Council heard from a number of PV residents, primarily on the topic of PV rezoning. This is not an item that is on the agenda. It will be on the Planning Commission meeting on September 13th. Please continue to follow the Planning Commission and City Council for additional opportunities for public input.

Please reference the new website to read the housing policy primer, the Council recommendations summary, the tentative timeline for next steps, and an FAQ.

A couple of the FAQ items were addressed by the Mayor before public participation began:

Q: Is the city considering multi-family (triplex, quad-plex, or apartment building) development in
single-family areas?
A: No.

Q: Is the city considering rezoning any areas?
A: No.

The words “left wing prick” flew within one minute from a member of the audience, so you can guess the temperature of the comments. All were not negative though. Thank you to those who came to speak and stayed on a topic within the City’s purview.

Daniel Teraros (sp?), thanked Council and expressed support for the explanations provided on what is currently happening. Proudly YIMBY. Several applauders in the audience
John Anderson used his time to disparage the Diversity committee. “Leave us alone, no governmental, political, social engineering.”
Chet Hanson recognized that PV is moving towards diversity, but slowly. Not in favor of changing PV.
Lauren Martin, renter since 2018 – apartment communities are a mix of all sorts of people, ages, times of life some just starting out on their independence journey and some who have no desire to own a home. Thanked Council for exploring attainable housing.
Todd Bleakely – FAQ highlight by the mayor above changed the tenor of his comments. He supports rehabilitation of the existing housing stock – that’s a win-win for everyone. Possibly extend exterior housing program to existing multifamily facilities. He recognized that we need attainable housing.
Mark Johnson – Reference “West Riding” HOA restrictive covenant that says single family housing only. He said we’re “taking people’s property away”? (Not even close to true.)
Laura Garrison – supportive of diversity efforts
Dan Scholpf(sp?) – talked about transparency and personal property rights.
Barry Freeden(sp?) – Against recommendations, but is okay “paying hefty taxes”
Patricia Allman – thinks we are already very diverse and wants that to continue. thinks we’re rezoning 82nd and Nall. Her understanding is that it will affect everyone and they will have no recourse. (Again not even close to accurate)
Sheila Myers – disheartened by the recalcitrant and frustrated attitudes of council members and staff. “We have a process that works well.” (Actually, I suppose it works well for homeowners who DON’T want their neighbors to do stuff on their property, but it doesn’t work at all for neighbors who would like the freedom to do a little bit more with their property.)
Alex Brown – Overcrowded school issue, our parks are overcrowded (First I’ve heard), new crime? Says it shifts the onus and costs to residents to fight new developments.
Lori Sharp – Village Vision 2.0 reference, wants us to remove R1a and R1b (ADUs) from recommendations
Dawn Olney – former Officer Swaby situation comments (see KC Star article).
Whitney Kerr Jr – VV2.0 “passed under the cloak of the pandemic” City Council took advantage. UCS disparagement “progressive NFP actively pursuing high density subsidized housing”. (First day I’ve EVER heard UCS called “woke” or “having an agenda”. 🤷‍♀️)
Trent Schairer – please tighten up the documentation and discordant information. (AGREE!)
Nick Schultz – moved here because of what it “was designed to be” (Racist & exclusive??) Very partisan commentary. Basically, if you don’t like it here or feel welcome, then you should move.
Michelle Allcanter (sp?) – asks for homeowners right to object per project if this does move forward
Michelle Vianello (sp?) – will developers receive subsidies? will city of PV or any entities receive subsidies? why is KCMO median area income (AMI) used to calculate housing needs instead of PV’s?
Scott Goodger – good schools, good clean community, nice parks, Shops within walking distance 2-car garages – all very desirable – against the recommendations
Jean Taylor – lives on a block of 12 rentals and is concerned… likes the new builds – worried about short term rentals? (Residents the last couple of years have been conflating rentals with short-term rentals, and I’d like to see some light between these two issues. There IS a difference.)
Devin Scrogum – There are a lot fewer kids in his PV community than there used to be. Things change. What did we do in the 60’s that got us here, and what are we going to do now with the future population – we’re going to get less and less dense unless we do something.
Gary Showalter – wants to know where the property will come from. Why are we trying to fix something that is not broken?
Nick Garcia – The Hispanic population in PV is less than 5%; the lack of diversity is saddening. He loves PV.
Jessica Priestland – what will the city gain from the administrative, financial, city amenity perspectives? What with the taxpayers gain? Wants to know how residents are able to stop this from happening? (See FAQ)
Marcia Lipsky – simply, rezoning is not a good idea – Don’t change anything
Mark Vianello – put zoning issue up for a referendum to let the people decide
Janice Hamill – if it ain’t broke…. doesn’t want to see change
Caroline Pruett – current multi-family could be updated before rezoning (with expansion of Exterior Grant Program presumably as someone earlier suggested)
Tom Cluff (sp?) – made a personal attack against the mayor
Randy Hartman – “VV2.0 is indecipherable”
Kathy Hartman – Against the recommendations.
Kathy Waller – her area R4a is already dense, how are we going to increase that.
Mary Michael Sturkey – focus on upgrading the existing multi-family, worried about school overcrowding
Bill Webster – Says it would be too expensive and many HOAs would restrict it. Is the city planning on subsidizing?
Barbara Cantrell – City Council doesn’t have their best interests at heart
Steve Snitz – The support must be coming from outside of PV. There are no problems here. There is no more welcoming city than PVKS. Paraphrase: “We’re going to be invaded by Mexicans and Central Americans if we do this.”
Anna Gepsen – Feels there weren’t enough opportunities to participate in the VV2.0.

Mayor Mikkelson thanked everyone for attending and participating. He also invited them all to stick around and observe City business (where items like this begin). Notably, all but 2 or 3 people left immediately. If you were someone that stayed and observed the business of the meeting, I’d love to hear from you.

Committee Reports

Arts Council

State of the Arts 2022 is (was) Friday – our RETURN artist reception and awards presentation where we’ll have eats from Caffetteria and drinks from Rimann liquors and over 50 artists.

JazzFest is Saturday, and Prairie ViIlage Arts Council volunteers will be at our booth from 3-8pm with a fun activity for kids and adults alike.

JazzFest

After 2-year hiatus, we’re back. Forecast is looking good. Thanks to JD Kinney for all his work on the event.

Teen Council

Currently accepting applications.

UCS’ Drug and Alcoholism Council

September begins reviewal of grant applicants. If you’re not familiar with UCS, HERE is info on who they are, and why the City partners with them on a lot of topics.

Environmental Committee

The Enviro Committee will be at JazzFest as well, and they recently received a presentation on sustainable lawns that they hope to share more information on soon.

Diversity Committee

The panel on Early Childhood Education moderated by Julie Brewer and experts from around the region was really well received. Cole Robinson shared that is very proud of how the committee brought this event forward on something that affects so many of us.

Pension Committee

Cole also shared that the recent stock market blowback did affect our pension fund, so the fund is currently down 17.4% with a little bit of recovery so far. By NOT borrowing to “fully” fund the pension last year, we have now saved our City over a million dollars during this blowback.

Mayor’s report

Mayor reported on National Night Out with PVPD, Back to School with a Firefighter, Sunflowers for Ukraine Auction, and the Corinth KU Kickoff.
He met with several housing groups to talk about PV and housing with a variety of opinions
He met with Library leadership recently to update them on ad hoc Civic Center committee recommendations.
attended the Outstanding Women in Public Finance – Deputy City Admin. Nickie Lee and Courtney McFadden presented that at Verbena in Meadowbrook
The PV Pool is officially closed after Puppy Pool-ooza earlier Tuesday night. Thank you to Assistant City Administrator Meghan Buum, and the Parks committee leadership, Terrence Gallagher and Lauren Wolf.
Lancer Day will be Friday, September 16th in early afternoon. Plan your driving routes accordingly!
Go Green Fair partnership with others cities Saturday, September 17th and Sylvester Powell Community Center

4th Annual Doggie Dash at Harmon Park with PVPD, Sept. 17th benefitting Great Plains SPCA
Library Lets Loose at Central Resource Library! Get your tickets and meet Will Shields too!

Staff reports

Administration

Wes Jordan referenced the September Plan of Action in the Agenda Packet, and he specifically highlighted the hiring process for PD (4 vacancies remaining). Our City Prosecutor is leaving her position, so we’ll be advertising for that position soon.

Citizens Police Academy

Chief said we still have a few spots open.

Public Works

Keith Bredehoeft reported that State Line work is primarily done. There was still some striping happening Wednesday. It looks great now! Drives like a dream….

The City Hall EV charging stations are installed and powered, but not on network yet. Hope to have soon.

Other

Ian clarified the issue on duplexes referenced tonight. Terms, such as the very nebulous term “duplex”, have to be defined, and that is on Planning Commission to take on because they are the experts, not Council or the ad hoc committee.

Dave commented on our opportunity to be better at communicating. (I concur.)

Business

Public hearing to receive comments regarding the City exceeding the revenue neutral rate

No public comment received.

Consider Resolution 2022-14 approving a tax rate of mill levy rate in excess of the revenue neutral rate for the 2023 budget year

First mill levy reduction in at least 20 years. PV is just a little over 16% of a resident’s total tax bill.

Approved unanimously

Public hearing for the 2023 budget

No public comment received.

Consider 2023 budget adoption

Terrence noted that this process may be going smoothly now, but not without a lot of effort and discussion with City staff and the Finance Committee. We owe a thank you to Nickie and the entire staff.

Cole appreciated the process (his first one), and he noted that we kept the budget increase down to about the level of inflation AND we were able to invest in Harmon Park sooner rather than later.

Approved unanimously.

Consider storm drainage repair program construction contract with Infrastructure Solutions, LLC

Cliff Speegle, Storm Water Project Manager, presented the annual drainage repair program. The bids came in over budget due to the current construction environment, so they reduced scope to bring the cost down to the current bid amount. (Johnson County does pay 50% of these projects.)

The drainage pipe replacements are at the following drainage locations:

Outlook Lane north of 83rd Street – Storm sewer replacement in rear yards.
7430 Village Drive. Storm sewer replacement between properties.
Canterbury Street south of Somerset – Storm sewer replacement between properties.

Consider professional services agreement with Clark & Enersen for the City Hall remodel through schematic design phase

Melissa Prenger, Public Works Senior Project Manager, presented this contract. The architect selection was done by a committee of 8 including Councilmen Greg Shelton and Cole Robinson. The committee narrowed proposals down from 4 to 2 who they then interviewed. The committee chose C&E based on related experience with municipal structures and experience with achieving LEED accreditation for projects including on our recent Public Works LEED Platinum project.

Courtney asked if this process might determine that the building is renovate-able or if it needs to be a teardown and rebuild. Melissa said yes, and we should expect the process to be very similar to the Public Works building assessment. That one was determined to be a teardown, but that doesn’t mean that this one will be.

Approved unanimously.

Consider approval of Resolution 2022-15 declaring it to be the intent of the Governing Body to vacate the right-of-way adjacent to 4401 Somerset Drive (by calling a public hearing and setting the date of Monday, November 7, 2022.)

Keith presented on this interesting historical issue and the process that went on behind the scenes to bring closure and satisfaction to the resident.

Discuss MIRD0007 – Mission Road at 68th Street flood control project and budget

Cliff presented again with simply a project update. The project will raise Mission Road between 68th Terrace and 67th Terrace in order to keep Brush Creek flow east of Mission Road. The storm sewer system will be expanded along Mission Road and to the west as part of the flood reduction design. The project will also allow for an improved park setting along Schliffke Park. The parking lot along that area will be permanently removed. Utilities, including WaterOne and Johnson County Wastewater, will be using the project as an opportunity to upgrade their facilities in conjunction with the project. Anticipated start date Spring/Summer 2023 which is better timing for school activity (or lack of). Will try to open back up to traffic by August 13th with remaining grading and some other items still remaining to be completed after school starts back up.

Agenda Packet for your reference

Closing

So that’s it for this week. Sorry it’s a little light on complete sentences. I needed a few days of distance from the meeting before I finished my recap in a fresher state of mind, and then I kind of lost my energy. If you have questions about the ad hoc housing committee recommendations and what they are and are not, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. Councilmembers would also like to hear from the residents who are happy we are looking at these options for PV. I know it’s easy to sit back when things are going the way we’d each personally like, but the governing body needs to hear from the happy residents as much as the unhappy residents. 😊

Mark your calendar for the new Public Works building Open House on September 13th!

New Public Works Building Open House
September 13, 4:45-7:00pm
3535 Somerset

Also, if you’re interested in hearing what the Planning Commission has to say about the ad hoc housing committee’s recommendations as they take them up for the first time, here is the info on their meeting:

The public may attend the meeting in person or view it online at
https://www.facebook.com/CityofPrairieVillage.

PLANNING COMMISSION
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2022, 7:00 P.M.
7700 MISSION ROAD, COUNCIL CHAMBERS

It’ll be a long one. Here’s the agenda: