Urban Planning and Land Use 701 North 7 th Street, Room 423 Phone: (913) 573-5750 Kansas City, Kansas 66101 Fax: (913) 573-5796 Email: planninginfo@wycokck.org www.wycokck.org/planning To: From: City Planning Commission City Staff Date: November 14, 2016 Re: Rosedale Master Plan and Traffic Study GENERAL INFORMATION Applicant: Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kansas Requested Action: Approve Master Plan Amendment Purpose: The plan establishes a vision, goals, major moves, a framework plan, and implementation measures related to land use, transportation, economic development, health and safety, environment and natural amenities, housing, and neighborhood character. The plan was crafted utilizing an advisory committee and included public meetings, stakeholder involvement, and significant public discussion concerning the content of the plan. Property Location: This plan updates the City-Wide Master Plan for the Rosedale area, defined as Interstate Highway 35 on the north, the Kansas-Missouri state line on the east, the Wyandotte County-Johnson County line on the south, and Mission Road on the west. The plan includes properties to the west of Mission Road that front onto Mission Road and the properties on West 42 nd Avenue and West 43 rd Avenue west of Mission Road. Current Master Plan Designation: This plan is an update to the current Rosedale Master Plan, which was recommended for approval by the Planning Commission on July 11, 2005 and was unanimously adopted by the Board of Commissioners on August 25, 2005. Advertisement: Wyandotte Echo July 14, 2016 Public Hearing: November 14, 2016 Rosedale Master Plan and Traffic Study November 14, 2016 1
Public Opposition: None to date City Ordinance Requirements: Article XXII Section 27-213 FACTORS TO BE CONSIDERED 1. Neighborhood character. The Rosedale area includes several distinct neighborhoods and districts with varying character. Southwest Boulevard is an industrial mixed use corridor with a mix of uses including single family residential, commercial, and industrial uses. The area contains several single family neighborhoods, major institutions, such as the University of Kansas Hospital and KU Medical Center. Rainbow Boulevard, Mission Road, 39 th Avenue, 43 rd Avenue, and 47 th Avenue are major corridors with a mix of residential and commercial uses. 2. The extent to which the proposed use would increase the traffic or parking demand in ways that would adversely affect road capacity, safety, or create parking problems. The overall growth of the area, including the growth of the University of Kansas Hospital and Medical Center, is projected to increase traffic. The plan includes recommendations to address increased traffic as well as a land use plan and design guidelines that promote a walkable, mixed use environment to support transit, walking, and cycling. 3. The extent to which utilities and public services are available and adequate to serve the proposed amendment and the extent to which the environment would be impacted. The plan includes a chapter on public facilities that addresses maintaining adequate public services including utilities, public safety, parks, and education. 4. The difference between the existing and proposed Master Plan. The proposed Master Plan is similar in many ways to the existing Rosedale Master Plan. The land use plan includes a greater emphasis creating a mixed use district adjacent to the University of Kansas and mixed use corridors. It includes strategies to continue the growth of the Rosedale area and increasing population to support services and amenities requested by the public, such as transit, retail, and access to healthy food. It includes strong land use policies and recommendations to support historic single family neighborhoods. It includes additional detail on the design of streets and roadways to accomplish complete street goals while supporting the projected level of traffic increases. Rosedale Master Plan and Traffic Study November 14, 2016 2
5. Analysis of the impact on surrounding properties. The intent is to use implementation of this plan to protect single family neighborhoods while encouraging continued growth and development of the area. 6. Estimate the future costs and revenues to the Unified Government and property owner and Market Impact. Continued growth and development in Rosedale will result in more tax revenues, although some of the infrastructure requirements will be costly. The plan encourages the continued improvement of Rosedale, which has positive effects for the revenues to the Unified Government, the value of property, and maintaining a healthy economy and market. STAFF COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS Urban Planning and Land Use Comments: The Rosedale Master Plan is organized into four sections. The first section, A Vision for Rosedale, includes the vision and goals for the area and an overview of the trends that are shaping Rosedale s future. Section 2 Major Moves includes big ideas that have the power to shape Rosedale and achieve the vision. These ideas require coordination between local jurisdictions, institutions, and the private sector. Section 3 Framework Plan takes a comprehensive look at Rosedale and includes a land use plan, design guidelines, housing policies, a transportation plan, and a chapter for public facilities. It ensures every project and investment in Rosedale contributes to the overall vision. Section 4, implementation plan includes some of the priority actions that can advance the vision and outlines responsible parties, costs, and necessary steps. This plan featured a high level of community engagement. During the plan, public engagement included five rounds of public meetings, stakeholder meetings, attendance at public events such as the Rosedale Farmers Market and the Healthy Halloween Festival hosted by the Rosedale Development Association, neighborhood walking tours, attendance at neighborhood association meetings and leadership group meetings. The plan included a project website and an engaged presence on social media. Direct mail was sent to all addresses within the planning area in both English and Spanish to advertise public meetings. Due to an error, the initial mailing was sent to only residential addresses and not to businesses. A subsequent mailing included businesses and an additional public meeting was added to the schedule in order to address concerns from businesses. This process was effective in engaging the public and creating dialogue. Staff and the consultant team listened to the ideas and aspirations of the public and the plan includes recommendations with strong consensus. Where consensus was not as strong, the plan includes fair compromises. The following four items fall within the latter category: Rosedale Master Plan and Traffic Study November 14, 2016 3
1. Paired One-ways on Rainbow and Adams Street/ The current Master Plan, adopted in 2005, includes an alternative for paired one way streets on Rainbow and Adams. This alternative was further studied during this plan and was found to be much more efficient at accommodating traffic, especially as the area continues to grow. The one-way pair alternative is beneficial from a traffic perspective because it addresses current safety and capacity concerns that result from northbound and southbound left-turn conflicts. With one-way streets, there are fewer conflict points for left-turning traffic than with two-way streets. From a complete street perspective, this alternative is beneficial because it reduces the number of lanes of traffic on Rainbow Boulevard. With fewer lanes the street is easier for pedestrians to cross, and space would be available within the existing right-of-way for landscaping, bike lanes, on-street parking, and/or expanded sidewalks. There are also drawbacks with this alternative. It may reduce visibility of the retail that fronts onto Rainbow. It would also expand Adams Street and may require property acquisition along parts of Adams Street. However, as the University Town district matures, this will allow a greater intensity of uses on Adams Street, supporting walking and bicycling, and create a destination where visitors will park their cars and walk to their various destinations. This alternative was supported by residents in the public meetings, but there are concerns from property owners and businesses in the immediate area, including reducing retail visibility on Rainbow, site access issues, and the need to acquire private property in order to tie Adams Street back into Rainbow Boulevard. 2. Conflict between desired Rosedale Crossing Major Move and Transit Oriented Development Concept at Rainbow Boulevard / 7 th Street and Southwest Boulevard and traffic issues identified in traffic study. In the Major Move s section, the Rosedale Crossing chapter includes recommendations for creating a Transit Oriented Development (TOD) hub at Southwest Boulevard and Rainbow/7 th Street. TOD includes enhanced transit facilities and compact development that faces the street in order to support transit usage, walkability, and create a vibrant, urban environment. This idea was widely supported by residents and members of the advisory committee. Some property owners and business felt that urban development as shown in the plan may be unrealistic and preferred to have the option of conventional commercial development patterns at this intersection. During the traffic study, the intersection of Southwest Boulevard and Rainbow Boulevard was identified as having a level of service D and E during the morning and evening peak hours. This level of service was projected to decrease significantly with the projected traffic growth in the area. The traffic study indicated that grade separation may be necessary at this intersection in order to maintain traffic flow. The plan addresses this conflict by including the Rosedale Crossing as a desired Rosedale Master Plan and Traffic Study November 14, 2016 4
alternative and also including information about the grade separation as a solution to future traffic issues. It states that the Rosedale Crossing major move is aspirational and should be evaluated for feasibility as traffic continues to be monitored and studied. The land use plan allows conventional commercial development at this intersection. 3. Land Use on 43 rd Avenue and Rainbow Boulevard south of 43 rd Avenue During the public meetings, there was wide support for Rosedale to continue to grow and to increase in density. Residents and businesses agreed that more density is beneficial because it supports additional amenities and services such as retail, grocery stores, and transit. Additional density allows more people to live closer to work and services and is an important part of creating a walkable Rosedale. Increasing density is aligned with affordable housing goals and providing diverse housing options because greater housing supply results in lower prices overall. There was also widespread agreement that density should occur where there is the greatest infrastructure capacity to support it, such as on major corridors and within the University Town district. Increased density should not occur within stable single family neighborhoods. The future land use plan protects single family neighborhoods by designating historic and stable neighborhoods with the Single Family Neighborhood land use district. The land use plan allows mixed use development at moderate densities on Rainbow between 43 rd Avenue and 47 th Avenue and on 43 rd Avenue between Rainbow Boulevard and State Line Road. The majority of the properties that have frontage on these roads are designated as General Urban which allows three story buildings and commercial uses on the first floor. The plan also include a guideline that buildings should not exceed adjacent structures by more than one story or 10 feet in order to promote incremental increases in density and protect against buildings that are out of scale with their surroundings. We have heard support from both residents and developers for this land use alternative on 43 rd Avenue and Rainbow Boulevard. There are residents who disagree and feel that only single family houses should be allowed on Rainbow or that there should be even greater restrictions on building density. Staff believes that the land use map included in the plan strikes the best balance of protecting neighborhoods and allowing Rosedale to grow and make progress toward the vision of a walkable neighborhood that provides a delightful and safe place to live, work, shop, and play. 4. Land Use in the Mission Cliffs Neighborhood During the planning process there was disagreement between residents and developers on the appropriate density at Mission Cliffs. Residents wanted to see single family houses, whereas developers wanted to see moderate to high density apartments. As stated above, density should occur where there is greatest infrastructure capacity to support it, such as on major corridors and within the University Town district. Mission Cliffs is outside the University Town district and is not on a major corridor. The land use plan reflects a lower density option that Rosedale Master Plan and Traffic Study November 14, 2016 5
includes areas for single family houses and areas for moderate density in the form of townhomes or side-by-side row houses similar to what already exists. The land use plan promotes safe, quiet, residential streets while allowing the area to continue to grow and develop. Several different developments have been proposed in the past for this area, and this plan maintains flexibility for developers and the neighborhood to come together on a plan for Mission Cliffs by stating that a Master Plan amendment would be considered if a developer and the neighborhood demonstrate consensus for an alternative density and land use designation. Much like the City-Wide Master Plan, this plan focuses beyond traditional land use and transportation issues. This helps us plan for all aspects of a quality, healthy community for years into the future. This plan will help us achieve the vision of creating A vibrant, diverse, and walkable neighborhood with metro wide access that provides a delightful and safe place to live, work, shop, and play. Staff wants to recognize the hard work of residents, stakeholders, and elected leaders and thank the public for a high level of participation and contribution. Staff would also like to thank BNIM, TranSystems, insite, and EPS for working with the Unified Government. This is a great example of how collaboration between the public/private sectors can undertake significant planning efforts to benefit the community. Public Works Comments: The Public Works Department supports the conclusions and overall recommendations of this master plan update. Taken in total, this plan should improve the economic health, mobility and vibrancy of the Rosedale area. Most proposals relating to elements with the street or right-of-way have not been subject to detailed engineering review. Final decisions for all such features would come at a later date, and after consideration of additional engineering and public input. STAFF RECOMMENDATION Staff recommends that the City Planning Commission make the findings contained within the staff report related to Factors to be Considered, and Key Issues and recommend APPROVAL of Petition Rosedale Master Plan and Traffic Study subject to all comments and suggestions outlined in this staff report. ATTACHMENTS Plan document under separate cover REVIEW OF INFORMATION AND SCHEDULE Action Planning Commission Board of Commissioners Public Hearing November 14, 2016 December 1, 2016 Master Plan Amendment Rosedale Master Plan and Traffic Study November 14, 2016 6
STAFF CONTACT: Rob Richardson, AICP rrichardson@wycokck.org MOTIONS MASTER PLAN AMENDMENT: I move the Kansas City, Kansas City Planning Commission recommend APPROVAL of Rosedale Master Plan and Traffic Study, to the Unified Government Board of Commissioners as meeting all the requirements of the City code and being in the interest of the public health, safety and welfare subject to such modifications as are necessary to resolve to the satisfaction of City Staff all comments contained in the Staff Report; and the following additional requirements of the Kansas City, Kansas City Planning Commission: OR 1. ; 2. ; And 3.. I move the Kansas City, Kansas City Planning Commission recommend DENIAL of Rosedale Master Plan and Traffic Study, to the Unified Government Board of Commissioners as it is not in compliance with the City Ordinances and as it will not promote the public health, safety and welfare of the City of Kansas City, Kansas; and other such reasons that have been mentioned. Rosedale Master Plan and Traffic Study November 14, 2016 7