A proposal to bring apartments and townhomes to the Old K-7 area in western Shawnee has been delayed by a “clerical error.”
On Monday night, when the Shawnee Planning Commission was expected to vote to make a recommendation on the rezoning and preliminary development plan for the 16-acre property at 5095 Old K-7, they were instead forced to vote to continue the project.
The delay, the city’s Community Development Director Doug Allmon said, is the result of an error in notifying neighboring residents.
“Especially when we’re aware of the error, the right thing to do is just start over, and so that’s what we’re going to do,” he told the Post after the meeting.
Some neighbors weren’t given proper notification
- By statute, neighbors living within 200 feet of a proposed rezoning have to be notified through the U.S. Postal Service. The city also publishes legal public notices in an area’s printed publication of record.
- However, during the public hearing on the project on Monday, a property owner who should have been notified said they were not.
- City development staff then checked their records and discovered that some property owners had not been notified.
What happened?
- The mix up, Allmon said, was the result of the complexity of the property up for the rezoning, which is actually made up of three separate parcels.
- Notifications were properly sent out to some but not all of the owners of the properties within 200 feet of the parcels proposed to be rezoned.
- Allmon took responsibility for the error, apologizing to neighbors and the developer.
Shawnee’s next steps:
- The city will redo the notification process for this development.
- After that happens, the proposal will return to the planning commission, where the public hearing will be reopened.
- That’s currently set for 7:30 p.m., on Monday, July 5.
- After that, the planning commission’s recommendation will be heard by the Shawnee City Council at a subsequent meeting.
- If the council approves the rezoning and preliminary development plan, the developers will still need to get final development plans and a final plat approved.
The Zarah proposal envisions 184 apartments, townhome units
- The project, called The Zarah, seeks to convert a single-family home with greenhouses on land currently zoned for agricultural use to Shawnee’s Planned Unit Development Mixed Residential zoning designation.
- That zoning allows for mixed-density housing developments like the one proposed here by Brian Jones Enterprises, LLC.
- In all, 11 residential buildings are being proposed, which would include 156 apartment units and 28 townhome units. There would also be a pool, a clubhouse as well as other amenities.
- Nearby, there are some existing single-family neighborhoods and other townhomes.
Several neighbors opposed the project
- Before the proposal was continued on Monday due to the notification error, nearly a dozen people voiced their opinion of the project, most of whom opposed it, worried about potential traffic impacts.
- Jason Turner, who lives nearby, said he believes this project is “completely wrong” for this area of the city, citing concerns about its impact on the character of the surrounding neighborhoods as well as “increased crime and decreased property values.”
- Some neighbors, including Ryan Mills who owns a house that backs up to the proposed project area, supported the development. Mills told the commission he believes western Shawnee needs more housing options, particularly some with higher density like these apartments and townhomes would offer.
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