KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A new apartment complex is set to go up in Kansas City's River Market after the projects approval Thursday by the KCMO City Council.
Businesses and neighbors say they're happy for development, but parking is one big concern.
"It's hectic," Levi Santa-Cruz, a River Market patron said. "It's hard to get in and out of the parking lot, a lot of people walking around."
Parking in the city market on a busy weekend can be tough enough. But the people that live and work there say a proposed apartment complex to be built in a 160-space parking lot could make it tougher to find a parking spot.
"On a weekend it's really tough. It's hard to find parking," said Richard Gordon, a River Market patron.
Santa-Cruz said parking is always top of mind.
"On a busy day, the first thing you're thinking about is, 'Where are we gonna park?' Because it's always going to be an issue," Santa-Cruz said.
River Market business owner David Lindahl says that's on the top of his mind too.
"I think when you drive around the market on the weekdays and you see empty parking lots, I think it's a little misleading," Lindahl said. "Because a lot of the parking lots in the neighborhood are privately owned or they're a parking lot for an apartment building or a condo building."
The KCMO City Council approved plans to build the 300-unit apartment building and garage with 160 total public spaces on the property and 234 more spaces for residents only.
Lindahl worries that 66-space residential overlap will cut into what's available to the public.
"There's a question of whether the needs of the community are being met," he said.
Proponents of the plan say the number parking spaces in the River Market isn't the problem, the issue is how they are managed.
The streetcar is an option for people who don't want spend time hunting for a parking spot.
Parking is typically tough in an increasingly population-dense area.
Lindahl knows that, and he isn't against development in general, he just wants to keep the River Market area thriving.
"I want for us to treat City Market like the destination that it is," he said.
The project's original plans included all 160 public parking spaces, but that number was reduced to make room for more affordable housing.
