The developer of a multifamily residential development between Woodsonia Drive and Monticello Road asked for the plan to be remanded to the Lenexa Planning Commission.
The Lenexa City Council on Tuesday was supposed to consider rezoning and preliminary plans for The Residences on Woodsonia.
Instead, it received a request from developer Jason Swords, a founding partner with Sunflower Development, to send it back to the planning commission so he could present a new plan.
“I’d rather get it right than have regrets with it,” he said.
The remand concerned the townhomes
The project was to be split into two parts: 10 three-story apartment buildings containing 240 units total on the north side of the property, along with 11 other buildings containing a total of 62 two-story townhomes on the south side.
City council noted that the spacing of the townhomes left a lot of room in between the buildings, which Mayor Julie Sayers noted.
“That has felt, for lack of better words, strange,” she said, “It was so spread out that you would have such an odd distance in between those buildings.”
Swords said the new plan would have the townhomes be duplexes that would contain two units per building, rather than four, allowing it to cover more of the property. It would also have larger parking areas.
The developer wants to “get it right”
Throughout Swords’ talk with city council, he reiterated that the project was his first in Lenexa and that he wanted to make a good impression.
For the original submission, he shared how he met with neighboring communities, like the Watercrest Landing Homeowners Association. He said he would do it again with the new plan.
“We’re doing our best to be very good neighbors,” he said.
City council had feedback
City councilmember Bill Nicks expressed skepticism with the project, starting with the plan to rezone property from agricultural to planned residential (both high-density and intermediate-density levels).
“I’m not a fan of apartments, period,” he said. “That land on our [comprehensive] plan had said as, as you mentioned, medium density. To me, that’s RP-2 and 3. So I would like please, for the planning commission, not only look at the south plan, but to look at the zoning that’s being requested for those apartments.”
Councilmember Courtney Eiterich also brought up the apartment’s proximity to the Powder Creek Shooting Park, which was discussed during the previous planning commission meeting. She wanted it to be clear that prospective tenants knew how close they were to a shooting range.
“My mother lives really close to there. And it’s loud,” she said. “So when you’re driving across the street, I want people to know exactly what they’re moving into.”
Swords responded that tenants would have to sign a separate document that made it clear the apartments were close to the range.
Mayor Sayers shared her appreciation for the developer’s “due diligence” to get the project right for the area.
“I think even just the snapshot of what you showed definitely feels a lot better and a good transition between the single family and then the duplexes and then the multifamily [residences],” she added.
The city council unanimously agreed to remand the project to the commission. Swords said a new plan will be submitted to the planning commission by the end of the month. It will be taken up during its March 4 meeting.
Go deeper: Lenexa advances plan for 300 apartments, townhomes off Woodsonia
