City authorized to use HUD’s Section 108 Loan Guarantee Program to address vacant lot activation, several health services grants passed, and a controversial “event venue” in Columbus Park.
- Beacon Hill – McFeders
- Blue Hills
- Boston Heights and Mount Hope
- Columbus Park
- Ivanhoe
- Meyer & 63rd
- Neighbors United for Action
- Osage Trail Station
- Riverfront Industrial District
- Tri-Blenheim
Neighborhood Planning and Development Committee
Tuesday, April 21st at 1:30pm
The Neighborhood Planning and Development Committee is headed by Chairperson Ryana Parks-Shaw, Vice Chair Eric Bunch, and Councilmembers Nathan Willett and Melissa Patterson Hazley.
Ordinance 260347 requested acceptance and approval of a one-year $1,579,691 grant award with the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services to provide funding for HIV case management and other services for persons living with HIV within the eleven county Kansas City, Missouri Transitional Grant Area. Jenn Simms – Kansas City Health Department presented this item to the Committee.
The service area for this program includes eleven counties in total, five on the Missouri side and seven on the Kansas side of the Kansas City metro area. The program supports clients in accessing medical care, maintaining health coverage, and connecting to support services. It uses a tiered management system, providing more support for those who need it, and less for those more self-sufficient.
The Committee moved to recommend approval of this item. It advanced to the full City Council, where it was passed this Thursday.
Ordinance 260348 requested acceptance and approval of a one-year $419,678 grant award with Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services for a comprehensive Disease Intervention Specialist Workforce program. Lisa Mertz – KCMO Health Department presented this item to the Committee.
The program funded by this grant aims to help control and prevent the transmission of Syphilis and HIV in the KCMO area. The program prioritizes such strategies for monitoring and preventing STI transmission as:
- data analysis and dissemination
- case investigation and partner referral services
- focused outreach testing and education
- health care provider support
The Committee moved to recommend approval of this item. It advanced to the full City Council, where it was passed this Thursday.
Ordinance 260349 requested acceptance and approval of a grant award amendment from the additional sum of $739,567 from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention to provide additional funding to assist in workforce development and meeting public health foundational capabilities in the Kansas City, Missouri area.
This grant sought to meet workforce capacity demands for the Health Department and to make internal organizational systems and processes more efficient and effective. Funds from this grant would be used for such expenses as continuing the Community Wellness Ambassador program as well as implementing the Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP).
The Committee moved to recommend approval of this item. It advanced to the full City Council, where it was passed this Thursday.
Ordinance 260350 requested acceptance and approval of a $101,574 contract with the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services to conduct childcare sanitation inspections in Kansas City, Missouri. Stacie Duitsman – Division Manager, Environmental Health Services, and Ashley Rosley – Training Manager, Environmental Public Health Program, presented this item to the Committee.
This ordinance renews a contract with the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services wherein the KCMO Health Department performs health inspections of childcare facilities, and is reimbursed by the state. The KCMO Health Department has been performing these inspections on behalf of the state for over a decade now.
The inspections laid out in the agreement include annual inspections, special circumstance (emergency and complaint) inspections, and re-inspections.
The Committee moved to recommend approval of this item. It advanced to the full City Council, where it was passed this Thursday.
Ordinance 260351 requested approval of a major amendment to a previously approved urban redevelopment (UR) plan on about nine acres and located on the northeast corner of E 63rd St and Bushman Dr in the Blue Hills, Meyer & 63rd, Tri-Blenheim, and Neighbors United For Action neighborhoods to allow for an entertainment venue. Staff Planner Justin Smith and the applicant, Claude Peterson, presented this item to the Committee.
This case was previously brought before the City Plan Commission on April 1st as CD-CPC-2025-00175 and was covered in that week’s edition of the blog.
This case concerns one unit of the larger commercial strip mall on the subject site. This site was part of an Urban Redevelopment plan approved in 2010. The applicant had applied for a Major Amendment to that plan in 2023 for an entertainment venue in a detached structure on the site (previously a bank). This amendment had been approved.
Mr. Peterson was now requesting a similar amendment to allow for one of the units in the larger strip mall to be an event space. He reported that he had worked with the Blue Hills Neighborhood Association on the project.
The Committee moved to recommend approval of this item. It advanced to the full City Council, where it was passed this Thursday.
Ordinance 260352 requested vacation of approximately 35,000 square feet of right-of-way in an M1-5 zoning district located on N Olive St between Rochester Ave and Nicholson Ave in the Riverfront Industrial District. Staff Planner Justin Smith presented this item to the Committee.
In recent years, this section of N Olive St has fallen into disrepair from regular truck traffic use, and the applicants for this case were seeking to resurface and maintain it with private funds. The City Plan Commission added a condition on approval of this item that the applicant must provide a public access easement the full length of the vacated portion of the right-of-way.
Committee members Patterson Hazley, Bunch and Parks-Shaw inquired as to why a maintenance agreement with Public Works was not taken on instead. City Engineer Nicolas Bosonetto explained that this had been a potential choice for the applicant, but they chose to apply for a vacation instead. This worked for both the applicant and Public Works, as it would eliminate the need for constant maintenance requests with the City.
Committee members still expressed skepticism, however, and after a closed session to receive legal advice on the matter, moved to continue this item to May 5th.
Resolution 260359 directed the City Manager to develop a plan to conduct a survey of Kansas City, Missouri businesses for Fiscal Year 2026-27; identifying important issues to businesses and developing expansion and retention plans for such enterprises in the future.
The Committee moved to continue this item to May 12th, ahead of the meeting Tuesday.
Resolution 260362 – directed the City Manager to implement a pilot program to secure financing through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Section 108 Loan Guarantee Program for the express purpose of removing chronic and long-term slum and blight through economic activation; complimenting adopted policy such as the vacant land activation initiative. Councilwoman Melissa Patterson Hazley presented this item to the Committee.
HUD’s Section 108 Loan Guarantee Program allows cities to borrow up to five times their annual Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) allocation by pegging future CDBG funds as security. These funds provide low-interest, long-term financing assistance for difficult-to-develop projects.
The activities eligible for financing using these funds must meet one of the three national objectives of the CDBG program. These goals are: that the project principally benefits low- and moderate-income persons, that the project aids in the prevention or elimination of slums or blight, or that it meets an urgent need by addressing threats to health and safety of residents.
This item seeks to use HUD’s Section 108 program to address long-term urban decay and improving living conditions in affected areas of:
- Land owned by the City for over ten years
- Land Bank and KC Homestead Authority property
- Applicable infrastructure (lead pipes, etc.)
- Elimination of contaminated sites, such as from lead paint
The intent of this pilot program is to:
- Support difficult, long-term vacant sites
- Reduce red tape
- Provide clear parameters
- Align with the City-Wide Business Plan’s goal of equitable growth and sustainable development
- Layer with other goals such as the KCMO First Time Homebuyer program
The Committee moved to recommend approval of this item. It advanced to the full City Council, where it was passed this Thursday.
Ordinance 260056 requested approval to rezone the site located at the southeast corner of Troost Ave and East 5th St in the Columbus Park neighborhood from UR to B2-2 to allow for an entertainment venue. Staff Planner Justin Smith and John Roe – The Roe Law Firm LLC, a representative for the applicant, Matt Nichols – Harmony Property Holdings, presented this item to the Commission.
This item was previously brought before the City Plan Commission on December 3rd, 2025 as CD-CPC-2025-00160 and was covered in that week’s edition of the blog.
Mr. Smith explained that the purpose of the UR zoning designation had been required for tax abatement to build a photography studio. However, the property has been operating as an entertainment venue and therefore violates the UR plan. This rezoning was being requested to ameliorate this violation.
Mr. Nichols, the property owner, who does operate the site as a photography studio, explained that he also started operating it over ten years ago as a small event space for private dinners, birthday parties, etc. The capacity limit he sets for events has been 100 people.
Community members from the Columbus Park neighborhood gave public testimony in opposition to this rezoning. They expressed concern about nuisances related to the property being operating as an event space, including late-night noise, fireworks, and serving of alcoholic beverages without a liquor license.
Councilman Bunch also took issue with the rezoning on the grounds that the property had received tax abatement (being zoned UR) under the assumption that it would remain a single use (a photography studio).
In addition, Councilmembers Bunch and Patterson Hazley expressed disagreement with approving this rezoning. Given the fact that the space had been illegally operating for over a decade, and given that it had garnered complaints from the neighborhood, they said they could not support the request.
The Committee moved to recommend denial of this item. It advanced to the full City Council this Thursday, who moved to continue it off-docket.
Ordinance 260336 requested approval of a rezoning from R-1.5 to R-0.5 for the site located at 3112 Flora Ave in the Boston Heights and Mount Hope, Ivanhoe, Osage Trail Station, and Beacon Hill – McFeders neighborhoods. Staff Planner Matthew Barnes and James Baker, a representative for the applicants, Mid City Towers II, Inc. and Fulson Housing Group, presented this item to the Commission.
This item was previously brought before the City Plan Commission on April 1st as CD-CPC-2026-00011 and was covered in that week’s edition of the blog.
The subject parcel is currently a driveway serving a parking lot on a separate parcel. The applicants own four of the parcels to the immediate west of the site which are zoned R-0.5. The applicants wish to develop the site for multi-family housing in the future, and streamlining the zoning will allow for the creation of a combined parcel via deed through Jackson County. This creates a cohesive zoning for the project and a smoother/faster underwriting with the applicants’ investors and lenders.
This item received opposition from the adjacent property (Society of Saint Pius X). While they are supportive of the broader goals of Fulson Housing Group to renovate Mid City Towers II, they believed the request to rezone was premature, and they expressed concerns over increased noise and traffic. They had instead proposed a land swap, which they state would address the developer’s parking needs, improve traffic and emergency access, and preserve existing zoning until broader project impacts are resolved.
Mr. Baker stated that while his team had considered a land swap, after deliberation, they had decided to rezone instead. He also stated that while conversations could continue during the development process over issues like parking or noise, this item only covers rezoning the driveway. Furthermore, there are only about twenty cars used by people with access to the property, and the future development is only anticipated to increase the number of housing units by eight.
The Committee moved to recommend approval of this item. It advanced to the full City Council, where it was passed this Thursday.
Ben Robinson is the author of This Week at City Hall, and an Urban Planning and Design Student at UMKC. He is a Kansas City native, having lived on both sides of the state line. From a young age, Ben has been interested in neighborhoods, communities, and the built environment, but only discovered the field of Urban Planning in college. He is now committed to a career in the profession, and is excited about using his education to support and grow the city he grew up in.
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