Revised plans to build a mix of different multifamily housing options at a site formerly used as a Shawnee Mission School District office building in Overland Park are moving forward.
That’s at 7235 Antioch Road, which was previously identified for redevelopment as a skilled nursing facility for AdventHealth about a decade ago. More recently, crews demolished the old McEachen Administrative Building last year, leaving the four-acre property vacant.
Gravel Development wants to convert it into a neighborhood of rental duplexes, triplexes and quadplexes, which would be called Antioch Homes.
On Monday, the Overland Park Planning Commission voted 8-0 to recommend approval of the required rezoning application, forwarding the project to the Overland Park City Council for consideration despite pushback from neighbors.
“I love this project, and I think it’s a good one to move forward with,” Commissioner Matt Masilionis said.
The vote on Monday comes after the planning commission continued the item last month so the developer could make some changes to the project plan, which included changing some designs and adding some amenities to the site for future tenants. Additionally, since the original application, the internal streets have been made private, which means the city won’t be responsible for their maintenance.
“They’ve made a lot of changes since the last meeting, and so I really like this development,” Commissioner Kip Strauss said. “I feel like a lot of the questions had answers.”
How they voted
Here’s how members of the planning commission voted:
• Radd Way, chair: Absent
• Jenna Reyes, vice chair: Yes
• Kip Strauss: Yes
• Jameia Haines: Yes
• Kim Sorensen: Yes
• Holly Streeter Schaefer: Absent
• Thomas Robinett: Absent
• Chris Staus: Yes
• Tizrah Gregory: Yes
• Matt Masilionis: Yes
• Ned Reitzes: Yes
Roughly 45 total units planned in Antioch Homes project
Though Gravel Development’s plans for the lot near the Overland Park border with Merriam have changed some in the past month, the number of units hasn’t. That means a total of 47 housing units are proposed, split up among 21 buildings of varying sizes and densities.
Additionally, each unit will still have two-car garages with small driveways, and additional parking is spread around the development for visitors.
One-story duplexes are proposed on the east side of the property, and one-and-a-half-story duplexes will sit on the southern side. Additional two-story duplexes would be toward the center of the site with the triplexes.
The taller, three-story buildings would be right on Antioch, near the entrance to the site.
As the property is currently zoned for single-family residential development in the R-1 district, it has to be rezoned in order to build the Antioch Homes project. The developer has requested the property be reclassified as RP-3, which allows for some lower-density multifamily projects.
Neighbors still have concerns about the Antioch Homes plan
Despite some changes made to the development plans, some neighbors from Overland Park and Merriam are still worried about the project as proposed.
Amy Kesler, who lives in the Milburn Estates neighborhood, has a number of concerns, including traffic and what she sees as still insufficient green space on the site. She also thinks it’s too dense for the area.
“This high-density housing project next door is bound to affect the value of the current houses,” she said.
Kesler wasn’t alone in her assessment.
“This thing is too much of a concept in too small of an area,” said Darrell Steiner, who lives in the Antioch Acres neighborhood.
Other neighbors also said they had concerns about parking on the site, stormwater, screening between the multifamily housing units and their existing neighborhoods and the project’s fit with the neighborhood.
Next steps for Antioch Homes:
Now that the planning commission has voted on the rezoning application for Antioch Homes, it goes to the city council for consideration next, likely on Sept. 14.
Kesler, during the planning commission meeting on Monday, indicated that she was preparing a protest petition against the project. While protest petitions do not necessarily doom a project, they do raise the threshold of approval needed from the city council.
If the project does succeed at the city council, then Gravel Development will need to submit a final development plan to the planning commission.
Looking back: Long-empty former SMSD building in Overland Park is being torn down. What is going in its place?
