The city of Prairie Village is looking to crack down on some homebuilding practices in response to ongoing resident complaints about construction in single-family neighborhoods, particularly noise coming from teardown-rebuild projects.
Teardown-rebuilds — when an existing, usually smaller home is torn down and a larger, more expensive home is built in its place — have been a concern in the city for years, so much so that the city updated its neighborhood design guidelines in 2018 to address the trend.
But that hasn’t slowed down teardown-rebuild projects from happening in the city, and many residents remain upset at the daily disruptions they can cause, especially construction noise.
On Monday, the Prairie Village City Council voted 11-0 to direct city staff to address construction-related disruptions like noise ordinance violations — particularly at teardown-rebuild construction sites — through fees, fines and other enforcement mechanisms.
But the city council veered away from considering more drastic steps, like caps or quotas on residential developments, after city staff warned that such measures would likely result in legal challenges.
Common cause in city’s fractured housing debate
Ward 2 councilmembers Inga Selders and Ron Nelson brought the item forward Monday because of what they said were repeated resident concerns about constant construction noise and frequent turnover of the city’s existing housing stock.
Nelson said that over the past 10 years, the city council’s efforts to deal with related issues like building code changes and restrictions on the size of houses “have been shot down” due to opposition.
“If you have opposition and you end up not doing something, then problems pop up again and again the same ways that they have,” Nelson said, adding that Monday’s discussion was the latest attempt at finding a solution.
During Prairie Village’s years-long and often fractious debate over housing and zoning, teardown-rebuilds have remained a concern that most parties in the city agreed needs to be addressed.
Monday’s discussion item came just a few months after the Prairie Village Planning Commission officially put efforts to address teardown-rebuilds via its neighborhood design guidelines to rest.
It also comes on the heels of a Kansas Supreme Court decision that ended a separate years-long debate over housing and governance in the city, originally sparked by resident opposition to the city’s efforts to address housing affordability in 2022 and 2023, which at times included teardown-rebuilds.
City staff plans to investigate options for revisiting the fee schedule, enforcement and noise ordinance violation fines for a future city council discussion.
A few home builders behind most teardown-rebuilds
In 2018, the city of Prairie Village adopted new neighborhood design guidelines that tried to address teardown-rebuilds.
From 2019 and 2022, according to the city’s annual reports, between 50 to 70 new homes were constructed annually — in a city that is almost entirely built-out.
In 2023, the city saw 50 new homes built by 21 different builders, though more than half of those homes were built by only three builders, according to July 7 city documents. (City documents left the three builders unnamed.)
That is similar to what happened in 2024, with 45 newly built homes with a total of 18 builders. Still, three unnamed builders constructed 24 of those 45 homes, according to city documents.
City staff discussed the issue internally prior to Monday’s meeting, and warned the city council — both in city documents and during the discussion Monday — that any caps or quotas on residential development or redevelopment would likely result in legal challenges.
Two residents spoke against teardown-rebuilds
Resident Anna Gepson said Prairie Village residents have a right to quiet hours and periods without construction noise, such as holidays and during the early morning.
Gepson said she is frustrated that the onus of recording ordinance violations — in the event that police officers cannot get to a noise complaint quickly — and submitting complaints is put on residents.
Later in the meeting, Police Chief Eric McCullough said the department only has two patrol cars in the city at any given time, and officers are not always able to respond to noise complaints while they are actively happening.
Edward Boersma, a resident who is also running against Nelson for the Ward 2 city council seat this November, said teardown-rebuilds were the biggest complaint he heard from residents when he walked the ward two years ago as a write-in candidate.
Some of those complaints included “construction debris, stinky outhouses, crowded streets, street noise, massive houses dominating existing homes,” and more, he said.
“Pain for homeowners” in hotspot areas
The city council’s discussion centered around limiting residents’ fatigue with ongoing construction, particularly in hotspots where there are or have been multiple projects.
That includes places like 70th Street in Ward 1, where there are currently three to four projects that are a “pain for homeowners,” said Councilmember Cole Robinson.
Selders wants staff to specifically explore the possibility of implementing a rule barring work on Sundays and federal holidays. Staffers said that would be possible but would be applicable to both regular homeowners and developers alike.
Councilmember Terrence Gallagher suggested any responsible party — whether that is a general contractor, a developer or a homeowner — who racks up fines in a certain time frame be blocked from taking out any other building permits in Prairie Village for a period of time.
Mayor Eric Mikkelson said he knows of a builder in a different city who was recently fined $5,000 for a violation, which he said “starts to become a deterrent” at that price.
Next steps:
- The city council directed staff to come back to the city council for further discussion about fee schedule updates, fines and enforcement on existing homebuilding ordinances.
- The city council meets the first and third Monday of every month at 6 p.m. at city hall, 7700 Mission Road.
Go deeper: Watch the city council’s entire discussion online here, starting at 1:48:20.
