KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- It's a sunny afternoon, as Steve Benenate sits with a friend outside Westport's staple Broadway Cafe.
"It's one of the few places there is where people walk around, and you can talk and visit," Benenate said.
He's worried major development projects in the neighborhood, like the Opus Group's plans to build 256 apartments at the corner of Broadway and Westport, will change that.
"They do all these big building projects, and it's going to be too congested," he said.
To address concerns like his, Kansas City Council approved an ordinance that places a suspension on the approval of new plans, rezoning and demolitions until March 1, 2018.
In the meantime, the city, the Westport Regional Business League and Historic Kansas City will facilitate a community planning process to develop a vision for Westport's future. The ordinance appropriates $45,000 to the efforts.
While the development debate is nothing new, the six-month suspension is concerning to people like Steve Shields of Action Pact Development.
"The language is gray enough it's uncertain," Shields said.
AP Development is one of the entities behind the proposed Westport Terrace at Manor Square, a development which would include apartments and a hotel surrounding Char Bar in Westport.
"I really value open, transparent processes, and I think this suspension or moratorium, or whatever it's currently being called, really needed to be much more open," Shields said.
While projects like his that already have the green light are supposed to be safe from the suspension, Shields isn't completely convinced.
"The proof will be in the pudding, but we're optimistic," he said.
41 Action News also reached out to the Opus Group about its planned apartment complex at Westport and Broadway.
"We continue to move forward with planning for our apartment project in Westport following approval from the City Council earlier this year," Joe Downs, vice president of real estate development, said.
