3-28-2022 Meeting Precap: Thank you for being a friend
Welcome to the next installment of my deep dive into everything Shawnee government. My apologizes for the tardiness of this blog. I hope it still brings some value even though it may be too late for many comments.
The next meeting of the Shawnee City Council will be held on March 28th at 6pm. The full agenda can be found here: https://cityofshawnee.civicweb.net/Portal/MeetingInformation.aspx?Org=Cal&Id=737
As a reminder, I am a former member of the governing body. I will do my best to provide insights and clear explanations on complex topics. But, in the end, unless I am quoting someone else, any opinions expressed are my own. I welcome your feedback and questions at llb4shawnee@gmail.com
Here are a few of the topics that will be of interest to our residents. I’m sorry, it’s another long one. You may want to consider submitting a public comment or two. Instructions for doing so appear at the end of this post.
Task Force Updates: I am looking forward to the updates from the Community Engagement and Public Arts Task forces. These task forces have a one year charter and will likely not continue beyond that point in their current form. I am a member of the Public Arts task force and am excited about the direction we are heading. Communication and how we communicate with our residents is a frequent complaint of community members. If you have not completed the Community Engagement Survey, please take a couple minutes before it closes on March 31st. You can complete the survey here: https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=Pz-85cmLgEWAw46UkusOvPmF8hn44apLuu3V2wmD2A5UMUxWMEU1R09EVExKTko5MUdVSVQ1UkpHNy4u
Community Branding project: I am no fan of the “Good Starts Here” motto and the tree logo that often accompanies it. The motto does not represent the amazing city that we have, and the tree…well, let’s just say there is a way you can look at it that you can’t unsee (you may message me for more info). I am excited that we are taking some time and a moderate investment to improve our community branding.
Planning Commission Items:
—Loma Gardens: This is a plan for a new single family-detached residential development near 55th and Nieman. The developer previously brought a project for townhomes that made it to the Council in December. However, once Council discussion began, it was clear that they did not have the votes needed to overcome a protest petition, and the developer withdrew the application. The new plan of small single family homes does respond to the issues that were raised by residents at the time. Knowing the demand and need for this type of housing in our community, I suspect that they will have no problem building and selling these 14 homes if the Council approves. But, a new protest petition was filed after this project went to the Planning Commission earlier this month, and the rezoning will require 6 of 9 possible votes to pass.
—Hidden Creek Townhomes: This is a plan to develop 60 new townhomes in 16 buildings south of Hedge Lane and 67th St. The townhomes are proposed to have 2-4 attached units and be 2 stories high. There is some strong and focused community resistance to this project, particularly from the single family home owners whose homes would be separated by a narrow stretch of the golf course from the proposed townhomes. East of the proposed townhomes are industrial areas that border K7 (home to Car City Wholesale, a fire station, and self storage). Of note, the Greens of Chapel Creek townhomes are immediately northwest of the above mentioned single family homes.
This is one of the fastest growing areas in all of Shawnee. The Greens, in particular, is a mix of housing types including single family homes, townhomes, and apartments. For decades, the city has tried to develop this area for commercial uses (a plan that I believe would be far less palatable to surrounding neighbors). But, this area is difficult to develop for commercial purposes and easier to do so for residential. There is no home within 200 feet of the development, so a protest petition was not possible.
Residents have raised concerns about traffic, flooding, compromised views, and compatibility with their single family neighborhoods. This is very close to my own home, and I do not have the concerns with traffic (even though this is near an intersection I use almost daily). I also feel strongly that having townhomes here that are similar to those that are diagonal from this proposed development makes more sense than any commercial use. This area is too far away from the main K-7 corridor to attract commercial development like retail and restaurants (that people actually want). The most likely development would be warehouse/industrial uses. If you want to talk about something that WILL decrease property values, it is living next to a noisy industrial site.
—Charter Ordinance Related to Room Rental in single family residential zoning districts.
This is a very interesting topic, but I am unable to predict whether it will garner much discussion from he Council. Basically, businesses are buying single family homes, sometimes rehabbing them to have more bedrooms, and then renting out individual rooms to individual people/families. This has happened once in Shawnee, and a second building was ready to be occupied before the city intervened. The individual leases could be of varying lengths, have separate secure access to their rooms, and do not necessarily know the other people living in the home.
I am in agreement that this type of housing within a single family neighborhood is a concern. The city is proposing text amendments to Title 17 (zoning) of the Shawnee Municipal Code. The code revisions create a new housing type called “Shared Home Group” (not to be confused with a “group home”) and depict that such use is not authorized by right or special permit in a residential district. This seems like a reasonable step given the problem.
HOWEVER, creating this new category necessitated redefining the definition of family and related persons. The Shared Home Group means a group of four (4) or more unrelated persons living together in a dwelling unit (but not a “group home.”). This is no longer about length of rental agreements. This is now a FUNDAMENTAL interference with the number and relationships of people who may live in ANY single family home in the city. Family is a deeply personal construct, and I, like many of you, have blood relatives who I would NEVER want living with my family. But, I would immediately take in my closest friends if they were in need.
I am additionally troubled by this action because there is no relationship between who owns the property and who may live in it. That is, you may have a house that is split between four, non-related, owners, but they would not be permitted to live in the house together. Say you are retired and you and your girlfriends would like to live in a home together…. And, I don’t know, maybe be the stars of a delightful 1980’s sitcom. Can’t do that if there are more than three of you. (Yes, I know this is not a perfect analogy since Sophia was Dorothy’s mom.. don’t @ me!)
I wish I had a good answer to the problem at hand. But, what I see in this solution are unintended consequences that will not make our community stronger or safer. They will just make Shawnee a more difficult place to live.
Council Committee Discussion
—Johnson Dr. Downtown I am very much looking forward to hearing the outcome of the Johnson Drive Traffic Calming project. You may remember that this project was passed through a very divided Council a few weeks before the 2021 election. The goal was to try a different traffic pattern in downtown Shawnee to support more parking and be safer for pedestrians. I put my full support behind giving this a try because our residents and business owners who frequent the area noted that this is not a safe place for the increased foot traffic caused by the 2 (soon to be 3) new breweries, a cocktail bar, a theater, ice cream parlor, and McClains Market.
Since the proposal was just to re-stripe and not do any hard scraping until after the trial, I thought it was a good idea. HOWEVER, after hearing the council members speaking against the proposal, I asked that we have specific metrics that we use to judge the success of the project. There are metrics included in the city memo (thank you!). Please take a look at the memo and consider commenting on your own experiences on this road. My impressions have been very positive so far, and I have been downtown quite a bit since the pilot started.
—Employee health benefits. This is a topic that garners A LOT of Council discussion every year. In years past, the discussion veered uncomfortably towards the “unreasonably inexpensive” rates our employees pay for health insurance. Also that we should consider substantially cutting benefits or substantially increasing premiums in order to cut costs.
The city was able to negotiate a 12 increase in health insurance premiums, down from the 18% originally proposed by the insurer. This increase is the result of several high dollar claims the city has experienced in the past year, and this is not unusual or out of line with insurance rate increases for other businesses. The proposed impact to employees in the PPO Preferred Care Blue Wellness plan is a 28% out of pocket premium increase for Employee only, 12% increase for employee +1, and around 12% for a “family.” On a dollar basis, these increases to employees are not unreasonable given the current insurance climate. HOWEVER, in past years, some Council members have found the need to nitpick how “little” employees pay for insurance. I disagreed with their statements that the amount was too little, and always argued that insurance is just one part of a total benefit package that should be reviewed to provide a full context for these discussions.
Even if the rates were lower than an industry standard (which they are not), Shawnee has fewer employees per capita, with arguably the same level of services, compared to all major JoCo cities. This is a reasonable place to incentivize our employees.
Admittedly, I am saying all of this knowing that they made a big change to how these rates were developed. Councilmember Jenkins asked that an employee benefits task force be created to review all insurance options before they come to the Council. My hope is that what is proposed is accepted with little further discussion. As, anytime the Council discusses employee benefits, they have a magnificent way of undervaluing the contributions of our hard working staff. These types of discussions are demoralizing and make it difficult to attract good talent to our city.
If you have opinions about any of the above, I encourage you to share with the Council. You may contact the entire governing body by e-mail, an individual council member by e-mail, or make a written or oral public comment. Public comments must be received by Monday morning and become part of the public record. If you want to speak in person, you should sign up ahead of time. To make a written public comment or sign up to speak, click on this link:
https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=Pz-85cmLgEWAw46UkusOvDRSKwjQml5Bij7tWBtkqWVUQllFTjdZMkZCSjROSDdQT0VDRkZFOVQxVS4u
You may e-mail the full governing body at governingbody@cityofshawnee.org. E-mails do not become part of the public record.