Last year’s hotly-discussed Prairie Village petitions are headed before a panel of three appellate judges next month.
After nearly a year in the Kansas Court of Appeals, three much-discussed petitions — circulated by PV United, also known as Stop Rezoning Prairie Village, a group of residents who opposed zoning changes — are scheduled for a hearing at 1:30 p.m. on Oct. 16.
City Administrator Wes Jordan told the Post via email on Wednesday that he anticipates both sides will be able to share “their perspectives of the case and be prepared to answer questions the Court may have.”
Stop Rezoning PV’s spokesperson could not be reached for comment for this story.
One petition called for limitations on rezoning in Prairie Village, and two separate petitions called for abandoning the city’s current form of government and adopting a new form. The “adoption” petition also wanted to slash the Prairie Village City Council in half from 12 councilmembers to six during a year when six council seats were up for election.
This hearing comes nearly a year after Johnson County District Court Judge Rhonda Mason issued a ruling that only one of the three petitions — the “abandon” petition which called for less drastic government changes — was eligible for a future ballot.
PV United filed a notice of appeal days after Mason issued her final ruling. The city filed its own appeal in response in early October 2023.
Remember: These petitions are separate from a recent recall petition against Prairie Village Mayor Eric Mikkelson. That petition was circulated for signatures this past summer and failed to meet the necessary threshold to move forward.
A breakdown of the petitions in question
Stop Rezoning PV circulated three separate petitions for signatures last summer, intending to get each petition on the November 2023 ballot. Thousands of residents signed each of the three petitions.
Here’s what the petitions said, in summary:
- The “rezoning” petition called for limiting rezoning and, in particular, curtailing the use of accessory dwelling units — such as so-called “granny flats” — and other multifamily projects in single-family neighborhoods in Prairie Village.
- The “abandon” petition aimed to throw out the city’s current mayor-council form of government. The petition’s organizers have called the current form of government a “strong mayor” form and signaled an interest in paring back mayoral power.
- The “adoption” petition sought to replace the mayor-council form of government with a mayor-council-manager form of government. That petition included language that would have slashed the Prairie Village City Council in half from 12 councilmembers to six and would have effectively ended six councilmembers’ terms two years early.
Mason issued three separate rulings in a matter of days in September 2023, but ultimately found that only the “abandon” petition was eligible for a ballot measure.
The rulings were issued after the Johnson County Election Office’s deadline to place a measure on the November 2023 ballot, meaning none of the three petitions were included.
How attainable housing ideas turned into a lawsuit
After years of discussing the topic of attainable housing and developing a committee tasked with developing ideas, the Prairie Village City Council in summer 2022 unanimously advanced a set of three housing recommendations the committee presented.
The first of the three housing recommendations called for amending “the city’s zoning regulations to allow quality, attainable housing, especially missing middle housing by-right in more zoning districts.”
That specific recommendation led to intense pushback from residents at a July meeting, who packed council chambers after yellow flyers alerting the public of the housing recommendations appeared at the city’s Independence Day celebration Village Fest.
Those residents banded together against zoning code changes under the name of PV United, also known as Stop Rezoning PV.
Stop Rezoning PV spent months packing council chambers calling for the removal of single-family zoning districts — which make up a vast majority of Prairie Village’s bedroom community — from the housing recommendations.
At times, the resident group turned their pleas to leave single family neighborhoods alone into personal attacks against some city leaders — with city officials sometimes pushing back.
As the divisive conversation around housing continued into 2023, Stop Rezoning PV drafted and began circulating three different petitions that summer.
The city ultimately took those petitions to Johnson County District Court, where Mason ruled — after flip-flopping on previous rulings — that only one of the three petitions were eligible for a ballot measure.
A legal representative of Stop Rezoning PV filed an appeal on behalf of the group days after Mason’s final ruling in an effort to reverse her decision on the two ineligible petitions. The city filed a cross-appeal in October 2023.
In July 2024, two years after the housing debate kicked off, the city council approved zoning code updates in all zoning districts except single-family neighborhoods.
Read an in-depth explanation of how the city’s housing recommendations divided Prairie Village for the better part of two years.
What’s happening now?
- A hearing is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. on Oct. 16 in the Kansas Court of Appeals in Leavenworth, Kansas.
- The goal of the original appeal filed by PV United is to reverse Mason’s rulings on the two ineligible petitions, the “rezoning” and “adoption” petitions.
- The goal of the city’s cross-appeal is to reverse Mason’s ruling that the “abandon” petition is eligible for a ballot measure.
- Each side — the city’s legal counsel and PV United’s legal counsel — will be given 15 minutes for oral arguments.
- Oral arguments are either requested by one of the side’s attorneys, “or because the court believes oral argument will aid in the decision,” according to a letter from the appellate court clerk to city staff.
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