KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Two proposed hotels are testing the height requirements on the Country Club Plaza.
The test comes as the Kansas City, Missouri, City Council unanimously approved the extension of the Plaza bowl overlay district in February.
The proposal calls for two hotels and other amenities for the southwest corner of the intersection at W. 46th Street and Wornall Road.
The requirements urge all buildings to not exceed 45 feet in the inner bowl and 90 feet in the outer bowl, which is where this proposed project is located.
Renderings from the DLR Group show the hotels exceeding the 90 foot height requirement.
However, according to Robert Martin, President of the Plaza-Westport Neighborhood Association, this initial plan was presented in 2015, before the requirements took affect. Martin said this latest proposal is a continuation of the first project, therefore they are grandfathered in and don't necessarily have to abide by the height restrictions.
"We were actually able to negotiate with this developer to reduce its size and scale just a little bit to make it more amendable to the neighborhood's needs," Martin said.
While Martin said they would like to see the building even smaller, they will take what they can get.
Elsewhere on the Plaza, the height requirements did squash a project that would transform the Seventh Church of Christ-Scientist into a 12-story building at 47th and Pennsylvania.
It was a win for height restriction advocates, but Martin fears there will be many development proposals coming in front of city council that may seek exceptions to the Plaza bowl rule.
"The developers want what they want and so they go to city council without adequately adjusting their plans to the plaza plan," he said.
The exemption request is set for discussion at the May 7 City Plan Commission meeting.
