The Unified Government Board of Commissioners voted 9-0 Thursday, Oct. 1, to deny a special use permit that would have let developer Inland Bluffs work to recover about 100 acres of Holliday Drive and Inland Drive. Once home to extensive limestone mines, the land is now unstable and unable to support homes or businesses.

The vote overrode the planning commission, which recommended approval 5-2 on Sept. 14. despite a negative recommendation from UG planning staff. Local residents voiced extensive concerns, especially large truck traffic.

Commissioners also postponed a zoning code overhaul tied to a new state housing law, approved an ordinance allowing accessory dwelling units, and heard a timeline for hiring a permanent county administrator.

Board refuses to delay the hearing

Inland Bluffs had asked the board to hold the case until next month so it could keep talking with neighbors. No commissioner moved to grant the delay, and the hearing went ahead. Commissioner Phil Lopez (District 6), whose district includes the site, tried to move for denial before the applicant had presented.

Aaron March, an attorney with Rouse Frets representing Inland Bluffs, apologized to residents who stayed home because they knew of the continuance request. He said more opponents would have attended had they known the case would proceed.

Mayor Christal Watson told residents that every commissioner had received the packet of written comments submitted in opposition.

Near term: a decade or more of excavation and hauling

March said the company owns about 1,000 acres of former limestone mine land in the area. The permit covered roughly 100 acres, with work on 65 of them. Crews would remove trees and overburden, crush rock on site, and bring in clean fill to close the mine voids.

The company asked for an 18-month permit, but the work would be expected to take far longer before the land would be usable. March told the board it would take at least 10 years. In written responses to planning staff, the company estimated 10 to 20 years, depending on market conditions.

During those years the site would operate as a materials business as well as a grading project. The company told staff it would sell soil, rock, crushed concrete and asphalt aggregate, and mulch to buyers across the metro area. Sales would begin in the first phase of work, and the company planned to install a truck scale.

March said trucks would add 101 trips a day on average, and 426 at most, to Inland Drive. The road carries fewer than 4,000 vehicles a day and can handle 13,000, he said.

The site would run weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays from 8 a.m. to noon, with no blasting. Work would stay in the northern third of the property, near existing industrial uses. Wooded setbacks would separate it from homes to the south and east.

“If you don’t like the way we operate, if you don’t like the impact on the community, then terminate our SUP within that 18-month period or don’t renew us, but give us a chance to try,” March said.

Long term: no end use named

The company’s application describes the goal as “developable pads,” meaning stable, graded ground that could support buildings. It does not say what those buildings would be.

“The fundamental issue here is do we ever want to see development and taxes generated on this property?” March said. “In its current condition, it’s undermined and it cannot be developed.”

March said residents asked at neighborhood meetings what the company would do with the property. “Well, we don’t know,” he said. He listed single-family houses, apartments, storage, and light industrial as possibilities.

He said the 100 acres now generate about $10 thousand a year in taxes and that 40 single-family homes would generate about $250 thousand. He added that he was not saying 40 homes would be built.

In place of a plan, the company offered two new conditions. It would submit a master plan for all 1,000 acres, drafted with residents and staff, before seeking renewal in 18 months. It would also build nothing permanent until that plan cleared review.

The land is zoned for single-family homes, and the comprehensive plan designates it for large-lot residential use. Any other end use would require further UG approval.

Staff and commission response

Alyssa Marcy of the planning department said the undermined area is well known in the Turner and Morris neighborhoods. She said residents raised concerns about the proposed activity, truck traffic, and damage to roads. Planning staff recommended denial at the planning commission hearing, where 12 people spoke in opposition.

Commissioners asked March no questions. Assistant Counsel Mike Farley read the 13 legal factors the board must weigh in a special use permit case. They include the character of the neighborhood, whether traffic would exceed the capacity of the streets, whether noise, vibration, and dust would create problems for nearby property, and how the public’s gain compares with the hardship on the landowner. Commissioner Melissa Bynum (At-Large District 1) then moved to deny.

“I would make a motion to deny the special use permit based on these factors: the character of the neighborhood, the accommodation of the street network, and the reasonable necessity of the project for the welfare of the community,” Bynum said.

Lopez seconded. Overriding the planning commission required eight votes, and the motion drew all nine commissioners present. Commissioner Andrew Davis (District 8) was absent.

Housing law changes postponed

The board delayed an ordinance rewriting parts of the zoning code to comply with Senate Bill 418, the Kansas By-Right Housing Development Act, which took effect July 1. The law sets deadlines for approving small residential projects, lowers the minimum lot size, and ends protest petitions against rezonings to single-family districts.

Commissioner Christian Ramirez (District 3) said the board should have been briefed in small groups before the vote. “I feel like we’re coming in blind a little bit,” he said.

The board voted 9-0 to continue the item to the next planning and zoning meeting, set for Oct. 29. Staff will brief commissioners before then.

Accessory dwelling units approved

A related ordinance passed without discussion on the planning and zoning consent agenda. It allows accessory dwelling units in any district that permits residential use, in four forms: interior, attached, detached, and converted. A unit may be as large as half the primary dwelling’s floor area or 1,000 square feet, whichever is greater, but never larger than the primary dwelling. The units need only a building permit and no added off-street parking.

The same 9-0 vote approved two rezonings to agricultural use, six short-term rental permits, and permits for a training facility and event space, a home Montessori farm school, and an auto sales business.

Administrator search to open Oct. 8

Human Resources Director Renee Ramirez said the UG has hired Strategic Government Resources to recruit a permanent county administrator. Clay Pearson, a former city manager in Texas, Michigan, and Illinois, will lead the national search. She expects to post the position Oct. 8 and hopes for a selection by early January.

Other business

The board voted 9-0 to move five planning and zoning meetings back a week. They will now be combined with regular meetings on Dec. 3, Jan. 7, July 1, Dec. 2, 2027, and Jan. 6, 2028. Farley said the original dates fell inside the 14-day window state law gives neighbors to file protest petitions.

The regular consent agenda also passed 9-0. It authorized three grant applications: a state grant of up to $1 million for emergency vehicle signal preemption at 22 signals around the Legends, a $225 thousand federal grant for emergency alert systems, and a $75 thousand AmeriCorps Seniors grant. The same vote amended the grant application policy, appointed Stefon King to the Housing Authority, and set the 2027 holiday schedule.

Before the meeting, Watson presented a Dotte Proud award to the local chapter of African-American sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha for more than a century of service in KCK, including scholarships for KCKCC students, donations to food pantries, and relief supplies after the August storms. Friends of KCK Animal Services also received an award for raising money to supplement care at the shelter, running its volunteer and foster programs, and funding free vaccination clinics and free or discounted spay and neuter services.

The board met in executive session three times, once on personnel and twice to consult attorneys on possible claims or litigation. It announced no action afterward.