Olathe has narrowly approved an incentive plan for a mixed-use project expected to fill in the final parcels at the southwest corner of 127th Street and Black Bob Road.
Last week, a split Olathe City Council voted 4-3 to advance millions in industrial revenue bonds and a tax abatement plan for what is expected to become the next phase of the Clearing at One28 multifamily and mixed-use development.
The project will sit in the pocket of land between the existing Clearing at One28 apartments on the site of the former Olathe Public Library Indian Creek branch, a collection of long-standing commercial space and the PineCrest Townhomes. Aaron Mesmer, who is part of the development team, called this development the “hole in the doughnut.”
In all, 84 apartments and 7,000 square feet of commercial space are planned. Mesmer said the first-floor commercial spaces could be used for things like a coffee shop, an ice cream place or small offices.
Here are the details:
The project is on track to get about $30.6 million in industrial revenue bonds, a type of private activity bonds, which the developer has to pay. In Olathe, these bonds are usually reserved for industrial developments, typically in the city’s booming southwest industrial corridor.
Additionally, the project will get a property tax abatement of 90% for the first five years and 50% for the sixth year.
Initially, the applicant requested a 100% tax abatement for the first five years and 50% for the sixth year, but the city council amended the proposal on the dais before voting on it.
Olathe staff recommended incentive denial
- Olathe typically shies away from issuing incentives for multifamily projects on otherwise undeveloped sites, which is part of this development.
- Additionally, John Page, Olathe’s financial strategy manager, told the city council that the estimated cost-benefit ratio on the initial proposal was lower than the city’s typical standard.
- For those reasons, Page said city staff recommended the city council deny the incentive proposal.
Some councilmembers worried about the precedent
- Councilmember LeEtta Felter expressed concern that greenlighting incentives for the next phase of the Clearing at One28 would be veering too far from the city’s own policies.
- “How can we say yes to one and not yes to the other,” she said. “The same ruler for all is all I’m asking.”
- Councilmember Robyn Essex said she felt there was more work to do before she’d be comfortable voting for it.
- Felter, Essex and Councilmember Adam Mickelson cast the no votes.
Other councilmembers support Clearing at One28 next phase
- Mayor John Bacon and councilmembers Kevin Gilmore, Marge Vogt and Wes McCoy voted yes.
- Bacon said he liked the idea of a vertical mixed-use concept with residential stacked on top of commercial spaces, which he finds to be fairly unique in Olathe.
- He also supported the project because it will finish out that block on Blackbob and fit in with the development that has already occurred nearby.
- Similarly, Gilmore, who serves as the mayor pro tempore, said he sees this as a chance to look at what’s “best interest of everybody going forward.”
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