City officials are considering an updated design of a new Prairie Village City Hall as the city inches closer to finalizing the $30 million project along Mission Road.
The Prairie Village Planning Commission on Tuesday reviewed a site plan for the new city hall, proposed for 7820 Mission Road, currently the site of a church just south of the existing municipal campus.
This comes less than a month after the city closed on a $4.5 million purchase of the property, which will remain Mission Road Bible Church for about another year.
The planning commission took no action on Tuesday, and the city council will ultimately make the decision to approve or deny the city hall project’s final design.
The city council has already approved building a new city hall on the church site next to the current municipal campus and is now looking at concepts for what will eventually go there.
The city has been working on a new city hall idea since at least 2022 and is also planning to upgrade the existing police department headquarters as part of the $30 million project.
New city hall gets updated design
- City staff previously shared a first-look at a new city hall design last March, which showed a more contemporary city hall.
- Based on city councilmembers’ comments on that initial vision, the design team redesigned the new city hall’s conceptual look to complement the existing municipal complex, including more brick work and a less boxy structure.
- The new design also features angled roof lines compared to the original design’s flat roof lines.
- In January, the city council approved the interior layout of a new city hall to include city council chambers, a multipurpose room, an art corridor and restrooms.
- The city council reviewed the new design in February with some councilmembers finding the new design to be more appealing than the original. (Watch the Feb. 3 city council meeting online here, with the design discussion beginning around 59:21).
Planning commission had its own feedback on latest design
- Planning commissioners Jon Birkel and Jeffrey Valentino said the new design still felt disconnected from the existing city hall — which will become the new municipal court building — and the existing police department.
- Valentino said the design team should consider connectivity for vehicular traffic between the existing municipal complex and the future city hall building.
- Birkel also suggested that the design team reconfigure the parking lot to pull it closer to the city hall building, reducing the number of driveways on the site.
- Commissioners Melissa Brown and David Herron said there are opportunities to create a sense of grandeur at the site, including, respectively, the main entrance of the building and the side of the building facing Mission Road.
Next steps:
- Since the new city hall is a city project, the city council makes the decision as to whether the site plan is approved, City Planner Chris Brewster told the planning commission on March 4.
- Brewster said city staff wanted to run the plan through the same review process as any other development in the city.
- Brewster said the planning commission’s comments will be considered as the city council moves further along on the city hall project.
Go deeper: Watch the entire planning commission discussion online here, starting at 20:15.
