KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The owners of vacant lots in Kansas City, Missouri, may soon have to pay an extra tax or fine as a penalty if they leave the lot undeveloped for extended periods of time.
KCMO Mayor Quinton Lucas first posted about the proposal on X.
He elaborated on the idea Wednesday, saying this idea addresses blight and can activate neighborhoods by motivating property owners to do something with the land in order to not face the extra tax.
"This is about us trying to take steps forward," Lucas said.
Lucas admitted his office is in the research and evaluation stage. He hopes to begin earnest conversations with the city council in early 2025.
Any new tax requires voter approval. A question with that proposal could appear as early as August 2025 Lucas said.
Tom Ribera has lived in the Independence Plaza Neighborhood, where empty lots are plentiful, for 20 years.
"It’s disheartening; it’s disappointing,” he said. "You want to see the place improve and grow, and get investors in here and start buying up some of the properties and fixing them."
He supports the idea of hitting lot owners in their pocketbook.
"If you’re going to own something, you’re going to buy something, you gotta be responsible and take care of it," Ribera said. "You don’t let it sit there and rot until you’re ready to get it and let everyone suffer around it."
But Stacey Johnson-Cosby is less enthusiastic about the concept. She’s been a realtor in Kansas City for 37 years. She believes many of the vacant lots are empty for a reason: Kansas City’s building codes aren’t builder-friendly.
"If the goal is to build more homes, then the city needs to talk to people who build homes — homebuilders who are not interested in the city of Kansas City because of other anti-housing policies in place, specifically the IECC building code that is a great disincentive," Johnson-Cosby said.
KSHB 41 News previously reported how permits for new homes were increasing in the metropolitan areas outside of Kansas City’s limits.
The city’s new building codes require meeting more energy-efficient standards, which also costs more money to build.
Lucas said there are more than 17,000 lots that are completely vacant or have a vacant property. That accounts for roughly 9 percent of all the city’s lots.
In September, the city council approved spending roughly $100,000 on a new software to better track vacant properties.
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KSHB 41 reporter Charlie Keegan covers politics on both sides of the state line. If you have a story idea to share, you can send Charlie an email at charlie.keegan@kshb.com.
