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Close window Xby Celisa, Beacon: Kansas City
November 29, 2021
Signs of a changing Kansas City are everywhere.
The Three Light luxury apartment tower under construction downtown is stretching toward its planned height of 26 stories. New apartment buildings have sprung up along Broadway Boulevard in midtown. The new terminal at Kansas City International Airport is taking shape, and owners of the Kansas City Current have announced plans for a soccer stadium at Berkley Riverfront.
Those are the big projects. Elsewhere across the city, new homes and shopping centers are breaking ground and transforming neighborhoods.
All these projects, large and small, are the visible results of Kansas City’s development process. It’s a multi-step undertaking that, depending on the size and scope of a project, involves city staffers and a chain of public and quasi-public agencies. In most cases, the last stop is the Kansas City Council, which has final approval power.
Each development project is unique, and not all projects involve tax incentives. That’s why Kansas City’s economic development process looks less like a straight line from point A to point B and more like a flow chart.
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The City Planning and Development Department is the primary entity that helps shape new projects. Its staffers coordinate with review boards and with the City Council.
“It’s a very intricate network of reviewers and considerations,” said Jeffrey Williams, the department’s director. “That’s appropriate because we’re trying to make sure that we are creating a city that is safe, that is healthy. We’re also trying to create a city that is something that meets broader community goals that have been identified through our area plans.”
Williams said more than a hundred city staffers are involved in the development process.
“We as a city have a team of very dedicated, talented people that collectively approve over a billion and a half dollars worth of development every year,” he said. “Everything from someone’s addition onto their house to a new airport for the city. It is thousands of inspections. It’s thousands of plan reviews that all happen across a network of people to really make sure we satisfy each and every person that is investing in the city of Kansas City, Missouri.”
To start, a developer has to answer this question: Does the project follow zoning laws?
The zoning laws in Kansas City’s municipal code dictate what kinds of construction can take place on a given area of land. Different zoning districts — residential, commercial and manufacturing — come with requirements ranging from the types of buildings that can be constructed to how large they can be.
If the answer to that initial question is yes, the proposed project is considered “as of right” development. As an example, Williams cited construction of a single-family home on land zoned for residential use.
“That is something that is ‘as of right development,’ ” Williams said. “They have the ability to go and ask for a permit for that.”
Permits are the keys that allow developers to break ground. They are needed for everything from installing plumbing and electricity to selling food and alcohol.
The permitting review process alone involves multiple city departments, Williams said, like the departments of water and health, or the division of regulated industries.
Once construction begins, the city conducts regular inspections to ensure the project complies with codes and will be safe to occupy.
Projects that pass all inspections receive a certificate of occupancy.
“Which means building is completed,” Williams said. “We’ve inspected it, we’re fine, it can be occupied.”
More complex projects follow a different process. It’s called development plan review and approval, and it applies to projects such as residential dwellings with more than 50 units, large commercial projects and developments not in zoning compliance.
This lengthier process requires a pre-application meeting with city planning and development staff 48 hours before submitting an official application to the department.
The next step: the City Plan Commission — a citizens board whose eight members are appointed by the mayor. The commission meets twice a month to review and recommend development plans to the City Council.
“We’re reviewing projects that come through the city from a land use standpoint, and trying to build a consensus between the developer, city staff as well as the public that would be affected by a project,” said Coby Crowl, the commission’s chairperson.
The commission follows Chapter 88 in Kansas City’s municipal code, which outlines the development process and requirements.
Crowl said the commission reviews proposed development plans 45 to 60 days after the developer applies to the City Planning and Development Department.
Commissioners consider whether the project meets zoning requirements and how it fits with a neighborhood’s area plan. They also hear public comment from developers, city staffers and residents.
After that, the commission recommends either “yes” or “no” and sends the recommendation to one of two places. Projects that comply with zoning requirements go to the City Council for a final vote. Proposals that request a zoning exception (called a variance) or a special-use permit head to the Board of Zoning Adjustment, an eight-member body of Kansas City residents appointed by the mayor. Once the board makes its ruling, that project does not have to go to City Council.
When a project reaches the City Council, it moves to the five-member Neighborhood Planning and Development Committee for further review. Council members hold hearings to receive input from planning and development staffers, the proposed developers, and members of the public. If a project is approved by the committee, the full City Council then votes to approve or reject it.
If the vote is to approve, the developer needs to get the right permits before construction begins.
So where do tax incentives — popular, yet controversial — fall in the process?
Those are under the purview of the Kansas City Economic Development Corp., an entity that contracts with Kansas City to oversee developer incentives.
These programs include Tax Increment Financing (TIF), Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority (LCRA), Chapter 353 and Enhanced Enterprise Zones (EEZ).
Overall, these programs help developers by redirecting property tax revenues back into designated projects, or approving tax-exempt bonds.
But critics say tax incentives have been overused in Kansas City and have been given to developers who could afford to fully finance their projects themselves, siphoning off essential revenue from public schools and other city services.
Once a developer applies to the EDC for an incentive, specialists there conduct a financial analysis that looks at costs, potential revenue and other factors.
