OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — UPDATE:
The Overland Park, Kansas, planning commission tabled discussions on this rezoning request to its next meeting on June 13, 2022.
ORIGINAL STORY:
The owner of the former Incred-A-Bowl amusement center in Overland Park, Kansas, wants to build townhouses in an empty field behind the building near west 151st Street and Antioch Road.
On Monday, the city’s planning commission will review a request from property owner N. M. S., LLC to rezone the land from office space to residential. The rezoning is necessary to build five, two-story buildings, which will each house four townhouse units, creating 20 total rental units. Each unit will have three bedrooms and three bathrooms.
The city’s planning commission will host a public hearing on the rezoning request at 1:30 p.m. Monday, May 9, 2022 at Overland Park City Hall, which is located at 8500 Santa Fe Drive.
Should the commission recommend approving the rezoning, the city council will make a final decision on the issue at a later date.
Incred-A-Bowl closed in 2015. N. M. S., and its registered agent Dr. Paramjeet Sabharwal, purchased the property in 2016.
That same year, the city approved a special-use permit allowing Dr. Sabharwal to transform the former bowling alley and arcade into a hospital with overnight beds specializing in weight loss, similar to a hospital and clinic Dr. Sabharwal operates in Lenexa, Kansas.
Subsequent permits have expired and the building has sat in disrepair amassing several code complaints since 2016. City records indicate Dr. Sabharwal resolved several open complaints on April 28, 2022.
“The trash has been removed. It’s still not in great repair, but it’s 100 times better than it was,” Beth Luthi said.
The closest townhouse to any existing home would be 15 feet away from Luthi’s backyard, should the city approve the plan. She worries lights from the townhouses and car traffic will disrupt her tranquil setting. Windows on the second floor of the townhouse will no doubt allow residents to peer over her backyard fence.
“We spend a great deal of time outside,” Luthi pointed out.
Her neighbor, Kristi Uenishi, also opposes townhouses taking over the green space that buffers homes like hers on West 150th Street from the Incred-A-Bowl building and Trail Winds Center shopping plaza.
She says city leaders should consider the long list of complaints filed against Dr. Sabharwal and his management of the Incred-A-Bowl property. While trash, weeds, broken glass and other items appear to have been resolved within the past few weeks, there are several potholes in the parking lot, including one on which Uenishi bent a wheel of her car.
“We can see, as an example, how well he manages properties. So they might look pretty and shiny the first year, but who knows what they’ll look like later,” Uenishi warned.
A log of a neighborhood meeting submitted to the city indicates Dr. Sabharwal told nearby residents the townhouses are the first element of bigger plans to generate revenue and allow for more development of the Incred-A-Bowl site. Luthi and Uenishi have their doubts.
In 1999, the city approved plans to build two, two-story office buildings on the property in question. Those plans never materialized, but the approval does not expire. Luthi and Uenishi said they’d prefer office buildings on the land than townhouses.
“When the office closes, people go home, I don’t have lights shining in my house, I don’t have people looking into my house. I feel like that would be a better use of the property,” Uenishi said.
Dr. Sabharwal did not return calls for comment on the project.
