunity to recognize this council as it is currently seated has no credible path forward to resolve these issues,” Clough said.
Others, like residents Clay Harper and Dennis Boody, asked the city council to keep accessory dwelling units on the table for future consideration.
Boody said he and his wife want to age in place in Prairie Village, but that may be unattainable with rising property values.
“We might be able to move into an ADU and then our kids can move into the big house and then those grandkids can graduate from Shawnee Mission East the same way our kids did,” Boody said.
Council debates whether the motion accomplishes anything
Some, like councilmembers Inga Selders and Courtney McFadden, said the motion is needed to start to heal the community, which has been divided since the housing recommendations were advanced in summer 2022.
Councilmember Cole Robinson said the city needs some sort of document, like Councilmember Shelton’s motion, that summarizes the city council’s actions on the housing recommendations.
Councilmember Gallagher said the city needs the motion to clarify what the city council is currently focused on, adding that future city councils can change decisions of their predecessors.
Others, like councilmembers Wolf and Limbird, said the city council’s April discussion clearly laid out the intent to prioritize teardown-rebuilds and short-term rentals.
Limbird said she believes people are confused about what is going on because of “the purposeful disinformation that’s out there.” While she appreciates the intent behind the motion, Limbird said, “it doesn’t matter.”
“The opposition to any discussions around housing at all has already shown they are not good faith negotiators,” Limbird said. “This is not going to make them happy, which they have already proven and, as it’s been said, it doesn’t change anything politically or legally within the city.”
Teardown-rebuilds to come back for further discussion
The city council during a committee meeting also advanced next steps on refining neighborhood design guidelines as a way to address the ongoing teardown-rebuild phenomenon.
City Planner Chris Brewster laid out two options for the city council to discuss and provide direction on, either:
- “Simple size restrictions” to reduce building coverage over a lot from 30% to 25% and height from 29 feet to 27 feet, or
- “Refined massing standards” to reduce the scope of the side of a building, but would leave building coverage at 30% and reduce the height to 27 feet.
Councilmember Wolf said she is interested in both options because both address the city’s concern about the size of homes being built.
Councilmember Gallagher cautioned that the “simple size restrictions” option may negatively impact existing homeowners who want to build an addition on their home. Councilmember Ron Nelson asked if it is possible to bring building coverage from 30% down to 27% instead.
Councilmember Selders said “overall size is still a sore thumb” and a maximum height of 25 feet is ideal.
The city council, during the council committee of the whole, directed city staff to continue to explore “refined massing standards.” This item will come back to the city council for further discussion, potentially with other options for height and building coverage based on council discussion.
Next steps:
- The Prairie Village Planning Commission on Tuesday is considering a “specific strategy” related to the housing recommendations based on direction to city staff in August.
- Attend the meeting in person at 7 p.m. at city hall, 7700 Mission Road, or tune in online here.
Go deeper: Watch the entire city council meeting online here.
Editor’s note: Prairie Village City Councilmember Greg Shelton is married to Post publisher Jay Senter’s sister.
