Plans for an almost 45-acre freight trucking development in northwestern Shawnee will go back to city council after it was remanded in February.
The Shawnee Planning Commission on Monday voted 8-1 to take no action on a rezoning remand for XPO, a less-than-truckload (LTL) transportation company, to build a development at the 22400 block of West 43rd Street, east of K-7 Highway. The action means the Shawnee City Council will again consider the project at a later date.
Commissioner Bill Holick was in dissent. Commissioners Carol Norman and Amit Bhakta were absent.
The commission previously approved plans for the project with a 9-1 vote in January. Following that, the city council voted 7-0 on Feb. 12 to remand the plans to the commission over concerns about how it would impact the nearby neighborhoods.
The project would be on undeveloped land
The site plan includes a new 152,000-square-foot truck terminal, 31,000-square-foot maintenance building and improvements to the site.
It will be located off of West 43rd Street, between Powell Drive and Lakecrest Drive.
Goods would be produced off site and transported to and from the proposed facility. The project also includes offices and a maintenance building.
City council had issues with the project
City council remanded the project, noting the following concerns:
- Potential noise impacting nearby neighborhoods
- Lighting bleeding out to residential homes near the facility
- Traffic concerns
During its presentation, Lauren Grashoff, Shawnee deputy community development director, addressed each issue.
The city expects noise to stay below allowed volume levels
The facility will operate 24 hours a day, Grashoff said, with expected regular beeping from trucks backing up and other equipment, as well as noises associated with semi trailer delivery drops.
In city documents, XPO stated freight deliveries will occur off site in the mornings, and trucks will pick up new shipments from the facility in the afternoon. It also stated distance would help mitigate disturbances to nearby homes.
Grashoff noted the closest single-family home is about 700 feet from the southwest corner of the building.
Lighting will be dampened by vegetation, distance
There will be several barriers that would help block the facility and parking lot lighting, Grashoff said, including:
- A majority of the lighting would be on the north side of the building, farther away from residential homes.
- XPO is proposing a landscape buffer of 50 shade and evergreen trees along the entirety of West 43rd Street, shielding residential subdivisions to the south of the property.
- The closest residences are approximately 10 to 20 feet higher than the elevation than the subject site, which, along with the vegetation, would limit their views of the lights.
Changes to nearby roads will help with traffic
Addressing concerns about trucks driving through residential neighborhoods on Lakecrest Drive, Grashoff said all traffic from the facility would have to exit right out of the site toward nearby K-7 Highway.
“We’d, of course, be directing everything through K-7,” said Sean Conners, XPO real estate manager. “That’s largely the appeal of the building right here, is the access to the interstate. It’s not going to go through communities.”
The roadway on West 43rd Street between Powell Drive and the eastern edge of the XPO property is in poor shape and will need to be rebuilt, according to city documents. XPO is in negotiations with the city on funding for road improvements.
Neighbors still have issues with the project
During public comment, Stuart White, a resident in the nearby Riverview subdivision on Lakecrest Drive, expressed worry about how late trucks arrive.
“Peak travel time is when we’re all watching the evening news, about ready to go to bed,” he said. “So you have hundreds of diesel (trucks) now that’s impacting hundreds of homes. That’s extraordinary. That is not ordinary to the area today.”
Tom Wheeler, a resident on West 45th Street, also expressed concerns that the trucks will compound what he already sees as too much traffic, along with Amazon delivery vehicles.
“I don’t know what extent that restrictions [will have] on the roadway or whether that’s going to fix the problem,” he said. “But we have a real concern that this proposal will further create problems.”
In response to the comments, Conners, the XPO representative, said XPO does its best not to disturb neighborhoods.
“We have 250 facilities nationally, quite a few of those are located very close to residential areas,” Conners said. “We do not currently have any complaints regarding noise or impact of our operations bleeding into or interfering with anyone’s daily life.”
The commission re-sent it forward to city council
While some of the commissioner expressed skepticism with the noise and traffic, most agreed it was the best fit for the property.
“I know it’s not ideal in terms of noise, light, traffic, but nothing about urbanization is,” said Commissioner Joe Van Walleghem. “I’m in favor of this proposal because I think it’s the natural progression of the development of western Shawnee.”
Taking no action — which means the commission suggests no changes from the plans it already approved — it agreed to send the plan back to city council to discuss at a later date.
Go deeper: Shawnee council remands new freight trucking development
