KSHB 41 reporter Isabella Ledonne went to a meeting Monday night to listen to the concerns of people who live on or near the Country Club Plaza. KSHB 41 is committed to reporting on plans for one of the city's most historic and well-known areas. In addition, Isabella also got reports on stories in Overland Park, Johnson County and topics about government accountability. Share your story idea with Isabella.
—
In just a few days, Kansas City's iconic Country Club Plaza will be filled with residents and tourists for the holiday lighting ceremony.
An auditorium on the Plaza was filled Monday night with residents and others concerned about what the streets and buildings in the neighborhood will look like in the future.
As temperatures dropped outside, inside the Unity Temple was heating up as people questioned representatives of Gillon Property Group on their design plans for historic neighborhood.
Some of the renderings at the meeting showed buildings up to 200 feet tall, or up to 18 stories.
"It's going to block the [resident's] view of the Plaza," Michael Conner, a Plaza resident, said. "I'm concerned that will affect all of our property values."
The main concerns discussed on Monday night were the height of the planned buildings and how high the cost of living increase.
"This is a fairly affordable area for a city to live in, compared to being downtown or at the river market," resident Kylie Smith said. "I'm afraid that when they come in, they'll run a lot of people out that have lived here for so long."
The proposed plans include hundreds of housing units, hotel rooms and thousands of square feet in office space. But incorporating neighborhood elements, including bodegas and grocery stores, are important for Smith and others who call The Plaza home.
"My biggest concern is they [the developers] referred to the Plaza more as a district," Smith said. "This is a neighborhood. This is where I walk my dog every day."
Another concern is how little the developers would potentially pay in taxes to schools and the community.
KSHB 41's Charlie Keegan reported the developer's application to Port KC asks to not pay property taxes for 30 years.
"This is about what your teachers are getting paid, how many teachers you have in a building, how many support staff you have in the building because this is the revenue stream that drives those operational costs," Kansas City Public Schools employee Tiffany Moore said. "The growth of the tax revenue needs to be balanced."
Many who attended Monday night's meeting were concerned with the tax incentives, but comments on KSHB 41's social media platforms argued it's a good trade off.
"When you look at investments in the area, The Plaza is the crown jewel of our shopping center and we've been having a hard time bringing people into The Plaza from what it seems," Kansas City resident Devon Sebastian said. "I think [the proposed designs] make The Plaza look a lot more up to par in comparison to the other shopping districts."
Developers told neighbors the tax incentives would go toward fixing the Plaza's infrastructure. They also included in their application they would make payments to schools and libraries in lieu of the property tax abatement.
But neighbors want to see those concrete details before concrete is put down.
"How are they going to make this a neighborhood success?" Smith said. "I think that there isn't true transparency there. I believe that there should be a little bit more, especially for the ones who live here now, more than anything."
Port KC and Kansas City are still considering the project and its proposed tax incentives, so is final as of Monday night.
KSHB 41's Isabella Ledonne asked Jon Stephens, Port KC's president and CEO, to respond to the community concerns on the property tax abatements.
"We hear the public and we're listening to the public," Stephens responded. "Our goal is not ever to take any revenue from the schools or from any entity in the community. It’s to create a base to then grow from, and sometimes you have to adjust that payment, but it is definitely never to lower the amount of money going to the public schools or any other entity."
Kansas City's Economic Development Council is hosting a special meeting on the tax incentives on Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. The agenda and web link can be found here.
—
