By Leslie Collins
Northeast News
February 29, 2012

Pendleton Heights is one step closer to downzoning the neighborhood.

With a unanimous vote Feb. 21, the City Planning Commission approved the proposal to downzone portions of the neighborhood to single family use. Sixteen area residents attended the meeting and a number of them testified in support of the plan.

“This is the first downzoning which I have not received any objecting phone calls,” said City Planner Larry Stice. “Literally, everyone I talked to has been in support of this. This is the first downzoning that this has ever happened.”

The area in consideration includes approximately 200 acres generally bounded by Independence Avenue on the south, The Paseo on the west, St. John Avenue and Lexington Avenue on the north and Chestnut Avenue/Trafficway on the east. The proposal would rezone Districts R-2.5 (Residential 2.5), R-1.5 (Residential 1.5), B1-1 (Neighborhood Business 1-1), B3-2 (Community Business 3-2) and B4-2 (Heavy Business/Commercial 2) to District R-6 (Residential 6).

“Like many older neighborhoods, much of the existing zoning dates back to the post-WWII era and does not correlate well with the existing land uses,” Stice wrote in the staff report.

The goal of downzoning is to preserve the historic integrity of the neighborhood and prevent future development – like duplexes and multi-family structures – that fails to conform to the single family use.

Pendleton Heights President Jessica Ray said downzoning would bring additional stability to the neighborhood and potentially attract new residents.

Several areas of the neighborhood will be excluded from the single family use zoning, since those areas comply with the recently passed Truman Area Plaza Plan. Excluded areas include the retail and restaurant uses at the intersection of Lexington Avenue between Brooklyn Avenue and Park Avenue, and the institutional uses which include Don Bosco Community Center, the Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences, a charter school, a church, and the Stonewall Court apartment complex east of Wabash Avenue. Other excluded areas include the commercial zoning along the Independence Boulevard frontage east of Highland Avenue and the northwest corner of Independence Boulevard and Chestnut Trafficway. Garfield Elementary is also excluded.

Properties that would become non-conforming under the proposed downzoning plan would be sent a notice of non-compliance and information about obtaining a certificate of legal non-conformance (CLN). Those properties would not be forced to change to a single family use. However, to receive city permits for repairs and maintenance, the property owner would need to obtain a CLN. If a non-conforming use property is destroyed or abandoned, the property must then comply with new zoning requirements.

The downzoning plan will be heard next by the City Planning, Zoning & Economic Development Committee. To pass, the plan must be approved by the Planning, Zoning & Economic Development Committee as well as the Kansas City City Council.