Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Take a moment to acknowledge that we have a quorum of Planning Commissioners President with everybody here.

Welcome.

Thank you.

Nine out of nine.

I want to thank everyone in the chamber for attending this evening's meeting.

Planning commission meetings are an important part of the process for interpreting and applying the city's comprehensive plan and unified development ordinance.

It's important that our meetings are conducted with dignity and respect.

This applies to everyone in attendance, and we strive to provide an atmosphere where the ideas and opinions of all participants are held in the highest regard.

Finally, the actions on the Planning Commission here are to do are to ultimately the responsibility of the city council.

We're here to help the council as our elected representatives be fully informed to make the best choices for our city.

By statute, the planning commission strives not to engage with any party excuse me on the issues on our agenda prior to our meeting.

Should that interaction take place as a result of a business relationship or any other interaction, which we refer to as ex parte communication.

Commissioners will report that interaction when we reach that item on the agenda.

We'll now move on to the consent agenda, and this is this evening we have three items on our consent agenda.

Commissioners, do you need to pull any items for additional information or questions from staff?

Seeing none, do I have a motion for the consent agenda, please?

Mr.

Chair would move to approve the consent agenda.

Thank you, Commissioner Bergida.

Do I have a second?

Second.

Thank you, Commissioner Sealing.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Opposed, nay.

That motion passes nine to zero.

We'll now move on to our regular business and uh we have two scheduled public hearings tonight.

For the first public hearing, a continuance has been requested.

When a case is scheduled for a continuance, the public hearing is not opened.

Comments, recommendations, or analysis on any case is not provided for or discussed until the public hearing is opened.

This process gives ensures that anyone has an interest in the case will have the opportunity to participate.

So a continuance is requested to a future planning commission for RZ 26-0001.

Is there a motion on this item?

So moved.

Thank you, Commissioner Chapman.

Do I have a second?

Second.

Thank you, Commissioner Green.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Opposed, nay.

That motion passes nine to zero.

The second public hearing is a request for the approval of a resolution for the City of Olatha Comprehensive Plan called Ill Elevate Olatha.

Ms.

Hollingsworth is here to present the case.

Want to take a moment to uh speak on the elo elevate Olatha process in general.

Um Commissioner Breen and I were fortunate enough to sp uh spend time on the committee around that.

Uh wow, what a great experience.

What a good we had great input from the public.

Uh the members of the commission which we served on, I'm sure you're in agreement were just an extraordinary talent and brought great information to the table.

So the elevate Alatha, for those not familiar with it, we're setting out the plan for Alatha for the next 15 years and what that looks like.

I mean everything from land use to kind of how we want the city to look and the image that we want to put forward.

And uh the results we came of this from where I'm sitting uh were extraordinary.

Um and uh was very pleased um that I was given the opportunity to be a part of that.

Uh so it was very good, and we'll get we're we'll hear some deal uh details on it from Ms.

Hollingsworth, but uh to those who uh were involved, um people from the public who came to our open houses, um committees, inputs from special interest groups that spoke into it and and even probably top of the list our staff.

Um our staff just did an extraordinary job as well uh in walking us through this process and I got nothing for but five stars across the board.

So thank you very much.

So Ms.

Hollingworth, uh the platform is yours.

Is that better?

Okay.

Kim Hollingsworth, Planning and Development Manager, and thank you so much for that introduction.

I really appreciate you.

Um, speaking into your experience on the comprehensive plan, um, Chair Janner, um, as well as speaking to the steering committee's participation as well.

So I'm gonna start off as well with a few thank yous.

Uh, first to the community, uh, tremendous, tremendous amount of feedback went into this plan, and all the ideas and feedback really became the vision and the opportunities that this plan was built around.

Uh so we'll highlight throughout all the public participation, but it was really just tremendous, and we appreciate everyone speaking into this plan.

In regards to the steering committee, I appreciate the steering committee's steady guidance throughout, um, really the insight, uh, you know, being community members themselves really provided great insight, feedback into the plan, and a lot of energy and uh backing to this momentum.

So I appreciate that.

Uh, to city staff, um we had many city staff involved, whether they were working on this um day to day as a project or engaging folks out in the community, um, just really appreciate sharing expertise into the document, planning events, um, and being there engaging our community.

Want to say a special thank you to Jessica Schuler, Taylor Vandevelde, Lauren Winter, and Anna Will, who are really working on this over the last two years.

Uh, to our commissioners and council members, thank you for championing this effort and carrying it forward over the next 15 years.

Um, you will be here steering us forward over the next uh 15 years is really the lifespan of this document that'll guide our growth and development.

So I have the privilege this evening to share an overview of the plan.

Um really excited that we're at this point in the process to really the plan is now a living document that is its draft, but we're really looking to highlight it to you this evening and then move it along for the city council consideration after this step.

So we'll go overview the plan, process engagement, um, highlight some elements of the plan and different topic areas, future land use, uh, the new piece of the plan is implementation, and then provide a recommendation to you.

So want to start with acknowledging plan Olatha.

So Plan Olatha was adopted in 2010 and has really provided great guidance for us over many like about the past 15 years, and this is a very condensed list.

We shared more at our joint workshop that we just held with you recently.

But many new facilities were built out of the platform of this plan, our two new libraries, signature parks like Lake Olatha, master plan documents such as our transportation, master plan, historic preservation, and many more.

We also completely updated the UDL.

So in 2014, we have a new UDO off of this plan, many major CIP projects, um, one pictured here, the 119th extension, but there have been several other interchange improvements, new bridges, uh utility improvements as well, commercial facade updates, projects, healthy neighborhoods program.

The list goes on and on all the great successes we've had over the last 15 years of comprehensive planning in Olatha.

Um, next would be demographics and trends.

So I think it's fun to highlight uh just a few changes that we've had since 2010.

So obviously our population growth, but along with that, the median age is going up just a little bit.

Um, median income also went up quite a substantial amount from 2010, but so did the cost of housing, as we know.

Um, the cost burden piece is those paying 30 percent or more of their income on rent or their mortgage, and so you can see the cost burden for renters has gone up fairly substantially in that time, and then some changes in different ethnic groups such as Hispanic or Latino and individuals of two or more races.

So that's just a really high-level snapshot of demographic changes that we looked at and updating this plan.

Those really set uh your baseline when you're looking at a plan update.

The other really important piece that we did, and actually I'm gonna pivot to Taylor here, but I'll start talking about this a little bit, um, is the synergy with other plans.

And so I'm gonna have Taylor up here and start to walk us through this piece, and then I'll come back up to talk about plan elements.

Thanks, Kim.

Taylor Vandevelde, planner two.

So I'm gonna walk through a little bit of the alignment with previous planning efforts that the Cindy City has undertaken over the past several years.

One being the Olatha 2040 strategic plan, which really has a bold vision for the city leading us into 2040, and also sets the groundwork for what Elevate Olatha is right now.

So we're taking all of those previous planning efforts and bringing it into the draft plan into the draft comprehensive plan into the next 15 years.

So Elevate Olatha was broken up into seven phases, beginning on the left hand side in summer of 2024 with kind of a major community kickoff, introducing people to the plan, trying to engage as many people as possible, getting the word out, also moving into phase two and three, which is gathering existing data, getting a baseline of information for the city, so that we can start to build our vision, goals, and strategies, ultimately the framework of the plan itself.

All of that combined, and we start to get a little bit more detailed in phase five, about halfway through the comprehensive planning process into the sub-area plans, which we'll touch on a little bit later, but they're more targeted focused information of the within the city on the edges and within the core.

So more open houses specific for those areas and engagement efforts to help build those plans out, which is a component of the comprehensive plan.

Moving into phase six, this uh was quite a heavy lift on steering committee's part and staff's part to go through and put together the plan itself.

What's the actual document going to be look?

It's what it's gonna look like, how are we going to use it?

Um, how are we going to put these sub areas together?

It puts together all of the elements of the plan, and we went through several iterations, reviewing that, making sure we weren't missing anything, checking in with our steering committee and the public to see if this truly does capture the vision for Olatha in the future.

This leads us to the last step, which is also why we're here this evening, which is adopting the plan in phase seven.

So we mentioned the steering committee before, but it's a very important part of the planning process.

So here we have 14 representatives that include representatives from planning commission, city council, but also Olatha businesses and residents, all helping steer the planning process, all of those phases throughout.

They were meeting with staff and looking at feedback from the community and helping to guide the plan forward and making sure we didn't have any gaps.

So throughout that process, we met several times to go through some of those draft documents, as well as reviewing the entirety of the draft plan, not once but twice.

So we truly appreciate all of your time and devotion throughout these two years to help get us through the finish line.

So broadening it up a little bit, public engagement is also very pivotal to the planning process.

We have to have a touch point with the community and business owners and all the stakeholders that we've kind of touched on before this as well.

So throughout this process, we have uh had over 4,000 participants, whether that be online engagement, uh, through surveys, mapping activities, or in-person workshops and open houses, or even informal conversations that we've had throughout the process.

All of these stakeholders kind of listed here represent a very diverse and different facets of the community, all with similar but also different perspectives on strengths of the community and also vision for what the community will be in the future as well.

So staff uh engaged with these groups in several different ways with interviews and workshops, conversations, um, and also made a point to have further accommodations and also translated materials for harder to reach populations, such as the Spanish Spanish speaking community as well as the deaf community as well.

So, as you can see, there have been wide variety of formats and venues and activities, all to try and get feedback from all of our stakeholders in some capacity, whether that be through putting dots on a map in person, staff was really boots on the ground trying to connect with residents and explain the process and understand what their vision was for the future in some way, shape, or form.

So, with all of these comments and feedback, it kind of leads us to what's your what's your big dream for the community?

What does this mean to you in 15 years?

So we started to see a lot of reoccurring themes throughout all of these comments and conversations, whether that be a stronger identity or a revitalized downtown sustainability as well, having an adaptable plan, but also having more retail and shops, entertainment opportunities, and still focusing on families and having a place for them to live within our community as well.

So all of this feedback ultimately brought us to a vision statement, which is a collective of all of these sentiments into one over the next 15 years, Oetha will have you know, it will thrive and connect, it will be diverse and bold.

It will also connect its residents to jobs and entertainment while ensuring reliability and resilience.

Ultimately, the commitment to setting the standard for excellence in public service and forward thinking development, Oletha will remain a future ready leader in the Kansas City Metro, a place where people and businesses thrive.

So after hearing all of that feedback, we felt that this vision would be kind of the starting point for us to be able to build out the rest of the plan.

So what we're calling plan elements and the different chapters were really kind of touching back with that vision statement.

And Kim's gonna kind of touch on the main plan highlights for these elements.

Thank you, Taylor.

So off of that vision, we built these chapters, these plan elements.

And I'm gonna walk you through first the overall structure of the plan, and then I'll get into each chapter.

So we have the guiding vision that Taylor just read in summary to you, guiding themes, and these really establish the community's values and efforts that are needed to achieve the plan, those being livability, mobility, resiliency, and identity.

So those are interwoven throughout the plan.

Each chapter has a vision, then you get goals in each chapter strategies and additional recommendations.

So when we come to you in the future with a land use recommendation, and we're citing under plan Olatha, what we call policies, we will be citing strategies and sometimes goals to you as well in your upcoming public hearing items.

Okay, so I'm gonna go through each of these and first start with what we heard from the community in very general summarized terms about each of these topics, and then I'll walk you through some of the highlights and you know what we built into these chapters.

So starting with land use and development.

First, we heard a lot about a greater variety of businesses, particularly restaurants and retail.

We got a lot of fun ideas from people of what restaurants and retail specifically they would like to see in Olatha.

Um, more active downtown.

We heard a lot about downtown.

There's been a lot of energy around downtown, but there's a we were actually in the square for many of these events where we met people and they were pointing to areas.

Oh, I'd love for this to be turned into something, and what if this was there?

So it was great to be right there in downtown at our community events speaking to residents.

Also, an emphasis on mixed use development and what I'll call third places, so places other than your home, school or work where the community can gather.

Those were desires that we heard from the community.

So some highlights in this section is an emphasis on mixed-use developments.

So we're building in a new land use category that I'll talk to, repurposing underutilized vacant commercial areas, really focus on in-fill development, making sure that we're filling in the areas already within city limits.

You still have to have a balance of growth, but really prioritizing that along with balance, balancing residential and commercial development, finding that opportunity where we have both thriving within the community, and then strategic growth and annexation opportunities as well.

So the future land use map really builds off of all of those themes and elements, and we have 13 land use categories on the future land use map.

Those really break down to a couple types of residential categories.

Then you get into the mixed use or more specialized categories that focus on an area like downtown.

We still have the same three, we've got the same three commercial categories that we currently have in our comprehensive plan where you're appropriate to move forward.

They've been working very well for us.

Business park and industrial are the two next categories.

And then you get some areas, public, semi-public, such as an airport or city hall, and then parks and open spaces are in there as well.

And so you can see the current city boundary on here, and then as we grow and develop any future development, actually, whether inside or outside of city limits, this would be the guiding land use theming.

There's a special overlay about vertical mix use as well, really going down that path of finding more opportunity for a mix of uses and true vertical mix use.

So one thing that pairs with the future land use map is this development matrix, and we've shared this with many developers, many stakeholders across the community, and had really positive feedback about it for a couple of reasons.

One is it gives a little more clarity and a visual to the land use categories.

You can see these diamond shapes on here.

A black diamond means preferred use.

So this is something that you're primarily going to see in that area.

It's already deemed compatible.

There's still zoning, right?

Zoning would be how we actually implement this.

And then the complementary piece can be considered in conjunction with the preferred use, or if it's standalone, it's going to be more location dependent.

And so you get that mix in here, but it also provides some flexibility.

So when you have that complementary layer, it opens up a little bit more flexibility as we tend to see more mixed uses mixing together more lately in development patterns.

So we've shared this with many stakeholders, and so far, when we kind of go back when we internally evaluate, we're already using this internally to think about our pre-application, our developments that aren't even to you yet, and we're using this, kind of making sure that it's working just to kind of check it, and it's been working very well behind the scenes.

Okay, so sub-areas.

Taylor talked about this.

These are the areas of the community where we took a little more time.

We went in a little deeper.

We these are areas either growing, there's future development that's happening, being 175th or K7, new developments that we know are coming very soon, so we needed to get out ahead of that, and then looking at our core original town, the transformational I 35 and Santa Fe project, and so looking at those areas of future growth patterns and really particular design elements to those.

I'm gonna go back to housing.

So on housing, this was the number one topic that we heard from individuals when we had groups, workshops, meeting, and we asked individuals to rank what would be your top priority housing.

Nine times out of ten came out on top.

And we know nationally there's a focus on the cost of housing, and that was a big item that came up continuously throughout engagement, as well as a desire for a greater variety of housing types, supporting individuals entering the housing market, and then last time buyers as well.

We heard that repetitively in comments, and then at a neighborhood scale, just really interest in safe walkable neighborhoods, near amenities.

That's the overarching theme.

So a couple things out of the plan highlights.

So again, that infill development from a housing lens will be really important for us, and finding flexibility and code standards where appropriate.

Amenity abundant neighborhoods was a term coined by the steering committee, and this is really looking at housing near services and recreational opportunities and open space, that you have a true holistic complete neighborhood.

Reinvesting in housing stock, housing and stability is you know, working with partners that are focused on maybe the unhoused or nearly unhoused population and just finding opportunities to support those efforts.

And then the aging community, so looking at aging in place and universal design that you can live in your same home throughout your lifespan.

And then emphasis on a greater variety of housing types throughout areas of the city.

So next on economic development, we heard a lot of interesting, exciting ideas, and even a moonshot idea that the chiefs would come to Kansas City at an early workshop that an individual said, and maybe that's happening soon.

So here we are looking at destination entertainment attractions, right?

So real emphasis on how are you drawing folks from across the region or even nationally to Olatha.

Enhanced character and placement or placemaking, so promoting a sense of place and commercial areas.

We heard that quite a bit from the community, as well as emphasis on a greater mix of businesses and including in downtown specifically.

So a couple things on this section.

So establishing downtown is a premier destination that has a variety of unique businesses and events as well.

Supporting startup businesses and promoting businesses to stay and grow within Olatha.

And then another term that was coined by the steering committee was a memory maker.

This is a place that you would go year after year with your family or friends, and it would be somewhere that is maybe seasonal or has certain events that is really unique and draws you there.

One thing on the horizon might be like a permanent farmers market as an example.

Revitalizing existing commercial corridors, and then also small scale neighborhood commercial is another element of this section.

On transportation and mobility, we heard quite a bit about very specific intersections and trails, which we have all of that data to go on, but at a very high level, interest and improvements for just really all modes of transportation, and then we heard quite a bit about bicycle infrastructure and then pedestrian enhancements as well.

So a couple highlights here, improving road crossings, mainly for efficiency, and really staying ahead of emerging transportation trends.

As we get products and receive services differently than we have in the past, things coming to you after your house in different ways, we need to think about that we're planning ahead for those types of transportation trends.

Filling gaps in the sidewalk and bicycle network, and then continuing to explore public transit opportunities and partnerships.

So community facilities, parks and infrastructure.

This is really one of the last categories that speaks at a very high level in the plan.

We have got a tremendous amount of positive feedback about the services that the city currently provides.

Really reminiscent of our direction finder community survey results, very positive remarks on that.

But as we grow, thinking about how we expand and serve new areas of the community, whether that be parks, new fire stations, that we're thinking ahead on those, and new recreational opportunities that further and things that further Olatha's identity, whether that be locally or within the nation.

So a couple highlights here would be providing facilities as we grow, investing, continued investment in public safety, and opportunities for amenities and maybe some more underserved areas or new parks that balance between growth and sewer services, sewer being a main driver of development in some areas of our community, and as we expand.

And then evaluating, continuing to evaluate city-owned properties for redevelopment, which we've done in our downtown.

So continuing to look at that.

The last section I'll really go through is natural environment.

So a lot of feedback about preserving open space, natural areas, and then also walkability and connection to parks, whether it be from neighborhoods or key destinations and the community.

So preserving and protecting sensitive areas, critical habitats, sustainable development practices are all things that we looked at, green infrastructure, expanding the tree canopy, and then really balancing growth with that conservation.

So the last piece, this is the new piece that you did not see at your joint meeting, is we prepared an implementation matrix.

And the implementation matrix is critical because it outlines all the specific actions that are recommended to make sure that we implement the plan over time.

And so we do get to look at these annually.

This is something that as the state of Kansas has cities in Kansas look at the plan on an annual basis.

We can evaluate this, and if anything needs to shift, whether there's a market change, demographic shift, a project that needs to move in priority, we can do that on an annual basis.

So a couple examples would be updating our zoning classifications to align with the new future land use map.

We need to do that soon, so short term means zero to five years, and then there's also the responsibility piece of it who would be involved.

Looking at career focused programs, identifying gaps and high demand industries.

This is an example of something that our partners would be working on.

School district, higher education, and the chamber are all involved in that effort.

An example of an ongoing initiative.

So there's a couple that we say we will always do throughout the lifespan of this plan is coordinating transportation improvements with plan development to maximize transportation opportunities.

So that's something that several groups are involved in when we do on an ongoing basis.

So that's a snapshot.

There's a couple pages of that in the plan that have been added to it after your joint meeting.

And this is really the fine details that staff would use on a more daily basis to implement the plan.

So I'm going to go over next steps and then give you a recommendation.

So next steps uh we will have a dedicated web page, the future land use map, uh ready to go post adoption, and that really needs to turn over and be ready right after the plan is adopted.

Then we're already starting to look at area plans and overlay districts that may need an update after the plan.

We talked about this in brief at your joint meeting that we're gonna bring recommendations to you about these overlapping corridor plans.

Uh so we have these new sub areas built into the comprehensive plan, and so we need to look at changes in some areas.

CIP alignment would be a process that we do annually with you.

So this year it would be against elevate Olatha that you'd be looking for alignment with those capital improvement projects, and then an overall UDU update is on the horizon because you want to align your code, uh your zoning code, your site design, your building standard, all of those things to align with your new comprehensive plan.

So we expect that to be coming in the near future.

So on on an ongoing basis, we're looking at the plan.

This is really a living document.

Um we do at least an annual review uh to look at it, make sure it's still reflecting community priorities.

It's adaptable to any changes, um, but it's still guiding growth and development effectively.

So to conclude, staff does recommend approving the uh resolution.

So it's a resolution tonight.

Uh that would be what you are um looking at as the approval document that we send along to city council for consideration.

Uh so that council meeting is expected to be April 21st, and that would be the final step.

That's the final step in the process for adoption of the plan.

So I am available for any questions or feedback that you have at this point, and I just really appreciate um all that you've done and listened to throughout uh the last almost two years in this process, and we're really looking forward to uh finishing off the plan update um and starting to use it very soon.

So thank you.

Thank you, uh Ms.

Hollingworth.

That is I mean extraordinary.

Obviously, the the depth and scope of what we covered is is uh incredible there.

You guys have done a great job.

I'm gonna repeat that.

So commissioners, do you have any questions for staff?

Commissioner Chapman.

No questions, comments.

Okay.

I don't know if hitting it out of the park is an appropriate term here, but you hit it out of the park.

This is an impressive document.

I re-reviewed it again over the weekend.

The direction and more importantly, the clarity of direction provided in this document, I think it's gonna serve us well.

So thanks to the steering committee to planning staff, tremendous work here and the city staff and anyone involved.

This is a tremendous document that I think the city will uh will uh benefit from.

Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner Chapman.

Any other uh comments?

Commissioner Toronis.

I want to follow up on that.

Wow, exciting.

Oh job well done.

But I wanted to focus on the fact that the city went out of their way backwards in engaging the community, no matter what you needed to do to make it happen to accommodate.

So that's what struck me.

You went out of your way to engage the community, and they had those that could have good opportunity to attend and participate.

So thank you for that on a job well done.

Yeah, thank you.

Appreciate that feedback.

We really value all the community feedback, and it was just so exciting to see how many people weighed into the plan over the last two years in many different venues.

So appreciate that.

Commissioner Breen.

Not to continue to say the same thing, but just wanted to uh echo everyone's comments this evening.

That's been a pleasure and an honor to serve on the steering committee and thank you to staff, uh, our consultant household of being um the steering committee and then all the stakeholders that participated in the in the process.

Hard to believe it was a two-year uh deal, still feels like yesterday.

We kicked that off.

So thank you to all involved.

Thank you.

Anyone else?

All right, well, thank you for those comments.

Um we are in the process of public hearing.

I will now open the public hearing.

However, we have no one signed up for the public hearing.

We've had plenty of opportunity for public input and uh it's as stated and it was taken in very well.

Um so in that regard, I'll take a motion to close the public.

I will close the public hearing and uh call for a motion motion on resolution two six-000 one.

Pardon, I believe I believe we need the motion first to close the public hearing.

I'm sorry, I've got it.

Jump to it.

Yeah, we'll take a motion to close the public hearing.

Mr.

Chair, I move that we close the public hearing.

Thank you, Commissioner Chapman.

Do I have a second?

Second.

Thank you, Commissioner Breen.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Opposed, nay.

All right.

Do I have a motion on resolution two six-zero zero zero one?

Uh just a matter of the record.

We're actually going to make a motion on CPA 24-0001 and would recommend uh to approve.

Good.

I have to type on my things.

Thank you very much.

Do I have a second?

Second.

Thank you, Commissioner Brown.

Take a roll call vote, Ms.

Will.

Commissioner Breen.

Yes.

Commissioner Brown.

Yes.

Commissioner Torones.

Yes.

Commissioner Brigitte.

Yes.

Commissioner Chapman?

Yes.

Commissioner Sealing?

Yes.

Commissioner Lynn?

Yes.

Commissioner Corcoran?

Yes.

Chair Janner?

Yes.

That motion passes nine to zero.

Excellent.

Are there any additional announcements from staff?

Just really appreciate all your feedback this evening.

Uh really take it to heart that this has been just a tremendous effort from our community steering committee, all of the above.

So thank you so much for your feedback.

All right.

This meeting is hereby adjourned.