Plans to build an apartment complex on part of the former site of the Metcalf South shopping center in Overland Park are currently “in limbo” after the city council failed to meet a required consensus on how to move forward Monday night.
That’s because — with Councilmember Inas Younis absent from the meeting Monday — the city council did not have the required 10 votes to approve the rezoning for the redevelopment project over a valid protest petition filed by neighboring residents.
The city council also did not have enough votes to reject the proposal against the advice of the Overland Park Planning Commission either.
So, after more than two hours of discussion about the proposal by developer Thompson Thrift to build more than 300 apartments at the site once occupied by a Sears department store, the city council had no choice but to vote to continue the proposal to a later meeting.
With that in mind, Mayor Curt Skoog said the project is “kind of in limbo” for now.
300+ apartments planned at Metcalf South site
- In total, 303 apartments are proposed at the site of the former mall, the last vestige of which, the Sears store, was torn down a couple of years ago.
- The planned apartments would be divided up between two four-story buildings, on the site at the northeast corner of 97th and Metcalf.
- Additionally, the plan shows a dog park and a pool
Apartment proposal has neighbors worried
Over the last several months, neighbors from surrounding single-family neighborhoods like Pinehurst Estates and Nall Hills as well as a duplex community have come out in force to oppose the development.
On Monday, a handful of neighbors made a 30-minute presentation about why they thought the Thompson Thrift proposal should be denied. Other individuals also spoke against the project, as well, including Johnson County Commissioner Charlotte O’Hara, who lives in southern Overland Park.
Speakers expressed worries that ran the gamut, from the possible impact on property values, traffic, crime, density, safety, privacy and the fit of the development in the area around them.
On top of residents’ vocal criticism of the project, a valid protest petition was submitted against the apartment plan after the planning commission recommended its approval in May, requiring a higher threshold of approval from the city council.
Metcalf South redevelopment plans have fallen through before
- The mall and the wider retail district at the corner of 97th and Metcalf served the community for about 50 years.
- A decade ago, the Metcalf South mall closed, but the Sears store held on until 2017.
- In the years since, efforts to redevelop the site have had mixed results.
- Previously, there was a different apartment proposal for the site, and later, a commercial proposal anchored by a 93,000-square-foot Life Time Fitness.
- Last year, Texas Roadhouse and QuikTrip both opened new locations on the site, closer to Metcalf.
- Dutch Bros also plans to soon open a new drive-thru coffee shop on that corner.
Councilmembers split on philosophical differences
Most of the councilmembers at the meeting on Monday seemed to acknowledge that while they didn’t necessarily believe apartments were the most ideal use of the site, it was still an appropriate use.
Additionally, councilmembers expressed a desire to see something better than a large, vacant lot anchor a key property in the broader Vision Metcalf plan.
Councilmember Drew Mitrisin, who lives in the nearby Nall Hills neighborhood, said he sees this as “a tough question.”
“We have Vision Metcalf, which was worked hard on a couple years ago,” he said. “It feels like to me that this is very much in line with our vision for Metcalf. … All we talk about all the time is housing on the Metcalf corridor to promote a healthy spine for our city.”
Councilmember Jim Kite said he felt this proposal was likely “the best destiny for this property.”
“There’s always somebody that doesn’t want change,” he said.
Kite added that “I can’t for the life of me” understand why neighbors would prefer the deteriorating remains of a “failed mall” and a bunch of “breaking up asphalt.”
A few councilmembers — most notably Councilmember Jeff Cox — were starkly opposed to the development proposal.
“It’s the same argument over and over and over again, and it’s just a priority difference that I have with most of my colleagues and the mayor,” Cox said, alluding to previous clashes over proposals to build multifamily housing in various parts of the city. “While I’m not going to say that my colleagues don’t care, you don’t care enough about how it affects the neighbors.”
Cox also said he doesn’t care to represent the needs of people who don’t already live in Overland Park and suggested that he believed his fellow councilmembers wanted to see the city become more urban. He also called apartment complexes like the one proposed “ugly.”
Additionally, Cox and Mayor Curt Skoog sparred at times on Monday, particularly after Skoog asked Cox not to “refer to other councilmembers” and discuss what Cox thinks other individuals believe.
Ultimately, a motion to approve the rezoning application failed to pass, with eight in favor and three against. Councilmembers Cox, Gregg Riess and Scott Mosher cast the no votes.
Next steps:
- The Thompson Thrift apartment project is expected to return to the city council later this month during the Aug. 19 meeting.
- An associated revised preliminary site plan that covers the wider 97th Street and Metcalf redevelopment area will also return to the city council at that time.
Looking back: New plan for old Overland Park Sears site on Metcalf clears hurdle
