Dear Neighbors,
On behalf of the Southmoreland Neighborhood Association, I am writing to encourage you to attend the Westport High School Re-purposing presentation at 6:00 pm on Monday evening, March 21st at Redeemer Fellowship. I’d like to provide you additional information and perspective prior to this presentation to better equip you to evaluate the developer’s (Kansas City Sustainable Development Partners “KCSDP”) request to expand parking as a part of the development.
The design and placement of parking will be handled through a process that will be followed with every single material change in the development receiving two levels of public scrutiny:
- First, the KCSDP will inform the Southmoreland Neighborhood Association (“SNA”) and Old Hyde Park Neighborhood Association (“OHPNA”) of the change and specifics of the change;
o The SNA and OHPNA will have the opportunity to provide community feedback and guidance;
§ KCSDP will pay for a traffic study and propose a design that minimizes traffic and parking impacts to our neighborhood, and present this data to our neighborhoods and to City Planning groups.
§ KCSDP will provide a design that pictures where the parking will be and how it will look, for neighborhood review.
o KCSDP will amend their plans as appropriate.
- Secondly, material changes will be subject to City Planning and Zoning review and approval, as appropriate.
o The first question the City Planning and Zoning review will ask is: “Have you discussed this with the neighborhood, and is the neighborhood OK with this change.”
The Southmoreland and Old Hyde Park neighborhoods have selected and endorsed this development team and development proposal several times. Most of us can agree that we are excited about the dynamic development Kansas City Sustainable Development Partners is proposing, which is focused on technology, innovation and entrepreneurship. They are planning for co-working space, startup accelerator space, a coding school, maker space, a public forum and theater for public and private use, work-live spaces, healthcare outreach services, an early childhood learning center, and more. This is an excellent use of the Westport High facility, and will be a big draw for home buyers looking to live close to a space like this, improving the value of our property and our neighborhood. It will draw positive activity into our neighborhood and help eliminate crime and other negative influences in the area.
The additional parking is driven by a requirement of the banking institutions that are financing this development, by city zoning and planning requirements, and by the success of the developer in drawing tenants to the development.
As we have reviewed development proposals in other parts of our neighborhood a top concern of ours has always been “has the developer planned for the appropriate amount of off-street parking”. That’s an important an essential concern given our perennial issue of overcrowded off-street parking. The additional parking will prevent the developer’s tenants from taking already scarce street parking that the residents of our neighborhood use on a regular basis.
We understand some residents are concerned that the green space of the track will go away. Green space is incredibly important to our neighborhood, and our neighborhood is blessed with more public green space than just about any other Kansas City neighborhood. We are directly adjacent to Gillham Park, Mill Creek Park, Hyde Park and Theis Park; Southmoreland Park is in our neighborhood. We also benefit from the lawn at the Nelson Atkins and the Kansas City Art Institute campus. It’s also important to remember that KCSDP is developing a sustainable project (it’s actually in their name – Kansas City Sustainable Development Partners), providing natural green space is a necessity in sustainable design.
Understand that the sale of Westport High School is not complete. The school district has agreed to sell the building and property with the use restriction that NO ground modifications can be made for twenty years. If the use restriction is not removed, the sale of Westport High School will be at risk of falling through. The Southmoreland Neighborhood Association encourages you to tell Kansas City Public Schools to remove this use restriction.
Once the use restriction is removed and KCSDP can complete the purchase of the building and grounds, they can then order traffic studies, continue to develop the design building and grounds, and begin the planning and zoning process with the city. When the project is in the planning and zoning review stage, the community will gather again to review what specifically KCSDP has designed for the grounds. None of these processes can even begin until the use restriction is removed and the building is sold.
Again, we encourage you to come out Monday night, and voice your support for Kansas City Sustainable Development Partners’ plan!
Sincerely,
Laura Burkhalter
Southmoreland Neighborhood Association
PS: In addition to this reminder, we wanted to provide you with an overview of a few key events that have transpired over the last five years, bringing us to this Monday’s Kansas City Public Schools (KCPS) Westport High re-purposing presentation.
January 2011: KCPS created Re-purposing Initiative Office. Staff reports to the school board.
May 2012: Proposals for Westport Middle and High Schools were received by the KCPS Re-purposing staff.
August 2012: Community heard presentations of teams that had submitted reuse proposals for Westport Middle and High School.
April 2013: Three short-listed teams gave presentations for their plans to re-purpose Westport Middle and High School. Kansas City Sustainable Development Partners (KCSDP) presented a proposal to develop Westport Middle and High School into Westport Commons. Public feedback was heard and feedback sheets were received by the KCPS Re-purposing Staff.
January 2014: Westport Middle School is sold to KCSDP.
August 2014: KCPS hosts presentation of market-rate apartment proposal by Foutch Brothers. Residents voice their concern that the proposal was materially-revised due to the loss of anchor tenant Academie Lafayette, and that the school district should reconsider KCSDP’s plan to purchase and redevelop Westport Middle and Westport High into the Westport Commons campus. A few weeks later, KCPS agrees to allow KCSDP to re-enter bidding for Westport High.
February 2015: Presentations given for the Re-purposing of Westport High School by KCSDP and Foutch Brothers.
September 2015: KCPS approves sale of Westport High School to KCSDP. Although KCSDP development presentation has always had an element of land development, including additional parking, KCPS imposed a use restriction that NONE of the grounds can be modified for the next 20 years.
Visit southmoreland.org for more information on SNA, and to become a member.
