A plan to enhance the QuikTrip store in Westport at 1301 Westport Road is back in the hands of the city for review.
QuikTrip spokesman Mike Thornbrugh said the company resubmitted a plan to city planners last week.
That plan, Thornbrugh said, incorporates several changes the company learned in meeting with neighborhood leaders during the last year, a process that started when QuikTrip first proposed changes to the store that were met with skepticism among neighborhood leaders.
Last fall, Kansas City Planning Commissioners denied the company’s proposed expansion, citing opposition from the West Plaza Neighborhood Association.
Julie Tenenbaum, vice-president of WPNA, said last year that the store’s design might be better suited for a suburban location than one in a city neighborhood.
But after re-submitting their proposal last week, Tenenbaum said the plan is basically the same one many opposed last year, and expressed frustration that the meetings with company officials didn’t incorporate their suggestions.
QuikTrip’s spokesman said the company met with city officials in their resubmission and has met with neighborhood groups nine times.
Thornbrugh said those meetings led the company to make several changes:
- Apartment buildings on the west side of Mercier Street won’t be demolished.
- Additional pedestrian paths will be added to the expanded site, including a pedestrian crossing the company says it will install across Westport Road.
- Reducing the height of the building and the canopy so they are less visible from the street.
- The plan will maintain a connection for pedestrians and vehicles to access Mercier Street, though the company would own the street.
- Additional landscaping would be added on the south side of the proposal.
Full details of the resubmitted plan weren’t immediately available.
The plan is up for further review on June 14.
Tenenbaum said she and other neighborhood residents will be there to ask questions.
