Planning Commission Meeting (April 8, 2002) - City of Overland Park

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Overland Park Planning Commission Meeting April 8, 2002 Page 4 UNIFIED DEVELOPMENT ORDINANCE AMENDMENT NO. ZRR-2343 – Amendments to Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) Sections 18.110, 18.120, 18.140, 18.150.010. 18.320, 18.322, 18.324, 18.326, 18.328,18.330, 18.340, 18.430.0730, 18.440, and 18.450, to create new zoning districts and procedures in Downtown Overland Park. (Approved) Planner Bryan Bear advised that this item was considered at the Planning Commission meeting on February 25, 2002. This item was continued at that meeting and remanded to the Ordinance Amendment Committee (OAC) to review several items. He said there were four speakers at the Planning Commission meeting, and the discussion centered primarily around the Main Street I District where office uses were proposed to be prohibited on the ground floor level of all buildings. Mr. Bear said there was also discussion about grandfathering of existing uses and the use of the current 180-day rule for non-conforming situations. The final item of discussion had to do with the maximum height of structures within the Santa Fe District. Mr. Bear said the OAC considered all of the information that was presented at the Planning Commission meeting and has recommended two changes to the ordinance from the previous version considered by the Planning Commission. The first change limits the height in the Santa Fe District to three stories. The previous version had no height limitation. Mr. Bear said the second change allows offices on the ground floor level of the Main Street District, subject to several limitations. He said the OAC will explain their recommendation in further detail at today’s meeting. The remainder of Staff Comments has not changed from the previous version considered on February 25, 2002, and Mr. Bear said he would not repeat them. Since the last meeting, the Law Department has requested that the Planning Commission authorize several house-cleaning measures for the sections that will be amended. Mr. Bear said staff recommends approval of the text amendments with that authorization. Mr. Bear relayed that the changes being proposed today, if approved by the Planning Commission and the City Council, will result in the addition of five new zoning districts in Overland Park. He stated that there is no property, anywhere in the City, that is zoned in these districts. Therefore, the decision the Commission makes today will not directly impact anyone’s property in that no one is zoned into these districts. Another step envisioned in this process is that this application will be followed with a subsequent application, which would be a rezoning application. Mr. Bear explained that it would be a one time City sponsored rezoning to try to get the property in the downtown zoned into these districts. Therefore, any discussion regarding whether or not a property would be in one of these zoning districts or where the boundaries of these zoning districts might be, should be postponed until that application is filed and considered at a later date. Today, the issue is about the text that is in these amendments. Mr. Sanders asked when staff contemplated the rezoning action. Mr. Bear replied when this item gets to the City Council, the intent is that if the Council is comfortable with the amendments as written, on the same day the Council adopts the text amend-
Overland Park Planning Commission Meeting April 8, 2002 Page 5 ments, they would also authorize staff to publish in the newspaper for a rezoning application. He said a rezoning application would likely follow within two months of the date of adoption of these text amendments. Mr. Bear relayed that there would be a series of public hearings for public input into that process. Speaking on behalf of the OAC, Mr. Reitzes said the Committee has made the utmost effort to ensure the development of new zoning districts and guidelines for downtown Overland Park is done as well as possible while considering the needs of the downtown merchants, property owners and anyone else who has an interest in downtown. He said the OAC met on April 2, 2002, to discuss and draw some conclusions with regard to the rezoning districts, specifically with the Main Street I District. Mr. Reitzes said the OAC wanted to re-evaluate this zoning district with regard to comments that were made by merchants and others with interests in the downtown area. The ordinance was reviewed with one change being made to the Main Street 1 District, which would limit any tenant space with street frontage on Santa Fe Drive or 80th Street to retail uses. It was felt that this was in keeping with the pattern of use and the tradition in the Main Street 1 area. Mr. Reitzes said the OAC wanted specifically to appeal to and attract pedestrian and walk-in traffic by maintaining a retail use for frontage on those two major thoroughfares. However, Mr. Reitzes stated that the OAC did make some exceptions to it which indicated that new office uses would only be prohibited in tenant spaces that face Santa Fe Drive or 80th Street. Building owners could still lease the rear buildings to office tenants provided that the tenant space had no frontage on 80th Street or Santa Fe Drive. He said this pertains to the rear of those buildings, and the entrance to the tenant space must be from the side or the rear of the building and cannot face either Santa Fe Drive or 80th Street. Office tenants on the ground floor can occupy no more than 50 percent of the ground floor level in a building. Another issue the OAC reviewed, in addition to retail use, was grandfathering the 180day rule, which has been the subject of much discussion. Mr. Reitzes thought there was a lot of confusion concerning these issues. After review of this issue and after due consideration by staff and the Law Department, the OAC decided not to propose any changes whatsoever in grandfathering the 180-day rule for the following reasons: Mr. Reitzes stated that the grandfathering of the 180-day rule provisions are part of the existing non-conforming chapter of the Unified Development Ordinance that are currently used Citywide; consequently, there does not appear to be a compelling reason to create a special rule regarding this to be directed specifically to downtown. If the Planning Commission feels that the non-conforming chapter is in need of some revision, then the OAC believes that discussion should be part of a separate application which will be considered at a later date. The current non-conforming chapter of the UDO has the following implications for buildings, but only if the buildings are rezoning to the Main Street 1 District: (1) Existing office tenants may remain in place indefinitely. An existing office tenant may sell their business to anyone, who may continue to operate the business. If an office tenant has vacated a tenant space, the building owner may lease the space to any other office tenant if the space is leased within 180 days. If the space is not leased within 180 days, then the owner may request a non-conforming situation permit to extend the time. Mr. Reitzes stated that once the space is occupied by a retail tenant, it can no longer be used again for office space. He advised that under any circumstances, the building owner may request approval of a temporary special use permit, up to two years per approval to allow an office tenant.
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Planning Commission Meeting (April 8, 2002) - City of Overland Park

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