While the Lenexa City Council rejected a 17-acre proposal for retail and restaurant spaces, as well as a gas station, on Prairie Star Parkway, they did it with encouragement.
On Tuesday, the city council voted 6-0 to deny the rezoning and preliminary plat for Prairie Star Parkway Center, a 17-acre development south of Prairie Star Parkway between Gleason Road and Dunraven Street.
Councilmembers Chelsea Williams and Courtney Eiterich were absent.
The vote was in agreement with the Lenexa Planning Commission’s recommendation on July 6 to deny the proposal because commissioners believed it didn’t fit the character of the area.
The proposal included nine pad sites totaling 75,000 square feet of space that ranged from restaurants to office spaces.
The consensus with the city council was that the proposal was too busy with too many pads in the proposal having drive-thrus and a traffic flow that would likely cause congestion.
“There’s a lot going on in this space. I would prefer it to be if it is a destination for people, not something that they’re in and out,” Councilmember Avery Bell said.
As the city council talked with Aaron Mesmer, chief investment officer at Block Real Estate, who presented the proposal, and told him they were going to deny it, they encouraged him to come back with a new proposal.
“I still feel like that the community adjacent to this area could stand to benefit from something else,” Bell added.
Klover Architects is the applicant.
The project aimed to change open field into multi-use development
The property is a 17-acre space of undeveloped land that was annexed to the city in 1993 and is owned by a longtime Lenexa resident, who was not named, Mesmer said.
The applicant’s proposal includes rezoning the property from an AG (Agricultural District) to the CP-2 Planned Community Commercial District), which is normally reserved for districts with a mixture of retail and personal services.
The proposal includes nine pad sites totaling 75,000 square feet of space that includes:
- Three restaurants with drive-thrus
- Three buildings with office/retail space
- A gas station and convenience store
- A pharmacy with a drive-thru
- A bank with a drive-thru
- Pedestrian gathering spaces and walkways
The aim is to give employees, family members and patients at the nearby AdventHealth Prairie Star Hospital, as well as nearby residents, a place to go to eat, pick up prescriptions and meet with others, Mesmer said.
“(We’re trying) to give (nearby residents) what they would want as well for the residents that are going to be (at the hospital), but also for the employees of the hospital, for the employees in future office development, as well as their guests and their invitees,” Mesmer said.
City staff didn’t see project as a good fit
In its denial of the developer’s application, the city states that it isn’t in line with its comprehensive plan for several reasons, mainly that the request is inconsistent with the area’s future land use classification of “Office/Employment Center” within the plan.
While proposals can stray from the city’s comprehensive plan, they need a good reason to do, which this did not provide, said Scott McCullough, community development director.
The city also pushed back against the plan being auto-centric, with multiple pads having drive-thrus.
The proposal gives people area something they need and showed they supported at a neighborhood meeting the applicant held, Mesmer said.
“Those folks are going to need services. They’re going to need a place to eat. They’re going to need a place to fill up. They’re going to need a place to get their prescriptions. They’re going to need a place to do their banking,” he said. “If you look at our 15 acres in the context of a wider office and employment area that is called out for by the master plan, I think that we’ve done a pretty decent job of trying to address those services.”
City council pushed back against the plan
Lenexa councilmembers repeated their worries that while they weren’t against the idea of development in the area, the proposal was too busy.
“I can be convinced that some commercial development here is a good move. The interior circulation here would make me want to just drive across the road to somewhere a little less congested or a little less loopy,” said Councilmember John Michael Handley.
Councilmember Craig Denny expressed a similar sentiment.
“I’m not opposed to development, and I think this is a site that certainly is vacant and high on the list for development,” he said. “I’m kind of of the opinion that this isn’t just the right thing at the right time for this thing.”
Living out in that area of the city, Councilmember Bill Nicks said he liked the plan and the idea of restaurants being closer to him, but he wasn’t on board with its overall design.
“I appreciate the effort that you went to to make it more (neighborhood) node-like to a certain point. It looks to be like there were too many cooks in the kitchen,” he said.
When it was apparent the city council as a whole was not on board with the plan, they discussed whether they should remand it back to the planning commission or deny it outright.
“If the council is inclined to remand (it), it really should be with some fairly specific direction to the planning commission. Otherwise, you’re just sending it back, and they have no idea what they’re supposed to be working on to revise the plan,” said City Manager Beccy Yocham.
With that in mind, the city council encouraged the applicant to come back with a proposal more in with CP-1 zoning, which is meant as a transition between residential and higher intensity nonresidential land uses, like banking services, gas stations, convenience stores, office space, restaurants without drive-thrus, and retail.
“I agree with a lot of folks here that the intention is right to provide those services, but your concept needs just evolve so that it does meet the comprehensive plan,” said Councilmember Chris Herron.
Go deeper: Lenexa commission rejects retail development off Prairie Star Parkway and K-7
