Neighborhood Watch List:
City Wide ⌾ 18th & Vine / Wendell Phillips / Downtown East ⌾ KCI ⌾ Nashua ⌾ Broadway Gillham ⌾ St. Catherine’s Gardens ⌾ Westside ⌾ Sacred Heart ⌾ South Plaza ⌾ Gashland ⌾ Midtown / Blue Hills
Prospect Avenue Corridor Neighborhoods : 12th St. Heritage/Forgotten Homes; Independence Plaza; Downtown East; Wendell Phillips; Washington Wheatley; Key Coalition; Santa Fe; Oak Park; Ivanhoe; Blue Hills; Town Fork Creek; Tri-Blenheim; Foxtown West
Crossroads/ Downtown: Performing Arts Community Improvement District
Martin City Richards Gebaur Area
Dunford Place, 10804 Grandview Rd. Kansas City Register of Historic Places
Topics:
E-Bikes and Helmets / Health and Safety
18th & Vine Office Space / Culture, Creativity and History
LA2028 Olympic Torch Relay / Culture, Creativity and History
Housing Accelerator Fund / Planning & Development
Central City Economic Development / Planning & Development
Men’s Rugby World Cup USA 2031 [Bid]
FIFA Women’s World Cup 2031 [Bid]
Prospect Corridor TIF (CCED Geography)
Demolition by neglect – vacant properties
Midtown Costco
Kansas City Symphony new facility / South Plaza
Transportation, Infrastructure, and Operations Committee
July 28th, 2026, 9 am
The Transportation, Infrastructure, and Operations Committee was attended this week by Chairperson Kevin O’Neill, Vice Chair Melissa Robinson, Councilmember Johnathan Duncan, and Councilmember Crispin Rea.
260656
Authorizing the Manager of Procurement Services to execute a $1,724,737.00 contract (EV4394) with U.S. Engineering Service, LLC to provide KCI Terminal HVAC & Plumbing Maintenance; authorizing the Manager of Procurement Services to amend and extend the Contract; and authorizing the Director of Aviation to expend appropriated funds for the contract.
Sponsor: Director of General Services Department
Result: The committee advanced a $1,724,737 contract (EV4394) with U.S. Engineering Service LLC to maintain the mechanical and plumbing systems at the new KCI terminal and parking garage. The procurement manager in the General Services Department presented with Adam Freeman, deputy director in the Aviation Department. The city issued a bid request on December 2, 2025, closed it on January 5th, and got four responses. The award went to U.S. Engineering on a one-year base term with five one-year renewal options. Scope covers labor, materials, and equipment for the larger HVAC and plumbing systems, digital maintenance records, on-site management, emergency repairs, staff training, annual sensor calibration, central utility plant seasonal testing, and quarterly building automation system reviews. Employees of U.S. Engineering were in the audience and identified as members of Local 8. No public testimony. Advanced with a recommendation to pass.
260508
Amending Chapter 70, Code of Ordinances, by repealing and replacing Section 70-1, Definitions; and amending Chapter 70, Code of Ordinances, by enacting a new Section 70-706 entitled “Electric bicycles – rights and privileges – label, requirements – modifications require new label – product safety standards – authorized to ride, where, exceptions – class 3 electric bicycles, special provisions” for the purpose of aligning definitions, operating requirements, and rights and privileges associated with electric bicycles with state law.
Attachments: Memo
Sponsor: Mayor Quinton Lucas
Result: Katherine Nace, policy director in the Mayor’s Office, presented a new committee substitute answering five questions the committee raised the previous week.
The substitute splits these devices into three categories instead of two, e-bikes, micro-mobility devices (electric scooters, unicycles and similar smaller and slower devices), and electric motorcycles, referred to as e-motos. Riders must be 16 or older to operate a Class 3 e-bike, which tops out around 28 miles per hour, or any device capable of 20 miles per hour or more. Riders under 18 must wear a helmet (FYI – everyone should wear a helmet – it will save your life). E-motos require a rider 16 or older with a driver’s license, and are barred from sidewalks, bike lanes, and trails entirely. Speed limits are set by where you are riding: 15 miles per hour on sidewalks, 20 in bike lanes and on trails, and the posted limit on streets. Modifying or tampering with an e-bike automatically reclassifies it as an e-moto, which triggers license and registration requirements. Businesses selling or advertising these devices must post educational material. There is a 120-day delayed effective date.
Consequences are: a warning plus education on the first violation, a citation on the second with the option to waive it by completing a class, and standard citation with fee from the third on. Nace said the structure borrows from the truancy code, where responsibility falls on the parent, and from existing court diversion programs, and that the city prosecutor confirmed the class waiver is workable with existing infrastructure.
Nace said the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Surgeons have both declined to recommend a specific speed or age because the evidence is thin. She cited a Minnesota study commissioned by that state’s legislature and data from two California municipalities, both showing youth overrepresented in incidents, and a sharp rise in e-bike injuries from 2019 to 2023. The 15 to 16 range came from an American Academy of Pediatrics finding that speed judgment and device control improve markedly at that age.
The Mayor’s Office recommended relying on free existing materials from regional partners rather than appropriating money. French pushed back, asking how residents would learn about the actual rule changes rather than general safety practices, and whether the communications department could produce and deploy materials inside the 120-day window. Nace said she had not confirmed that with communications and deferred to City Manager staff.
Robinson went further and asked for a 30-day report back from the City Manager covering the cost of an integrated campaign, a focus on youth under 18 and on areas with existing enforcement inequities, paid media, collateral production, and a staffing plan. She offered it as an amendment. O’Neill supported it and noted the city has a pattern of passing laws without funding compliance. The amendment was accepted.
Bunch supported the ordinance but said the city passed a crosswalk education campaign ordinance two years ago that never happened and questioned the amount of attention being paid to e-motors relative to drivers killing pedestrians. That led to a pointed exchange with Robinson about sidewalk infrastructure investment and pedestrian deaths in the 3rd District, with both members stating on the record that no targeting was intended.
O’Neill read the seven recommendations the Multimodal Transportation Committee sent in. He said the substitute addresses all seven.
A KCPD officer present explained the traffic enforcement numbers, earlier staffing shortages pushed traffic officers onto accident response, and the later decline reflects officers being pulled to train outside agencies on escorts in preparation for the FIFA World Cup. He was asked how an officer would know a device had been tampered with, he said they generally could not unless it was actually exceeding the speed limit, which means radar. Nace added that regional coalition meetings identified some visual evidence, such as swapped accelerator and brake handles.
Robinson and O’Neill both asked to be added as co-sponsors. No public testimony. Advanced with a recommendation to pass.
260535
Designating the honorary street name of “Jim Wright Way” for a portion of N. Delta Avenue from the south line of N.W. Barry Road to its termination to the south.
Attachments: Memo
Sponsor: Councilmember Wes Rogers
Result: Held two weeks.
End of Transportation, Infrastructure, and Operations Committee Agenda
Finance, Governance, and Public Safety Committee
July 28th, 2026, 10:30 am
The Finance, Governance, and Public Safety Committee was attended by Chairperson Andrea Bough, Vice Chair Quinton Lucas, Councilmember Crispin Rea, Councilmember Darrell Curls, Councilmember Wes Rogers, and joined by Councilmembers Melissa Patterson Hazley and Johnathan Duncan.
260648
Authorizing the Manager of Procurement Services to exceed the $1,000,000.00 contract threshold and execute a one-year term and supply contract for Glycol Facility Operations and Maintenance (EV4376) with US Engineering, LLC from previously appropriated funds; and authorizing the Manager of Procurement Services to amend and extend the contract.
Sponsor: Director of General Services Department
Attachments: Memo
Results: Michelle Maximilian and Adam Freeman presented again, this time on contract EV4376 with U.S. Engineering. The airport runs a consolidated glycol facility that supplies every airline and cargo operator at KCI with de-icing fluid, which Freeman described as a highly regulated and critical winter function. The contractor runs the system around the clock from October 1 through April 30, covering maintenance and repair, inventory control, testing, dispensing, snow removal in the area, pre-season and post-season startup and shutdown inspections, and weekly off-season inspections. The facility runs on a proprietary Liquid Automation System that U.S. Engineering will subcontract for continuous monitoring. All staff must be certified to airline and Federal Aviation Administration standards for handling glycol.
The city issued a request for proposal December 1, 2025, closed it January 1, 2026, and got two responses, U.S. Engineering and a firm called Leopard Mechanical. The award went to U.S. Engineering for one year with four one year renewal options.
Rea noted the request roughly doubles the annual spend and asked why. Freeman said glycol facility operation was not in the original contract when the terminal opened and was added on afterward because U.S. Engineering installed the system, so the original number was effectively a guess. The increase, about $400,000 over the prior average of roughly $650,000 a year, covers additional operating and maintenance time plus parts and systems that will need replacing as the equipment ages, built in now so they do not have to come back for more money later. No public testimony. Advanced with a recommendation to pass.
260652
Authorizing the Director of General Services to execute a one (1) year lease agreement with two (2) options to renew for one (1) year each with Kansas City Friends of Alvin Ailey for the purpose of office space on 18th and Vine, located at 1714 E. 18th Street, Kansas City, Missouri, 64108.
Neighborhoods: 18th & Vine
Sponsor: Director of General Services Department
Attachments: Memo
Results: Ashley Wise, real estate manager in General Services, presented a one year lease with two one year renewal options for office space at 1714 E. 18th Street in the 18th and Vine district. She described Alvin Ailey as a longtime tenant and the item as a straightforward renewal. No questions, no public testimony. Advanced with a recommendation to advance and do pass and placed on the consent agenda.
260657
Authorizing the City Manager to sign a Torch Relay Agreement with LA28 for the LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games, stating the Council’s intent to provide funding for certain city services in connection with the LA28 Olympic Torch Relay if the City is selected; directing the City Manager to include funding in the 2027-28 and 2028-29 annual budget to cover any and all required City services, including but not limited to police, fire, traffic, EMS, transportation, sanitation, and all other contractual obligations to support the 2028 Olympic Torch Relay in Kansas City and all related events and activities; appropriating $1,000.00 from the Unappropriated Fund Balance of the Development Services Fund (2210) to cover preliminary costs associated with the submittal; and recognizing this ordinance as having an accelerated effective date.
Sponsor: City Manager’s Office
Attachments: Memo
Results: Tammy Queen from the City Manager’s Office presented. LA28 is planning to route the Olympic torch through all 50 states, which she said would be a first, and this authorizes the City Manager to sign the torch relay agreement and put Kansas City in line. The route is expected to be announced in the first half of 2027. If the city is selected, Queen said the money would likely come from the major events or city-sponsored events allocation, probably in the fiscal year 2028 budget, and she was explicit that this is a much smaller commitment than the World Cup, the Women’s World Cup, or the Rugby World Cup. The ordinance appropriates $1,000 from the Development Services Fund for preliminary submittal costs and carries an accelerated effective date. No public testimony. The committee discussed putting it on the consent agenda and deliberately left it off so members could speak to it on the floor. Advanced with a recommendation to advance and do pass.
Note: Kansas City musician Hermon Mehari performed at a ceremony in Metz, France during the Olympic Torch Relay for the 2024 Paris Olympics. Both Kansas City and Metz are UNESCO Cities of Music, and Sister Cities.
260658
Amending Chapter 2, Code of Ordinances by enacting a new Chapter 2-1694, Code of Ordinances, entitled “Housing Accelerator Fund,” to provide funding grant awards for the rehabilitation and the return to productive use of abandoned, nuisance, and distressed residential properties in disinvested neighborhoods; establishing the Housing Accelerator Fund in the records of the City of Kansas City, Missouri; reducing previously appropriated funds in the General Fund (1000) by $500,000.00; appropriating $500,000.00 from the Unappropriated Fund Balance of the General Fund (1000) and appropriating a like transfer to the Housing Accelerator Fund (2910); reducing previously appropriated funds in the Development Services Fund (2210) by $250,000.00; appropriating $250,000.00 from the Unappropriated Fund Balance of the Development Services Fund (2210) and appropriating a like transfer to the Housing Accelerator Fund (2910); appropriating $750,000.00 from the Unappropriated Fund Balance of the Housing Accelerator Fund (2910) to provide gap funding for the rehabilitation of eligible residential properties by qualified rehabilitation partners; designating requisitioning authority; and recognizing this ordinance as having an accelerated effective date.
Sponsor: Councilmember Melissa Patterson Hazley
Attachments: Memo
Results: Patterson Hazley, who is not a member of this committee, offered committee substitutes for both this and 260659, which the committee accepted on advice from Assistant City Attorney Sam Miller.
The ordinance creates a new Housing Accelerator Fund and a new chapter of the code to govern it. It moves $500,000 out of the General Fund and $250,000 out of the Development Services Fund into the new fund, then appropriates the full $750,000 for gap financing to rehabilitate eligible residential properties. Patterson Hazley emphasized this is not new money, it was approved during budget season; the point is to give the program a permanent home in its own fund account so future councils can build on it.
How it works is eligible properties come either off the dangerous buildings list or from community identification, and originate with an abandoned house that qualifies for court intervention under the Abandoned Housing Act or nuisance law. The city acquires strategically and partners with the Land Bank, the Homesteading Authority, or prequalified rehab companies. A request for proposals will build a prequalified pool, aimed at small local firms already working in these neighborhoods, because this is major rehabilitation rather than minor repair. Rehabbed homes return to single-family owner occupancy, with up to a fourplex eligible, and affordability required for at least 15 years at 80 percent of area median income. New construction, commercial development, speculation, and demolition without an approved redevelopment plan are all prohibited, though preserving a foundation to rebuild vertically counts as a qualified use. There are annual reporting requirements and authority for the director to write implementing regulations.
Rea asked what counts toward the 40 percent vacancy threshold that defines a target area. Patterson Hazley said vacant parcels, houses and multi-unit buildings all count, and cited a UMKC study from eight or nine years ago cataloguing colonnades citywide as an example of a building type the city has no good mechanism to address. [NOTE: This study was completed by the UMKC Center for Neighborhoods – copy here: https://cfn.umkc.edu/small-apartment-study-2021/]
Rea flagged a definitional risk: overgrown or unimproved lots that are technically vacant could push a neighborhood over the threshold that no one would describe as disinvested. He also raised the state statute giving neighborhood associations standing to sue over nuisance and property damage where the city has none, noted Northland Neighborhoods used it to get a house placed in receivership, and suggested the city could fund attorneys for associations. Forest Decker said a pilot is already running with Neighborhood Legal Services and that a neighborhood can designate the city as a partner to bring the city in.
[Note: It is not clear if Director Decker meant the Neighborhood Legal Support, or Western Missouri Legal Aid. It is most likely NLS]
No public testimony. Committee substitute advanced with a recommendation to advance and do pass.
260659
Designating certain neighborhoods and properties as Housing Accelerator Target
Areas pursuant to Section 2-1694.2, Code of Ordinances.
Sponsor: Councilmember Melissa Patterson Hazley
Attachments: Memo
Results: Designates the neighborhoods and properties eligible as target areas. Curls asked why Blue Hills was not included. Patterson Hazley said it was not excluded on purpose, that she kept the list tight because $750,000 will go fast and she did not want to create expectations the program cannot meet, and that she tried to overlap with existing investment including federal environmental money. She also noted a Blue Hills house on the dangerous buildings list could still qualify. Curls offered a friendly amendment to add Blue Hills and Patterson Hazley agreed. The committee confirmed with Sam Miller that the substitute for 260659 adds Blue Hills to Section 2. No public testimony. Advanced with a recommendation to advance and do pass.
260660
Directing the Central City Economic Development Sales Tax Board to issue a targeted request for proposals during the next round of Central City Economic Development Sales Tax funding for eligible projects located on Prospect Avenue between 9th Street and Gregory Boulevard.
Neighborhoods: Downtown East
Sponsor: Councilmember Melissa Robinson
Attachments: Memo
Results: Robinson presented this and 260666 together as companion measures. This one directs the Central City Economic Development Sales Tax Board to issue a targeted request for proposals in its next funding round for projects on Prospect between 9th Street and Gregory Boulevard. Robinson said it has no fiscal impact because it uses sales tax dollars already available and that it addresses a specific gap. The board has been diligent about being the last dollar in on shovel-ready projects with secured capital stacks, which has produced strong individual projects but leaves stretches of blight and dangerous buildings in between. She said developers consistently point to three predevelopment barriers: land valuations depressed by surrounding blight, soil and environmental contamination, and complicated site control. Bough confirmed the measure does not commit all the sales tax dollars and that the board could fold the targeted request into its existing one. Advanced with a recommendation to pass.
260663
Authorizing the City Manager to execute a Hosting Requirements & Bid Proposal to host matches and tournament events of the Men’s Rugby World Cup USA 2031; stating the Council’s intent to provide funding for certain City services in connection with the 2031 Rugby World Cup if the City is chosen as an official host city; and directing the City Manager to include funding for required City services in the 2028-29 and 2029-30 annual budgets to cover City services, including but not limited to police, fire, traffic, EMS, airport, transportation, sanitation, and all other contractual obligations to support the Men’s Rugby World Cup USA 2031 tournament and all related events and activities.
Sponsor: Mayor Quinton Lucas
Attachments: Memo
Results: Held one week.
260664
Authorizing the City Manager to execute a Host City Agreement with the Federation Internationale de Football Association (“FIFA”) and relevant organizations to be appointed as a host city of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2031; stating the Council’s intent to provide funding for certain City services in connection with the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2031; and directing the City Manager to include funding for required City services in the 2028-29 and 2029-30 annual budgets.
Sponsor: Mayor Quinton Lucas
Attachments: Memo
Results: Held one week.
260665
Authorizing the City Manager to execute an Airport Agreement for use of Kansas City International Airport (“KCI”), Kansas City Downtown Airport-Wheeler Field (“MKC”) facilities, and ancillary services for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2031; stating the Council’s intent to provide funding for certain City airport related services in connection with the 2031 FIFA Women’s World Cup 2031; and directing the City Manager to include funding for required City services in the 2028-29 and 2029-30 annual budgets.
Sponsor: Mayor Quinton Lucas
Attachments: Memo
Results: Held one week.
260666
RESOLUTION – Directing the City Manager to work with the Economic Development Corporation of Kansas City, Missouri, to prepare and present within 90 days a proposed City-initiated proactive Tax Increment Financing Plan for Prospect Avenue between East 9th Street and East Gregory Boulevard; and directing the City Manager to identify and apply for other available funding to support economic development and redevelopment within that area.
Neighborhoods: Prospect Avenue Corridor: 12th Street Heritage/Forgotten Homes; Independence Plaza; Downtown East; Wendell Phillips; Washington Wheatley; Key Coalition; Santa Fe; Oak Park; Ivanhoe; Blue Hills; Town Fork Creek; Tri-Blenheim; Foxtown West
Sponsor: Councilmember Melissa Robinson
Attachments: Memo
Results: Directs the City Manager to work with the Economic Development Corporation to prepare and present a City-initiated proactive tax increment financing plan for the same corridor within 90 days, and to pursue other funding. Robinson said a proactive district is already implied in the adopted ProspectUs plan and that this puts it on the Economic Development Corporation’s desk.
Rea asked how it interacts with existing tax increment districts in the corridor. Robinson said the 90-day work would include reviewing existing districts for duplication and running a blight study before anything comes back to council. Curls asked how it squares with ProspectUs; Robinson said the two are complementary, that council has identified roughly $500 million as the implementation need for ProspectUs, and that the predevelopment work gets land ready. Curls raised the effect on school districts and asked that the plan come back with a way to hold them harmless, noting Northland districts have handled this. Robinson agreed, said Kansas City Public Schools has generally supported districts tied to east side development, and noted the library is also affected, pointing to the branch at 31st and Prospect, whose top capital priority is that building.
Bough asked whether the 90 days means a filed application; Robinson said yes, with council approval to follow, and offered a 30-day check-in as well. Curls noted the sales tax boundary stops at Gregory while the Prospect corridor runs to roughly 85th Street, leaving about 15 blocks out, but said he supports it as a start. Bough noted for the record that the corridor covers both the 3rd and 5th Districts, with the boundary around 55th Street. No public testimony on either item. Both advanced separately with a recommendation to advance and do pass.
End of Finance, Governance, and Public Safety Committee Agenda
Neighborhood Planning and Development Committee
July 28th, 2026, 1:30 pm
The Neighborhood Planning and Development Committee was attended this week by Chairperson Ryana Parks-Shaw, Councilmember Nathan Willett, Councilmember Melissa Patterson Hazley, and Councilmember Andrea Bough.
260644
Accepting and approving a grant award amendment in the amount of $190,160.00 with Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services for the City’s Cities Readiness Initiative program; estimating and appropriating the sum of $190,160.00 in the Health Grants Fund; and recognizing this ordinance as having an accelerated effective date.
Sponsor: Director of Health Department
Results: No public testimony. Advanced with a recommendation to advance and do pass and placed on the consent agenda.
260645
Accepting and approving the third year continuation award in the amount of $732,999.00 under the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services under the CORE Public Health Functions Grant; accepting previously received incentive funding in the amount of $159,089.60 under the same grant; estimating and appropriating a total of $892,088.60 in the Health Grants Fund; and recognizing this ordinance as having an accelerated effective date.
Sponsor: Director of Health Department
Results: No public testimony. Advanced with a recommendation to advance and do pass and placed on the consent agenda.
260646
Accepting and approving a grant award amendment in the amount of $332,950.00 with the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services for the City’s Public Health Preparedness program; estimating and appropriating the sum of $332,950.00 in the Health Grants Fund; and recognizing this ordinance as having an accelerated effective date.
Sponsor: Director of Health Department
Results: No public testimony. Advanced with a recommendation to advance and do pass and placed on the consent agenda.
260647
Approving the plat of Congress Industrial Park, an addition in Platte County, Missouri, on approximately 60 acres generally located at 10951 N. Congress Avenue, creating two lots and one tract for the purpose of an industrial development; accepting various easements; establishing grades on public ways; authorizing the Director of City Planning and Development and Director of Water Services to execute and/or accept certain agreements; and directing the City Clerk to facilitate the recordation of this ordinance and attached documents.
(CLD-FnPlat-2024-00017)
Neighborhoods: KCI
Sponsor: Director of City Planning and Development Department
Results: No public testimony. Advanced with a recommendation to advance and do pass and placed on the consent agenda.
260649
Accepting a 2026-2027 STOP Violence Against Women Act grant, funded by the U.S. Department of Justice, and passed through the State of Missouri’s Department of Public Safety to support the work of the City Prosecutor’s Office Domestic Violence Program; estimating and appropriating $305,921.66 in the General Grants Fund; authorizing the City Attorney to enter into a subaward grant agreement in connection with this grant; and recognizing this ordnance as having an accelerated effective date.
Sponsor: Director of Law Department
Results: No public testimony. Advanced with a recommendation to advance and do pass and placed on the consent agenda.
260650
Approving the plat of Woodland Avenue Church Subdivision, an addition in Clay County, Missouri, on approximately 10 acres generally located at the northeast corner of Interstate 435 and North Woodland Avenue, creating one lot and one tract for the purpose of a religious assembly; accepting various easements; establishing grades on public ways; authorizing the Director of City Planning and Development and the Director of Water Services to execute and/or accept certain agreements; and directing the City Clerk to facilitate the recordation of this ordinance and attached documents. (CLD-FnPlat-2026-00013)
Neighborhoods: Nashua
Sponsor: Director of City Planning and Development Department
Results: No public testimony. Advanced with a recommendation to advance and do pass and placed on the consent agenda.
260651
RESOLUTION – Appointing Brenton Siverly as an interim director and Krysten Carnes, Kimiko Gilmore, Bill Miller and Matthew Muckenthaler as successor directors to the Performing Arts Community Improvement District.
Sponsor: Mayor Quinton Lucas
Results: No public testimony. Advanced with a recommendation to advance and do pass and placed on the consent agenda.
260498
Calling an election on August 4, 2026, for the purpose of submitting to the voters of Kansas City a question authorizing City to establish semiannual vacant property registration fees not to exceed $200.00 for chronically vacant nuisance property, $1,000.00 for vacant commercial property and $200.00 for vacant unimproved property; directing the City Clerk to notify the responsible election authorities on or before May 26, 2026; enacting the vacant property registration fees ordinance contingent upon voter approval; and recognizing this ordinance as having an accelerated effective date because it calls an election.
Sponsor: Mayor Quinton Lucas
Results: Katherine Nace explained this exists so that any fee adopted through 260401 only takes effect if voters approve it. The measure was moved out of the Special Committee for Legal Review to sit alongside the other vacant property ordinances so committee members and the public can see the connection. As noted in the audit, the substitute now calls the election for April 6, 2027 rather than the August 4, 2026 date printed on the agenda. Nace asked that it be held until the other ordinances are settled, since the ballot language has to match whatever passes in 260401. Held one week, with the understanding it could be held longer. The committee confirmed that public testimony present that day was directed at 260399, 260400 and 260401 rather than this item.
260653
Vacating approximately 13,000 square feet of public right-of-way in Districts B1-1 and B4-1 generally located along Charlotte Street, north of East 134th Street; and directing the City Clerk to record certain documents. (CD-ROW-2026-00013)
Sponsor: Director of City Planning and Development Department
Results: Matthew Barnes, City Planning and Development, presented a vacation of roughly 13,000 square feet of right of way north of E. 134th Street, in the 6th District and within the Martin City Richards Gebaur area plan. The applicant owns all the surrounding property, one large parcel to the north and parcels on both sides. Homes that stood there in 2019 have since been demolished. Charlotte Street is not expected to be extended north because of the railroad tracks and existing land uses. Conditions came from three private utilities (AT&T, Evergy and Spectrum) asking that easements be maintained and facilities protected, and from Public Works on streetlights and KC Water on lines and easements. The City Planning Commission recommended approval with conditions. Kylie Jennings, agent for the applicant, spoke in support and agreed with staff comments. Advanced with a recommendation to advance and do pass.
260654
Approving a development plan on about 1.7 acres generally located at the northeast corner of East 137th Street and Holmes Road in District B3-2 to allow for a third principal structure to be built on the site. (CD-CPC-2026-00060)
Sponsor: Director of City Planning & Development
Results: Barnes presented again. A development plan on about 1.7 acres at the northeast corner of E. 137th Street and Holmes Road, 6th District, within the Martin City Richards Gebaur area plan, allowing a third principal structure on a site already holding two single story buildings. The new building has a 6,693 square foot footprint, with 50 parking spaces on site, no new curb cuts on Holmes, and pedestrian connections to Holmes when it is developed with sidewalks. The lots have to be consolidated. Elevations use Hardie plank clapboard siding. Landscaping is already planted along Holmes and cleaning it up is a condition of approval. There is no neighborhood association for the site. The applicant held a meeting July 7 with no attendees, and there was no public testimony at the July 15 City Planning Commission hearing, where it was recommended for approval with conditions. No public testimony at committee. Advanced with a recommendation to advance and do pass.
260655
Approving a development plan on about 8 acres in District B3-4 generally located on the east side of North Oak Trafficway at Northeast Hill Street to allow a 24 unit townhouse development. (CD-CPC-2026-00070)
Sponsor: Director of City Planning & Development
Results: Held off the docket at the applicant’s request. No objection from the committee.
260661
Approving a major amendment to a previously approved UR Plan on about 13.64 acres in District UR generally located at the southwest corner of East Linwood Boulevard and Gillham Plaza to allow outdoor storage of 25 trucks and installation of a 10-foot fence. (CD-CPC-2026-00069)
Neighborhoods: Midtown
Sponsor: Director of City Planning & Development
Results: This is a major amendment to a previously approved urban redevelopment plan on 13.64 acres at the southwest corner of E. Linwood Boulevard and Gillham Plaza, the Midtown Costco and Home Depot site, to allow outdoor storage of 25 trucks and a 10-foot fence.
Planning staff explained that the existing urban redevelopment plan was written narrowly around Costco and Home Depot specifically rather than carrying the broad list of approved uses a modern plan would, so changing the business model triggered a major amendment. The outdoor storage area is roughly 22,000 square feet in a section of the existing parking lot. One deviation is requested, a 10 foot fence where the boulevard and parkway regulations require six feet, because the site fronts both Linwood Boulevard and Gillham. Other site work includes updated loading docks, crosswalk restriping, a new curb island off Linwood, and reinstalling medians on the Gillham side that existed as recently as 2011. Staff and the City Planning Commission both recommended approval with conditions.
Steve Cross, Costco’s real estate development director, presented with a senior architect, a real estate manager and a civil engineer. The warehouse at this location is closing this fall. Costco intends to reinvest in excess of $20 million, possibly $20 to $30 million, to convert the building into a Costco Business Center. Cross said the decision followed a comprehensive evaluation of the Kansas City area, that the location will not operate as both formats, and that no city incentives, tax redirections or bond capacity are being requested, and none will be sought if the project runs over budget.
Roughly 30 to 35 percent of what the business center carries overlaps with the current warehouse, predominantly groceries in regular consumer sizes, so he disputed the food desert framing. Lost services include optical, hearing aids, the food court, the tire center and the pharmacy, plus clothing, seasonal goods and toys. Employment drops from roughly 250 to about 90 at opening, with employees offered transfers at the same level to other locations, primarily Lee’s Summit, and some returning when the business center opens. Member vehicle traffic falls from about 8,000 a day to about 3,000. Semi truck deliveries drop from up to 25 a day to about 20, but the site adds five to ten box trucks initially, rising to a maximum of 25 over roughly 15 years, loaded in the evening, parked overnight in the new storage area, and picked up by Costco delivery drivers around 6:30 to 7:00 in the morning.
Cross disclosed that a couple of hours before the hearing, Rea had reached out to Costco senior management about keeping it. Business centers do not normally have pharmacies, but Cross said the company is now seriously considering it, that the chief executive is talking with the pharmacy operators, that a decision should come within a week or two, and that the idea might be to try it for a year. Rea said the pharmacy is the most essential of the discontinued services, that the most vulnerable residents depend on it, that it sits directly on the streetcar line, and that he wants a city and Costco partnership to keep it longer than a year. He also noted it is one of the few local sources for travel vaccinations, and raised the possibility that keeping the pharmacy could require an amendment to the ordinance before council. Rea’s stated primary concern for the record was the change of use itself, from something serving residents in the immediate area to something serving business owners from outside it, combined with an overall increase in truck traffic including vendor trucks on narrow streets.
Parks-Shaw said she had no questions but wanted on the record that she thinks about the residents who have called upset, the employees worried about their jobs, and her own son who relies on this store, that internally she would vote no from a personal perspective and on behalf of affected residents, but that a $20 million investment implies revenue and tax benefit to the city. She said the item “just doesn’t feel good.”
No public testimony. The motion to report the ordinance out with a recommendation to pass received no second. The committee then moved it out with no recommendation at all.
260662
Approving the designation of Dunford Place to the Kansas City Register of Historic Places (HO Overlay) on an area of about eight acres generally located on the west side of Grandview Road approximately 115 feet south of East 107th Terrace. (CD-CPC-2026-00049)
Neighborhoods: St. Catherine’s Gardens
Sponsor: Director of City Planning & Development
Results: A senior preservation planner in Community Planning, presented the nomination of Dunford Place at 10804 Grandview Road to the Kansas City Register of Historic Places, about eight acres in the 6th District within the Red Bridge area plan. The site has multiple structures, with the primary house as the main component plus a converted carriage house. It is nominated under criterion B, association with a significant person, for its connection to Frank Walsh, a Kansas City lawyer who defended the grandson of Jesse James against a train robbery charge, defended Dr. Hyde in the Swope family murder case, and represented labor unions extensively. There are no known economic impacts and the property appears headed for use as a single-family residence. The Historic Preservation Commission, staff and the City Planning Commission all recommended approval. No public testimony. Advanced with a recommendation to advance and do pass.
260399
Directing the City Manager to develop and publish a plain-language vacant property maintenance guide consolidating existing standards applicable to owners of vacant buildings and structures under Chapters 26, 48, and 56 of the Code of Ordinances, to make such guide publicly available and provide it to registrants under Article VI of Chapter 56, and to develop and implement a city-wide vacant property registration outreach campaign; and appropriating funds from the Development Services Fund to carry out these purposes.
Sponsor: Mayor Quinton Lucas
Results: Nace presented. This is the education and communication piece of the three-ordinance package. It requires a plain language guide consolidating the vacant property requirements, renames what had been a registration “sprint” into a campaign and gives staff 180 days for it, and allocates $50,000 for the campaign, mostly printing and distribution. Nace stressed the ordinance does not change any obligation, it just makes sure lack of awareness is not the reason for noncompliance. The guide covers existing obligations, consequences of noncompliance, and the tools available to neighborhood associations and residents acting on their own, including state statute remedies and the Missouri Abandoned Housing Act.
Public testimony came from Claudia Tuman, who owns a 136-year-old stone house she has been trying to renovate since 2001 and cannot yet live in. She said theft and vandalism hit the property every year and consume $2,000 to $3,000 that would otherwise go to the renovation, and that instead of prosecuting the people causing the damage the city is setting her up to be treated as a criminal. She argued these situations should be handled neighbor to neighbor rather than through new citywide ordinances.
Rea responded that the policy needs protections for people it was never meant to target, using the example of someone inheriting a house from a grandparent who is not in a position to renovate or sell it quickly, and said the city should be preserving those transfers of generational wealth rather than going in heavy-handed. Nace said 260401 contains those measures. No further discussion. Advanced with a recommendation to advance and do pass.
260400
Amending Chapter 88 of the Code of Ordinances, the Zoning and Development Code, by repealing and replacing Section 88-585-02, to authorize administrative approval of certificates of appropriateness for orders to repair issued pursuant to Chapters 48 and 56 for historic structures.
Sponsor: Mayor Quinton Lucas
Results: Nace presented this as the demolition by neglect piece, applying only to historic structures. The problem is an owner can let a building deteriorate until it is declared dangerous, receive an order to repair or demolish, and then simply demolish. This creates a narrow order to repair with a specific set of requirements, pushing repair as the first option, and lets planning staff approve the certificate of appropriateness administratively instead of routing it through the full hearing process. The intent is to make repair the path of least resistance.
Ethan Starr testified for Historic Kansas City, addressing all three ordinances together. He said the organization supports the package, which follows council’s adoption of Resolution 250912 sponsored by Rea, and that Historic Kansas City worked with staff last October reviewing active cases and recommending practices from other cities. His central point was that demolition by neglect has to be addressed long before a building reaches the demolition stage. He said 260400 has changed substantially since its introduction and is a constructive step, that it is important the Historic Preservation Commission keep review authority over demolition proposals for historic buildings, and that irreversible demolition decisions should not evade preservation review through a dangerous building designation. He flagged three recommendations from the city manager’s report: creating a historic property special inspector position, engaging independent consultants with structural expertise the city does not have in-house for dangerous building designations, and partnering with preservation organizations to expand building trades training, plus directing the Economic Development Corporation to help owners find rehabilitation financing. Advanced with a recommendation to advance and do pass.
260401
Amending Chapter 56, Code of Ordinances, by repealing Article VI, Registration of vacant properties and foreclosing properties, and enacting a new article of like number and subject matter, including a new Section 56-583, Semiannual fees for chronically vacant nuisance property, vacant commercial property, and vacant unimproved property, to expand vacant property registration to unimproved vacant land and vacant commercial property, add required disclosure of plans or intent for vacant property; establish procedures for investigating and identifying chronically vacant nuisance properties and assess a flat semiannual $200.00 fee for chronically vacant nuisance properties; escalating semiannual fees of $500.00 – $1,000.00 for vacant commercial properties, and escalating semiannual fees of $100.00 – $200.00 for vacant unimproved properties; establish financial hardship criteria and waiver procedures for owners unable to pay registration fees; and amending Chapter 2, Code of Ordinances, Section 2-1722, to update payment provisions for non-installment assessments and special tax bills.
Sponsor: Mayor Quinton Lucas
Results: Changes from the prior draft where the voluntary consent option allowing KCPD and the Office of Houseless Solutions to do outreach was dropped as administratively cumbersome, the required exterior posting marking a property as vacant was removed, public property and agricultural use exemptions were clarified after concerns about urban farms getting swept in, commercial property was added after testimony that long-term commercial vacancy is a major issue in the 5th District, flat fees were changed to escalating fees for repeat violations, a formal financial hardship waiver with objective criteria was added, and a 180-day report back was added.
The hardship waiver requires that the owner have no alternative solution and meet criteria such as household income at 80 percent of area median income or receipt of a public benefit, plus no prior delinquencies with the city. Nace said the goal is to avoid trapping people without means in a cycle of fees and fines that does not advance the policy goal.
She also addressed properties for rent or sale and sites with active permits or construction are not vacant and are not subject to the fee, so the ordinance does not create barriers for associations doing this work. The earliest fees could be assessed is April 2027, and the 180-day report back is meant to answer the capacity question, covering staffing, costs, compliance, and unforeseen barriers.
Bunch asked why a fee requires a vote of the people, and if it is going to the ballot anyway, why cap the fee at $200. A representative from the Law Department said he would recommend taking both questions up in closed session. Bunch declined to go into closed session over it but asked that he get the answer before any council vote.
Claudia Tuman testified again, asking how the city intends to handle the vacant properties it already owns, arguing the city should address its own inventory before pushing individuals.
Advanced with a recommendation to advance and do pass.
260557
Amending Chapter 48, Code of Ordinances, by enacting a new Section 48-52 for the purpose of declaring businesses operating without required licenses, permits, or other governmental approvals to constitute nuisances per se, thereby allowing for the abatement thereof to protect public health, safety, and welfare.
Sponsor: Mayor Quinton Lucas
Results: Lace Cline, assistant city manager for public safety, presented with Joe Williamson, director of the city’s Multidisciplinary Public Safety Task Force, and Forest Decker of Neighborhood Services. The ordinance adds a new section to Chapter 48 declaring businesses and properties operating without required licenses, permits or approvals to be a nuisance in and of themselves, which opens up abatement.
Cline laid out the enforcement gap. When a business has a license, the city can enforce conditions, suspend or revoke it, or impose fees. When a business never obtained a license, there is nothing to suspend or revoke, and the only tool is a KCPD citation working its way through municipal court while the operation continues. The ordinance covers three situations: never obtaining the required approval, continuing to operate after suspension or revocation, and operating beyond the scope of an approved license, her recurring example being a licensed auto shop functioning as an after hours nightclub.
The categories she named are illegal event venues, after hours clubs that open when the licensed nightclubs let out at one or three in the morning, commercial party houses running through short term rental platforms, and illegal gambling operations that keep running while their cases move through court. She cited a recent incident at an after hours club where nine people were shot. Operators evade enforcement by moving between locations, changing operators and business names, forming new entities under the same ownership, and distributing locations only by direct message after a purchase, especially after a publicized incident.
She was explicit that this complements rather than replaces existing tools. KCPD would still issue citations and the city would in parallel declare the operation a nuisance and pursue remedies already in Chapter 48, including an order to remove the nuisance, in practice meaning get licensed, or an emergency order where there is an immediate threat. The stated benefit is intervening on the illegal operation itself rather than waiting for a property to accumulate enough serious incidents to meet the chronic nuisance threshold, or waiting for a mass casualty event. She also framed it as protecting compliant businesses from unfair competition and from the insurance and security costs a neighboring illegal operation imposes.
Bough asked how the ordinance helps when operators simply move to another property, given that the property owner and occupant get notice and an opportunity to remedy. Cline acknowledged tracking is the hard part, said the city is working on a system and on reducing information silos between departments and with KCPD, and said they are watching this play out right now with a venue where a mass shooting occurred that is already circulating a new location by direct message. No public testimony. Advanced with a recommendation to pass.
260598
RESOLUTION – Approving an amendment to the Greater Downtown Area Plan on about 1.7 acres generally located at the northeast and northwest corners of Belleview Avenue and W. 30th Street by changing the recommended land use from residential low density to downtown mixed use for the Northtown Center project. (CD-CPC-2026-00019)
Neighborhoods: Westside, Sacred Heart
Sponsor: Director of City Planning and Development Department
Results: Taken together with the companion rezoning. Planning staff presented the area plan amendment changing the Greater Downtown Area Plan recommendation on about 1.7 acres from residential low density to downtown mixed use.
The site holds a roughly 88,000-square-foot building that has been there since around the time the zoning code was adopted, originally paper box manufacturing and assembly, and it has always been zoned residential. It operated under a certificate of legal nonconforming use limited to manufacturing folding cartons and setting up paper boxes. Once the use changed or expanded beyond that, the certificate no longer applied, which is what staff found had happened. The properties came to the city’s attention through 311 reports from neighbors about trailer and equipment storage, dumpsters in the right of way, traffic and noise.
Attorney Chris Maddox presented with owner Mark Abbott. He said there is no feasible way to convert the building to R-2.5 and demolition plus new construction would be cost prohibitive, and pointed to B3-2, B1-1 and M1-5 zoning within a thousand feet plus construction contractor and limited manufacturing uses nearby.
The applicant met with the Sacred Heart Neighborhood Association and the Westside Neighborhood Association, held a well-attended in-person meeting with Sacred Heart, whose primary concern was semi-truck traffic through the neighborhood, including trucks knocking out power poles,. That produced an agreement that all business activity indoors, limited hours, absolutely no semi-truck traffic, no outdoor storage, a one-year wind-down period for the construction contractors to relocate, limited manufacturing to relocate to the south side of the property away from residences, deliveries and trash moved from a commercial to a residential schedule, and additional landscaping. These become conditions on the special use permit plus voluntary deed restrictions, and the immediate neighbors agreed not to oppose the rezoning as a result.
No public testimony. Advanced with a recommendation to pass, with Parks-Shaw commending the applicant on the neighborhood compromise.
260599
Rezoning an area of about 1.7 acres generally located at the northeast and northwest corners of Belleview Avenue and W. 30th Street from District R-2.5 to District DX-2. (CD-CPC-2026-00018)
Neighborhoods: Westside, Sacred Heart
Sponsor: Director of City Planning and Development Department
Results: The companion rezoning to 260598, changing about 1.7 acres at the northeast and northwest corners of Belleview Avenue and W. 30th Street from District R-2.5 to District DX-2 for the Northtown Center project. Heard and voted together with the area plan amendment. No public testimony. Advanced with a recommendation to pass.
260626
Approving an amendment to the Midtown/Plaza Area Plan on about 2.25 acres generally located south of E. 49th Street between Main Street and Walnut Street by changing the recommended land use from mixed-use neighborhood to mixed-use community for the 4901 Main Street Development. (CD-CPC-2026-00046)
Neighborhoods: South Plaza
Sponsor: Director of City Planning and Development Department
Results: Taken together with the companion rezoning and development plan. Planning staff presented the area plan amendment changing the Midtown Plaza Area Plan recommendation on 2.25 acres from mixed-use neighborhood to mixed-use community for the 4901 Main Street development.
Counsel for the applicant presented with Danny Beckley, president of the Kansas City Symphony, Brian Mirakian of Populous, and a traffic engineer from Kimley-Horn. Beckley explained the business logic: the Symphony employs 80 salaried musicians plus administrative staff, it is common for symphony orchestras to develop additional revenue lines, and this venue does that while letting them present music differently than they can at Helzberg Hall, which is built for symphonic rather than amplified sound. He projected about 125 events a year, roughly 80 of them contemporary touring shows and 25 to 30 symphony events including film with live orchestra performances and collaborations with artists like Tech N9ne. He cited Live Nation spending $1 billion on venues nationally, much of it aimed at the missing capacity tier between about 3,000 and 6,000 seats.
Mirakian described a three-level building with a flat, flexible floor, a mezzanine of fixed seats and side balconies, configurable from about 3,200 to 4,600 capacity, with the exterior patterning derived computationally from the first piece of music the Symphony ever played in 1982. Features include an event-level club with street access from 49th Street, premium spaces, an outdoor patio added in response to neighborhood requests for gathering space, and public art at the base of the building along Main. He noted the site has been a vacant lot since the US Bank building came down about five years ago.
The applicant said parking is included with the ticket at area garages that are empty at night and leased for evening use, with no new garages built and the library’s reserved parking untouched. A traffic study was reviewed and approved by city staff. An event management plan, described as a living document to be revisited after events, covers garage-by-garage assignments, rideshare locations, streetcar access and staffing for traffic flow, and keeps pedestrians separated from vehicular traffic. A full house empties in about 15 minutes, ticketing handles about 30 people per minute per station across eight doors, and no single door carries more than half the exiting traffic.
Public testimony was split. Marshall Miller, the adjoining property owner, asked for no vote that day and for the item to be sent back for further vetting with agreements put in writing into the ordinance. He said he was on the working group in 1986 when the first plan for this property was adopted and again in 2016, and that changing the designation from neighborhood to community was considered and rejected both times because the infrastructure does not support thousands of people, citing two lane roads with resident parking on both sides, intersections designed for a couple hundred people a day, and original untouched sidewalks to the streetcar stops. Linda Stevens, a Kirkwood condominium resident of 11 years who can see the site from her window, spoke in support and said many Kirkwood residents support it, that it will help existing restaurants, and bring in touring acts that skip Kansas City for lack of a right-sized venue. Francis Hall, a 14-year South Plaza resident and former South Plaza Neighborhood Board member, spoke strongly in support, said she has watched the dirt lot sit for years with no one else clamoring to develop it, and pushed back on what she called scare tactics about hip hop audiences. Cliff Holly, president of the South Plaza Neighborhood Association, said residents are divided and asked the council to consider putting teeth in the ordinance to involve the neighborhood association in the event management and traffic plans, and to look at infrastructure and security including the intersection at 50th and Main and the bridge down to the Plaza.
Bunch raised pedestrian access, noting the traffic study analyzed walking routes from the garages but not from the streetcar stops, that the roughly 10 percent streetcar mode split is probably conservative, and that the walk from either the Plaza or UMKC stop is not pleasant. He asked the applicant to work with Public Works multimodal planners and the Multimodal Commission. Bough confirmed Public Works reviews these plans and pointed to condition 23 on the event traffic management plan and standard sidewalk improvement conditions. Staff found a case submitted July 10 for public sidewalk, curb, and gutter work on 49th, Main, and Walnut plus site disturbance and noted the traffic study would identify off-site improvements if warranted. Advanced with a recommendation to pass.
260627
Rezoning an area of about 0.5 acres generally located at 9 E. 49th Street from District R-1.5 to District B4-5 and approving a development plan, also serving as a preliminary plat, on 2.25 acres generally located south of E. 49th Street between Main Street and Walnut Street to allow for an entertainment venue. (CD-CPC-2026-00044 & CD-CPC-2026-00045)
Neighborhoods: South Plaza
Sponsor: Director of City Planning and Development Department
Results: The companion rezoning and development plan to 260626. Most of the site is already zoned B4-5 so the rezoning just brings the last northeastern parcel into line, then the three parcels will be replatted. The building has 64 parking spaces on-site, sits one block from the streetcar extension, and the site slopes down significantly, which lets all truck loading and unloading happen inside the building. The City Planning Commission recommended approval of the rezoning and approval with conditions on the development plan. Heard and voted together with the area plan amendment. Advanced with a recommendation to pass.
260637
Approving an amendment to an existing approved development plan in District B3-2 to allow for commercial/retail development on about 1.27 acres generally located south of N.E. Barry Road and west of N. Indiana Avenue. (Case No. CD-CPC-2026-00058)
Neighborhoods: Gashland
Sponsor: Councilmember Nathan Willett
Results: Matthew Barnes presented a major amendment to an approved development plan on about 1.27 acres at the southwest corner of N.E. Barry Road and N. Indiana Avenue in the 1st District, within the Gashland Nashua area plan. The parcel was originally planned for fast food within a partly developed center that includes QuikTrip, Burger King, and Chipotle. The amendment allows general motor vehicle repair in the B3-2 district, which normally requires a special use permit, though a development plan can serve in lieu of one. The Dobbs Tire building is 8,400 square feet with 42 parking spaces, using the new parking ordinance to exceed the parking maximum by placing parking to the rear and sides off the public street. Elevations are CMU block with an EIFS facade, with landscaping per code. A public meeting was held June 21 with no attendees. Staff and the City Planning Commission recommended approval with conditions. The applicant’s representative waived a presentation. No public testimony. Advanced with a recommendation to pass.
End of Neighborhood Planning and Development Committee Agenda
Dan Baldwin is the author of This Week at City Hall, a current Urban Planning & Design student at UMKC, a veteran, former Kansas Realtor, a political activist & organizer, and local musician. Dan is passionate about building a better future through policy design and how it interacts with our built environment and lived experiences and is confident that his time as the Center for Neighborhood’s intern will help him grow in those passions and be an opportunity for communal growth as well.
Leave a Reply