SHAWNEE, Kan. — Shawnee City Council voted down a zoning request Monday night that would have allowed for potential apartment units and townhomes.
A proposal for nearly 30 acres of land near Johnson Drive and Kansas 7, near Woodsonia, to be used for the project passed unanimously at the Shawnee Planning Commission. Area residents, however, have had concerns, including homeowner Dan Renaud.
“I think it’s too big, too fast, too dense,” said Renaud, who is against the Woodsonia West project.
Another resident, Patrick Fitzgerald, started a protest petition that garnered signatures from more than 60 percent of neighbors within 200 feet of the proposed development.
“There’s a lot of reasons,” Fitzgerald said of his opposition to the development. “There’s a lot of abnormalities.”
Because the protest petition was valid, three-fourths of the Shawnee governing body would have had to pass the rezoning ordinance.
Several residents noted population density as a major issue, but said they are not against more housing, just the way it’s being done and how fast.
However, some council members said Shawnee is “slow to grow: because of the fact they don’t have the density to support the restaurants and businesses so many community members are asking for.
Despite a vote being tabled earlier in the year, which gave developers an additional two weeks to address resident concerns, the Woodsonia West project was unable to win over enough council or community members.
Removing a retaining wall to reroute an access point so cars wouldn’t shine their headlights into neighbors’ homes was one compromise. Another was decreasing the density of the project by 13 units, which translates to between $200,000 and $250,000 a year in lost revenue.
Developers heard those concerns at prior meetings and came Monday night with several revisions to their plan, noting nothing has changed since 1996 regarding the nearly 30 acre landscape, which was designated for multi-family use for 23 years.
After moving to Woodsonia 23 years ago, Renaud is concerned about area’s growth rate and said he feels that more people are caught up in the skyline rather than the people living there. He said that the city needs to take its time and “build this the way it should be built.”
“I think we’re pushing this as a city we’re more concerned about rooftops than residents,” Renaud said.
Fitzgerald said that while he thinks the city should grow, it should do so responsibly while respecting “the continuity of the existing neighborhoods.”
After the vote, developers told 41 Action News they were disappointed and that other developers could see this and not want to invest their time with such uncertainty of a vote.
