A controversial proposal to build apartments as part of a larger mixed-use development in Olathe’s high-end Cedar Creek area can go ahead.
The Olathe City Council on Tuesday voted 5-2 to approve the rezoning and a modified preliminary site development plan attached to the proposal from Oddo Development during an often tense and, at times, out of control meeting.
Councilmembers Dean Vakas and Matt Schoonover cast the no votes.
In late March, a collection of landowners in the area submitted a valid protest petition to the city related to the development, which would have raised the approval threshold to six votes. However, they later withdrew the petition, so a simple majority vote was all that was necessary to approve the rezoning and site plan.
The project, called Cedar Ridge, is planned near Valley Parkway and Cedar Creek Parkway off Kansas Highway 10, which neighbors the Cedar Creek community’s entrance. The fact of its location is one of the many complaints neighbors have raised about the Cedar Ridge project, as well as worries about increased traffic and environmental impacts.
What’s in the Cedar Ridge plan?
- A total of 300 apartment units are proposed in the E-shaped multistory building.
- That building will also contain 5,000 square feet of commercial space on the ground level and an internally enclosed parking structure.
- Additionally, 10 townhome units are planned across two buildings, which will be for sale, not for rent.
- Plus, there will be 28,500 square feet of standalone commercial space for retail or restaurants.
- Cedar Ridge is expected to be built out in phases, starting with the mixed-use building with the apartments and some of the standalone commercial space.
The hours-long meeting was heated
Throughout the roughly two-hour Cedar Ridge discussion, audience members frequently vocally raised their displeasure with the developer, homeowners’ association leadership who supported the project, city staff and members of the city council. At multiple moments, they shouted over speakers, and Mayor John Bacon struck his gavel to regain control of the meeting.
At one point, Scott Beeler, an attorney representing a community group called Preserve Our Neighborhood, called the Cedar Ridge development “illegal,” claiming the Olathe Planning Commission had not actually voted on the site development plan. The planning commission in March narrowly recommended the site development plan as well as rezoning for approval.
Both Deputy City Attorney Chris Grunewald and Curtis Holland, the developer’s attorney, refuted that accusation.
After the city council voted to approve the rezoning and site plan, a resident shouted “shame” at the city council, approached the dais and displayed what he said should be the city’s new flag, which said Olathe “ignores” its citizens. Bacon told the individual he was out of order, and said “we’re still in a meeting here, sir.”
Councilmembers broadly supported Cedar Ridge
Though there was significant outrage from neighbors, the bulk of the city councilmembers supported the Cedar Ridge rezoning and the development plans.
Mayor Pro Tempore Marge Vogt and Councilmember Kevin Gilmore both remarked how, in rezoning to the special Cedar Creek zoning classification, Oddo was actually subjecting his project to more stringent design, conservation and architectural standards than would be required in its existing Community Center District zoning.
“Property owners have a right to develop their property,” Gilmore said. “We get in trouble when a developer comes to us with a great project that meets all of our requirements, and then we say, ‘Well, for whatever reason, we don’t like it.’”
Councilmember Robyn Essex lauded Oddo’s willingness to make some compromises with his development plans after neighborhood meetings and following feedback from the planning commission process.
Additionally, Mayor Bacon said, while he’s unsure this is the “perfect” proposal, he does believe “it has the quality” that he “would expect to see in this area.”
“I’m concerned about the corridor preservation just like anybody else, but I think any development on this corner is going to change the look that it has today,” Bacon said, referring to the empty property at Cedar Creek’s entrance where the mixed-use project is planned. “The only way that you preserve that I think is if you buy it, and you grow trees on there from now until eternity.”
Councilmember from Cedar Creek forcefully opposed it
Councilmember Vakas, who lives in the Cedar Creek community, was by far the most vocal opponent on the council. While he said he was unopposed to the placement of apartments on this property, he was worried that the presentation of the comparatively large building would “stand out like a sore thumb” and “overpower and destroy” his neighborhood’s entrance.
Vakas, in seemingly prepared remarks that lasted roughly 20 minutes total, also insinuated city staff had misapplied planning principles when reviewing the project and that the developer had been deceptive.
Schoonover, who also voted against the project following some hesitation, as well as Councilmember LeEtta Felter, pushed back on Vakas’ assessment of the developer. Felter also expressed discontent with how Vakas had called out city staff.
Eventually, Vakas proposed a motion to send the proposal back to planning staff for 90 days to further review a few factors to make the Cedar Ridge project into something “more acceptable,” but that effort failed, 1-6.
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