KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The All Saints Episcopal Church at 9201 Wornall Rd. has been vacant for four years. A St. Louis developer wants to turn the site into a 98-unit apartment complex.
The City Plan Commission is set to decide on approving a development plan and two other items in the project on Tuesday at 9 a.m.
The church would be demolished.
Some neighbors are unsure how three buildings will fit on the land.
"The bottom line is it's just too many people. Too many apartment complexes," 20-year neighborhood resident Judy Eldridge said.
A group of residents voiced some of their concerns on the NextDoor app. They worry about runoff and erosion into the creek behind the church and the traffic.
A vehicle count from January 17, 2018 showed 14,448 cars drove through the Wornall & Ward Parkway intersection during a 12-hour period.
"A hundred apartments would be kind of tough on the traffic around here because that's right on the corner where Ward Parkway meets Wornall," Dave Hoffman, who lives in the area, said. "In rush hour, it makes a quite longer commute trying to get south from here."
JDL Development needs the plan commission to approve their development plan and rezoning request. The commission would also need to approve an amendment to the Red Bridge Area Plan that would allow the land use to go from Residential Medium-High Density to Residential High Density.
The developer did not respond to a request for information.
Many neighbors say they'd prefer Coach's Bar and Grill over the current plan. The owners of the restaurant destroyed by flooding two years ago were looking at this spot to renovate the church into a new location. The owners say the developer ended up backing out because of issues with asbestos and the foundation.
