A developer’s plan to build a smattering of lower-density multifamily housing on a former Shawnee Mission School District office site easily cleared its last major hurdle.
Gravel Development is behind the application to build roughly 45 rental duplexes, triplexes and quadplexes at 7235 Antioch Road, near the border with Overland Park and Merriam.
Dubbed Antioch Homes, the housing development replaces a previously approved decade-old plan to build a skilled nursing facility for AdventHealth at the property.
On Monday, the Overland Park City Council unanimously approved the required rezoning application, despite some pushback from neighbors in the form of a protest petition.
Councilmembers were broadly supportive of the development.
“This is precisely the kind of development that we’ve been trying to advance and support,” said Councilmember Inas Younis.
How they voted
Here’s how members of the city council voted:
• Logan Heley: Yes
• Holly Grummert: Yes
• Melissa Cheatham, council president: Yes
• Drew Mitrisin: Yes
• Richard Borlaza: Yes
• Amy Scrivner: Yes
• Gregg Riess: Yes
• Amy Antrim: Yes
• Andrew Payne: Yes
• Inas Younis: Yes
• Josh Beck: Yes
• Christopher Newlin: Yes
Antioch Homes will have 45+ new housing units
In all, Gravel Development is planning a total of 47 housing units, split up among 21 buildings of different sizes and densities on the site where crews recently demolished the old McEachen Administrative Building.
Each unit will have a two-car garage with additional parking throughout the development for visitors.
The Antioch Homes project will feature rental units, with average monthly rents ranging from $2,400 to $3,500 depending on the layout and size of the unit. Some units are expected to be marketed toward young families, while others could be rented to retirees looking to downsize.
Councilmember Amy Scrivner expressed worry about the rent being too high for several individuals and families. Still, every councilmember voted to support the project with multiple praising it as a model for adding more types of housing through redevelopment and infill development projects.
“We’re in desperate need of more housing throughout the city and throughout the country — this fits those needs,” said Councilmember Logan Heley, who lives near the 7235 Antioch property.
Heley and other councilmembers pointed to Overland Park’s widening shortage of housing at a range of price points, something several Johnson County cities are dealing with as well.
Before, the property was zoned for single-family residential development, or R-1. As such, the developer sought to have it rezoned to the RP-3 classification, paving the way for some lower-scale multifamily developments like what’s planned in the Antioch Homes project.
An earlier iteration of the Antioch Homes project — which the Overland Park Planning Commission had tabled — had the same number of units as this final version, but a slightly different site layout with different design plans.
Neighbors have been skeptical of the Antioch Homes project
Over the past few months, as the project has worked its way through the planning process, some neighbors from Overland Park and Merriam have opposed the multifamily housing development.
That led some nearby homeowners to submit a valid protest petition, formally pushing back against the Antioch Homes rezoning. Such a step raises the threshold of votes required to approve the project from a simple majority to 10 votes.
No one from the neighborhood signed up to speak against the project on Monday, but in the past, myriad concerns were raised. For instance, some neighbors worried the project was too dense for the area and wouldn’t fit with the established character of the neighborhood.
Other concerns included traffic, parking, stormwater and screening between multifamily housing units and the existing single-family homes.
Next steps for Antioch Homes:
The city council’s approval of the rezoning for the Antioch Homes project was the last hurdle for the project as its worked its way through the planning process over the past several months.
However, Gravel Development will need to submit a final development plan to the planning commission before the project can officially move forward.
Construction on the first part of the project is expected to begin early next year and take a year to complete.
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