Stakeholder Q&A

Below are questions and answers asked by community stakeholders at recent ProspectUS engagement meetings:

Question: What continues to be a barrier to the Prospect Corridor?

Answer: US 71/Bruce R. Watkins Parkway devasted Prospect when the housing was demolished for the expansion of the highway.

Question: How do you address land uses that are lacking along the corridor?

Answer: Housing Department is working with different neighborhoods citywide. The neighborhoods are saying that they need grocery store, bank, pharmacy.

Question: What does it take to support a Pharmacy?

Answer: A community pharmacy's target market is defined more by geography. Pharmacy owners can determine the geographic range of their target markets by mapping out the locations of competing pharmacies in the area and targeting consumers who live closer to their own stores.

Question: What does it take to support a grocery store?

Answer: Generally, 3,252 population required. Age, gender, race/ethnicity, household income, education level, marital status, and geographical location are considerations to stores locating in certain geographic areas.

Question: What does it take to support a Big Box Store?

Answer: Big Box Stores like Walmart requires 50,000 population and considers income of residents and distance from key wholesalers.

Question: What is the strategy to continue to encourage infill of affordable housing along the corridor?

Answer: Ordinance No. 220700 was approved in August 18, 2022. This ordinance amended Ordinance No. 201038 and adds a new code section 74-11 “Affordable Housing Set Aside”.

The ordinance requires any development project primarily providing multifamily housing for rent and including 12 or more residential units and seeking city incentives to include at least twenty (20) percent of the total residential units as affordable housing.

The developer would go through LCRA to meet tax incentive requirements. The developer would work with EDC-KC.

Question: What other programs are available for affordable housing? HUD? Housing Choice Vouchers?

Answer: Currently, Low-Income Tax Credit (LIHTC) housing projects are available along Prospect (2 Palestine Senior housing, Morning Star Senior housing, upcoming 38th and Prospect housing development for families, upcoming 23rd & Prospect called Prospect Summit for seniors, Ollies Gates has several housing developments (Azalea, Freeway homes, Dudley, Parker Square, Jazz Hill), HUD Choice Neighborhood housing on 9th & Woodland, Blenheim Senior housing at Gregory and Prospect, proposed Promise Place at 45th & Olive.

Developers will come to the Housing Department about an affordable housing development that they would like to build. The Housing Department will check with the neighborhood to determine if this type of development is what they want in their neighborhood. The developer will go to the EDC-KC to go through the process of applying for LIHTC.

There are times when the Housing Department will reach out to neighborhoods to provide funding for an affordable housing development. Currently, the Housing Department is working with Key Coalition Neighborhood, Marlborough, NE neighborhoods.

Question: How many housing choice vouchers are available for this project? Can the HOME program support the housing recommendations? How many tax credits are available? How are you looking at preserving the historic structures along the corridor?

Answer: The Housing department works with neighborhoods to achieve their affordable housing goals as mentioned above.

The EDC-KC runs the City’s tax credit programs. If developers seek tax incentives for a multi housing development project, the city requires the developer to set-aside 20% of affordable housing units of their project to receive any city incentive.

Currently, the Housing Department has targeted some neighborhood area for HOME funds (Key Coalition Neighborhood, Marlborough Coalition, NE area.

We are creating a list of structures that are over the age of 50 years old. We are noting the age, architectural features and the picture of structure. We are looking at draft demolition delay ordinance which city staff will review the demolition delay when it comes in for a permit. The permit will be flagged as being within the Prospect Overlay. Historic preservation will do further review to evaluate if the building or buildings could be listed on the local registered or National Register. Historic Preservation will notify property owners within 300 feet to allow them a chance to give comment.

Question: Can the overlay include something about lighting along the corridor?

Answer: This tool is in Chapter 88, if we need higher lighting levels then the applicant would apply for an administrative adjustment (88-810 & 88-570) to the lighting standards (88-430).

Question: Can the overlay include something about trees on development projects?

Answer: Currently, adding trees to a development is required per Chapter 88-425 of the Code Ordinance.

Question: Can the zoning overlay regulate fence height differently than wall height?

Answer: Yes, the overlay could regulate wall height. The max height for fences in residential district 6 feet on the side and rear yards but only 4 feet on the front and street side yards. City staff would need to see more specific examples of what stakeholders would like regulated.

Question: What are the solutions for signage in window, if the current regulations do not allow window signage?

Answer: The regulation should be specific about where window signage can be located.

Question: What is the description for each of the 5 sub-districts? Which subdistricts would fit Prospect? What percentage of the parcels have the potential to be housing along the corridor? [Stakeholder] talked about 196 lots which he calculated as 8 units per block with 75 blocks.

Answer: Descriptions are included below and each of the types is applied with in the Prospect Corridor and the adjacent neighborhoods. Along the corridor all parcels have the potential to be housing, however the node areas (community, neighborhood and industrial) call for a mix of uses with residential being one of those potential uses. The Transit Corridor designation is focused on more dense housing types with limited commercial development.

Urban Community Nodes are intended to create urban centers that serve as community destinations, are accessible by transit, and include social spaces that serve as civic gathering places. The node includes a concentration of retails and services, employment, institutions, and residential uses in a compact, walkable development pattern. District-wide parking strategies allow this district to serve as a community destination yet maintain pedestrian focus and transit accessibility. The nodes are supported by the cross-transit corridors.
Urban Neighborhood Nodes are intended to meet the daily needs for surrounding neighborhoods and include small social spaces that serve as neighborhood gathering places. The district includes primarily neighborhood-serving businesses and institutions, including a wide range of small-scale retail and service uses that typically do not draw customers from beyond the adjacent neighborhoods, and employment, institutional and residential uses that complement the compact, walkable development pattern.
Urban Industrial Nodes are intended to create centers of local employment for regional serving jobs, that are accessible by transit. The node includes a concentration of industrial, warehousing, and distribution services, institutions, and commercial and service uses in a connected, walkable development pattern. Parks and open spaces support use of the area by residents, visitors, and workers. Employers within the nodes are supported by the cross-transit corridors.
Transit Corridors are generally associated with the spaces between nodes along the Prospect Corridor, and along crossing transit corridors. The corridors provide an opportunity to create moderately intense housing (townhomes, walk-ups, small apartments, etc.), to support the goods and services offered within the nodes. The corridors are characterized by development that is compact, connected (multi-modal), and diverse in type to expand housing opportunities and provide access to the transit systems.
Neighborhoods are the residential areas not directly on, but supportive of Prospect Avenue and its businesses. Creating mixed income neighborhoods through infill development and rehabilitation of existing housing stock will provide additional support for the neighborhoods and businesses and growing the market for additional goods and services to be offered.

Question: How many properties / parcels are in Urban Community, Urban Residential Nodes, Urban Industrial Nodes, Corridor/Cross Corridor? What is the percentage?

Answer: Within the ProspectUS Study area there 382 parcels (26.1%) within a Community Node designations, 191 parcels (13.1%) within an Urban Neighborhood Node, 46 parcels (3.1%) within a Urban Industrial Node, and 844 parcels (57.7%) within a Transit Corridor (including crossing corridors).

Question: What do you plan on doing with existing housing on 39th Street?

Answer: The Environmental Protection Agency prepared a study which made recommendations for housing and commercial development along 39th Street. The EPA worked with the Ivanhoe Neighborhood Council to draft the recommendations. Ivanhoe Neighborhood Council has a Master Plan Development which shows how they want their neighborhood developed for new housing and existing housing. Stakeholders can view the 39th Street upon request to city staff.

Question: Specifically speaking of Troost. [Stakeholder] talked about how the income levels are different on Troost. The income levels on Prospect Avenue are different than Troost. When the buildings were added to Troost it jacked up the rent at those locations. How are you going to deal with having rents stay the same when you have new development?

Answer: To keep rents the same subsidy will be required to write down the cost of development to a below market rent or sales price, and that can be a target. However, members of the community have also indicated that everything cannot remain the same in terms of income, rents, and sales, so development of some higher rents within the corridor will diversify the cost structure for housing, creating a mixed-income community. The target is to create 1/3 market rate, 1/3 attainable, and 1/3 affordable.

Question: [Stakeholder] talked about 10% of affordable housing being made available. What are the strategies to allow affordable housing to continue to be built? Are there developers you have in mind for projects? [Stakeholder] wanted to offer his contractors as developers.

Answer: Subsidy from a variety of forms will be necessary to create and maintain affordable housing. Leveraging public (federal, state & local), philanthropic and foundation, stakeholder, and developers’ investments in affordable housing will be necessary. Additionally, the creation or expansion of a local voucher program (funded similarly) can help create a stock of perpetually affordable housing in the corridor. Another management option to preserve and maintain affordable housing is the Land Trust Model that is operating in the corridor and could be expanded.

Question: How do you address uses that are lacking along the corridor?

Answer: Rebuild the market that will support the location and operation of the uses that are missing. The corridor once had 20K more households than it currently does to support more goods and services and arts and entertainment. Rebuilding the population of the corridor will assist in creating a market where local businesses can be successful. Once the market is there, target the uses that the community desires.

Question: What about owner-occupied affordable housing? Are there recommendations to encourage owner-occupied affordable housing?

Answer: The primary target is to create programs and funding / financing sources to offset the cost of rehabilitation of the existing housing stock to provide an affordable, single-family single family housing stock.

Question: Can we have requirements for the permeable of water runoff?

Answer: We can certainly add something that addresses this, however the city has standards to address stormwater runoff, and any additional regulations or standards could add additional cost.

Question: Prospect was a commercial corridor. At one time I could buy any product from the corridor. What are the commercial uses that are missing along the corridor that are necessary to revive the corridor? Is it banks, grocery stores, pharmacy, laundromats, daycare centers?

Answer: As noted previously the corridor study area was once home to 20K more households, estimated to be 60K+ more people. That population and population density can support a broader variety and larger amount of commercial uses. Rebuilding the population of the corridor, and the market for commercial services, is the first step in attracting goods and services to the corridor. According to our research the items that are missing or not adequately represented in the corridor include: event venues, electronics/appliance sales, bakeries, credit unions and banks, laundromats, fitness studios/gyms, pharmacies, grocery stores, and hotels.

Question: Who are the developers who will be used to execute the recommendations for infill development?

Answer: All developers can participate in the process. The City has not designated or contracted any developers to build any developments. The ProspectUS will be a Strategic Implementation Plan that recommends steps to take to develop commercial and housing development, improve infrastructure and how to fund those projects. The proposed projects in the plan are for private and public entities to develop.

Question: Will the public review the plan before it is presented to the City Plan Commission? When will the documents go to the City Council?

Answer: Yes, the public will have a chance to review the draft document prior to the plan going to the City Plan Commission.

City Plan Commission will hear the presentation for the Strategic Implementation Plan and the TOD Overlay District regulations on December 19, 2023, and the 1st reading to City Council on January 4, 2024.

Question: We need to be more specific where the funds are coming from. Where are the funds coming from?

Answer: Our recommendations are to pursue and leverage resources from as many sources as possible, and creating a path for the use of those resources to implement the recommendations for the corridor – housing, small business, public investment in transit, infrastructure, walkability, safety, etc. Those resources include – public (federal, state, and local), philanthropic / foundation, stakeholders, and developers. Don’t leave $$ on the table.

Question: How will the Philanthropic organizations be involved with this?

Answer: We are working to further engage the philanthropic / foundation organizations in the community to define how they can help to implement change along the Prospect Corridor. That said, we understand the some have significant resources and of those, a few have made a commitment to the east side of Kansas City, and /or several of the topics that we are recommending for implementation. Addressing issues such as affordable housing, small business support, quality infrastructure and health (walkability) are priorities for many of the foundations.

Question: Can we have a Townhall meeting?

Answer: We will schedule a meeting that will allow for the public to review the draft document and make comments about the document.

Question: Can we see the draft document prior to the Townhall meeting?

Answer: We will make the draft document available on the ProspectUSKC.com website for the public to review. Also, the document will be emailed to the committee members and those who have attended the meetings during the entire process.

Question: At the end of the process, we will need somebody to keep pushing the process forward. We will need somebody to implement those recommendations. Who will be the one to push the recommendations forward? [Stakeholder] wants the City to push these ideas forward.

Answer: A primary recommendation of the implementation plan is to build capacity of the community and the City Hall to implement the strategies, recommendations, and actions defined. The plan lays out the creation of a Development Partnership that represents the interests of the Prospect Corridor and neighborhoods, the residents, businesses, property owners and other stakeholders. This organization will be the champion to push forward implementation. However, coordination with the city’s Implementation Coordinator will be imperative to target public investment and projects to support development.

Question: Since the City’s investment on Prospect was intentionally disinvested, the City should intentionally invest in Prospect. What is the City going to do intentionally about investing along Prospect?

Answer: City staff will make presentations about the project to the 3rd and 5th District Council members. The final Strategic Implementation Plan will show City Council how to transform Prospect Avenue and how to use different funding sources not used by the city before.

Question: What you are asking [Stakeholder] is for a plan and strategy?

Answer: The end deliverable will be a Strategic Implementation Plan and a Transit-Oriented Development Overlay District regulations. The Strategic Implementation Plan will be a plan that includes recommendations, action steps, time-table, responsible parties, costs, and funding sources. The TOD Overlay District regulations will regulate the uses and the design guidelines.

Question: Who is the champion to lead all entities to accomplish the recommendations from plan?

Question: Should the plan have a vacant land strategies?

Answer: Yes. Reuse of the vacant land, specifically those publicly owned vacant lots, in the short-term and the long-term will benefit the corridor. Temporary clean-up and use of vacant lots can benefit the corridor and neighborhoods while redevelopment may take additional time.

Question: How do we have better communication between City, citizens, developers, etc to inform everyone about planning process like this?

Answer: When the initial grant project was started, city staff used initial lists from the previous Prospect MAX advisory committee to build the committee lists. Then city staff added to the list to include business owners, non-for-profit organizations, and property owners. In 2016, Smart Growth America provided technical assistance to the Prospect Corridor project a list of names was generated with funders, developers, non-for-profits, state entities and federal agencies. Those names were used along with Prospect MAX advisory committee list to create the workgroups.

City staff use the 3rd and 5th District email blasts and District newsletters to communicate with the stakeholders.

KCATA used their social media (twitter, facebook, Instagram) to communicate upcoming meetings about the ProspectUS.

KCATA passed out ProspectUS flyers along the Prospect MAX route and other transfer routes.

Question: Is someone available to come make a presentation to [Stakeholder’s] Neighborhood advocacy group? The meeting is Thursday, August 31 at 6 p.m. at Ivanhoe Community Center- 3700 Woodland.

Answer: City staff attended the Thursday, August 31st meeting at Ivanhoe Community Center. City staff made a presentation and answered questions from those in attendance.

Question: Are there any plans to make improvements to the streets that were discontinued or cut-off when Bruce R Watkins Parkway was constructed? Were there any plans for a pedestrian bridge to connect streets on the west side to the east side of US 71 Highway? Was the right-of-way vacated on those west side streets that were cut-off from the east side? Or other infrastructure improvements?

Answer: The streets that have stubs are still public right-of-way. If the street right-of-way were vacated, city would have to ensure that the property abutting the right-of-way still has access from their property to the right-of-way. Also, the city needs to verify that there are no utilities underground, etc before a street right-of-way is vacated.

There is a $5M RAISE grant with a $2.5 match to investigate reconnecting the communities that were divided by the US 71 highway project. The project will determine if additional connections should be made with pedestrian bridges.

Question: Is there a plan to deal with the traffic coming from US 71 highway to the streets like 55th Street, 58th Street, Gregory Blvd, 51st Street? The traffic gets backed up because of the signaling of light and because the east/west streets are too short between US 71 Highway and Prospect to handle a lot of cars?

Answer: The RAISE grant will assist the City to look at options for at-grade crossings along US 71 Highway at Gregory Blvd, 59th Street, and 55th Street. In addition, the study will look at how to make the pedestrian connections better at those crossings.

Question: How are Seniors or citizens in wheelchairs able to move around if there aren’t adequate sidewalks? Is there a program to assist with rebuilding sidewalks?

Answer: The PIAC funding is a source of funding that could assist with infrastructure improvements of sidewalks from the neighborhoods to the transit stops.

Stakeholder Q&A

Below are questions and answers asked by community stakeholders at recent ProspectUS engagement meetings:

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