Transparency variances for a Navy recruiting office Downtown and deck, garage, and driveway variances across town.
Neighborhoods in this week’s blog:
- Armour Hills
- Briarcliff
- Center City
- Cooley Highlands
- Downtown Loop
- Forgotten Homes
- Hyde Park
- Indian Mound
- Little Blue Valley
- Osage Trail Station
- Parade Park
- Wendell Phillips
- West Plaza
- Westside
Board of Zoning Adjustment
Wednesday, September 24th at 9am
The Board of Zoning Adjustment was attended this week by Chairman Mark Ebbitts and Board Members Theresa Otto, Myeisha Wright, Gonzalo Ventura, and Tom Gorenc.
CD-BZA-2025-00107 and CD-BZA-2025-00111 were companion cases regarding the site at 300 E 12th St in the Downtown Loop. The first case listed (107) requested the Board to appeal a Notice of Violation related to window signage coverage. The second case (111) requested approval of a variance to the transparency allowance for signs in a public right-of-way for DC-15 zoning districts. Staff Planners Ahnna Nanoski and Alec Gustafson along with members of the applicant team presented this case to the Board.
Case no. CD-BZA-2025-00107 was heard previously on September 10th by the BZA and was covered in that week’s edition of the blog.
The site in question is currently occupied and leased to the US Navy for a recruiting office. For security purposes, the windows of the facade are completely tinted and contain advertising for recruitment. The City, under 88-445-02, states that “signs inside windows and doors which are visible from any right-of-way may not cover more than 15% of the window or door and may not include any digital or electronic changing display.” Since the window tint for the recruiting office doubles as a sign, it was found to be in violation.
However, the applicant team pointed out that in the original Notice of Violation, 88-445-02 had not been cited. Instead, other codes were referenced. They also explained that the military has certain provisions on security and transparency of facades for its recruitment offices. In this case, these conflicted with the city’s code.
The Board moved to dismiss the previous Notice of Violation and to approve the requested variance to allow the window tint.
CD-BZA-2025-00115 requested approval of a variance to the separation distance of an accessory structure in an R-6 zoning district for the site located at 2618 Madison Ave in the Westside neighborhood. Staff Planner Alec Gustafson along with Kris Kohrs and Andrew Alvarez, the applicant and the owner, respectively, presented this case to the Board.
Mr. Alvarez works on classic cars and was seeking this variance in order to construct a new garage to store them. An existing garage is already present, and a smaller garage used to be present about where the proposed addition would be built. The Board deliberated on if there were ways to redesign the structure so that it wouldn’t incur the need for a variance, but found no solution. Eventually, the Board moved to grant the requested variance.
CD-BZA-2025-00126 requested approval of a variance to permit a deck to encroach on the front setback in an R-6 zoning district for the site located at 3850 NE Indianola Dr near the Briarcliff neighborhood in the Northland. Staff Planner Stephanie Saldari along with Pete Medina, the owner and applicant, and Brian Medina, presented this case to the Board.
The site in question was a kit home built originally in the 1950s. The applicant, Pete Medina, and his son, Brian, had purchased the home for Brian and his wife to live in and had been repairing it. As part of those repairs, they replaced a deteriorating front stoop with a wood deck and staircase. This deck encroached on the front setback by about 1-2 feet. The Board was in agreement that this encroachment was negligible and moved to approve the requested variance.
CD-BZA-2025-00127, CD-BZA-2025-00128, and CD-BZA-2025-00130 requested approval of several variances to the Troost Corridor Overlay to construct three multi-unit buildings at 3200 and 3211 Troost Ave and 3200 Forest Ave in the Hyde Park, Osage Trail Station, and Center City neighborhoods.
These items were continued to October 8th ahead of Wednesday’s meeting.
CD-BZA-2025-00109 requested the Board appeal a zoning violation related to an abandoned nonconforming sign within a B4-5 zoning district located at 1700 E Truman Rd near the Wendell Phillips, Parade Park, and Forgotten Homes neighborhoods. Staff Planner Ahnna Nanoski and Michael Kinder, the applicant’s attorney, presented this case to the Board.
Mr. Kinder requested that the case be continued to October 22nd in order to allow the applicant to be present. The Board moved to continue this case with fee to October 22nd.
CD-BZA-2025-00124 requested approval of a variance in an R-6 zoning district to the setback requirements for accessory structures in order to permit a detached accessory garage in the rear yard at 308 E 67th St in the Armour Hills neighborhood. Staff Planner Connor Tomlin along with Tim and Kelley Quinn, the applicant and owner respectively, presented this case to the Board.
Ms. Quinn explained that she wants to demolish the existing detached garage on her property and replace it with a modestly larger one on the same area. The existing garage is suspected to have been built along with the house, in the 1930s, and was constructed to accommodate smaller cars. The proposed garage’s size would encroach on setback requirements. The Board moved to approve the requested variance.
CD-BZA-2025-00125 requested approval of a variance in an R-2.5 zoning district to features allowed to encroach in required setbacks to permit a porch addition for the site located at 1614 W 44th St in the West Plaza neighborhood. Staff Planner Connor Tomlin along with the applicant Greg Rothers, presented this case to the Board.
The applicants are reconstructing the house at the subject site, and as part of that wanted to replace a porch on the street-side yard. The proposed porch would have about the same footprint as a previous porch on the old house. However, as the structure was being completely rebuilt, it was required to comply with present code. Staff had originally told the applicants that the porch replacement would be acceptable, but when plans were submitted to Mr. Tomlin, it was determined that it would not be code-compliant. The Board moved to approve the requested variance.
CD-BZA-2025-00123 requested approval of a variance to the width of a driveway in an R-6 zoning district for the site located at 3526 N College Ave in the Cooley Highlands neighborhood near North Kansas City. Staff Planner Connor Tomlin along with Nicholas and Ashley Hays, the owners/applicants, presented this case to the Board.
The two variances requested concerned the allowed width of a new driveway that the Hays had constructed on their property as well as a gravel pad also on the site. The new driveway was nearly in compliance with code, but exceeded the maximum width because of a wing located where the driveway meets the curb. Additionally, gravel parking is not allowed in R-6 zoning.
This case was continued, however, as Mr. Hays works for a company that Board Members Theresa Otto and Gonzalo Ventura also represent. This risked a conflict of interest, and so the Board moved to continue the case to October 8th when a new quorum could be established.
CD-BZA-2025-00119 requested approval of a variance in an R-80 zoning district to the Accessory Uses and Structures standards to permit a large detached accessory structure for the site located at 8300 Rhinehart Rd in the Little Blue Valley neighborhood. Staff Planner Connor Tomlin and the applicants Doug Ubben and Wiley Meyer presented this case to the Board.
The subject site is a large parcel located in a rural context area. The applicants’ intent with the variance was to build an accessory structure, in this case a barn, to the far front of the principal residence. Additionally, the applicants explained that they may convert that barn into the principal residence over time and turn the existing house into an Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU). A variance was required in this case because accessory structures are not allowed in front yards of residential parcels.
The Board moved to approve the requested variance.
CD-BZA-2025-00079 requested approval of a variance to the residential vehicular standards to permit a larger driveway on the front yard at 418 Lawndale Ave in the Indian Mound neighborhood.
This item was heard previously on July 9th by the BZA and was covered in that week’s edition of the blog.
The applicant for this case failed to appear. Staff explained that they had had numerous conversations with the applicant about the need to appear before the Board for their case to be heard. Because of this, the Board moved to dismiss this case.
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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