KCRag Forum

Neighbor happy with new plan, commissioners disappointed
Carmen Linderman-Van Booven, who owns a home in the neighborhood adjacent to the property, told the commission she was grateful that the multi-story apartment building was no longer part of the plan, and that she felt the new plan was more in line with what people in the neighborhood had been hoping for.

“I felt like it was a huge win,” Linderman-Van Booven said of the new proposal. “Somebody’s listening. We don’t need another huge apartment building that for Overland Park is a high rise…This seems a little bit more in line with what is around in that area.”

However, a handful of commissioners expressed disappointment with the move away from the original mixed-use vision that had been pitched for the site, which were more in line with the kinds of projects recommended by the city’s Vision Metcalf and Forward OP planning processes.

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“I’m truly wish that the Vision Metcalf and our Forward OP initiatives had a bigger impact on the development of this site,” said Commissioner Janie Thacker, who said she hoped that the site could eventually become for pedestrian friendly and less car centric.

Commissioner Kip Strauss shared similar frustrations, suggesting the project was indistinct and banal.

“It just seems like every other kind of suburban development with the outparcels and I would have expected more of a campus environment with green space and a courtyard and connecting the office with the restaurants,” Strauss said. “It doesn’t seem very imaginative. I would hope we would get more imaginative developments moving forward in other parts of the city.”

mgsports wrote: ↑Tue Jul 06, 2021 4:52 pm going by 95th Street and Metcalf Ave.