[0:01] Good evening. I'd like to call the June 6, 2023, Raytown Board of Aldermen meeting number four to order.

[0:07] It is now 7.02 p.m.

[0:12] and I will ask who do we have for the invocation.

[0:21] Yeah, I'll get that when I find out who the preacher is that's supposed to be here tonight.

[0:27] Oh, there you are. Come up and introduce yourself. Everybody, would you please take off your hats,

[0:33] Put your phone on silent, remove your hats, as I said, and please stand.

[0:39] Introduce yourself right at the bottom of that microphone. There you go. Good to see you.

[0:43] Good evening. My name is Brandon Smith. I'm at Graceway. We're going to pray and then do the pledge.

[0:49] Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this day. We thank you for the opportunity that we get to come together.

[0:52] I'm God with our community, Lord. We just pray that you will just continue to give wisdom and give direction.

[0:57] I mean that you will just be in this place during this time, God.

[1:01] We pray for things to be done decently and in order, God, in that you will be glorified

[1:05] in and through it all as well, Lord.

[1:07] So we thank you.

[1:08] We give you glory, honor, and praise in Jesus' name.

[1:11] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for

[1:19] which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for

[1:25] all.

[1:27] That's the brand, and it was good to see you. Thank you so very much.

[1:34] Ms. Henry, roll call, please. Alderman Mems.

[1:44] Alderman Hayden. Here. Alderman Creasek.

[1:55] Make sure your light's green.

[2:21] Where did Alderman Creasek respond?

[2:28] Did you get everybody? Sorry, I was trying to make sure all the microphones were working properly.

[2:32] Great. Alderman Creasek.

[2:41] Can you hear her?

[2:44] Alderman Emerson. Hang on just a second. We're having some kind of difficulty here.

[2:49] The

[2:56] blue one, or the one with the red is not yet, it's at the bottom of the microphone that turns it green.

[3:01] That's the one you need to be pushing.

[3:03] Notice this is green.

[3:04] There you are.

[3:05] There we go.

[3:06] All right.

[3:08] I think there's someone right there.

[3:13] Okay.

[3:14] Let's start over again, please, Ms. Henry.

[3:16] Alderman Memms.

[3:18] Here.

[3:19] Alderman Hayden.

[3:21] Here.

[3:22] Alderman Kreesek.

[3:23] Here.

[3:25] Alderman Emerson.

[3:26] Here.

[3:27] Alderman Scott.

[3:28] Here. Alderman Dylvan Busker.

[3:33] I'm just kidding, I'm here.

[3:36] Alderman Walters. Here.

[3:38] Alderman Nasir. Here.

[3:41] Alderman Myers. Here.

[3:43] Alderman Garza. Here.

[3:46] All right,

[3:49] we have a quorum.

[3:52] Okay, we've got a couple of proclamations here.

[3:57] George Michel.

[3:59] George, are you here tonight?

[4:00] All right. There you are. Step up to the podium if you would please.

[4:34] Mr. Mitchell has been on the park board for a long time and he served president of the park board numerous times and served there very well.

[4:43] This proclamation is simply just a simple token and making public our appreciation, making an appreciation known for his service.

[4:55] Whereas George Mitchell began service on the Raytown Park Board in 2008 and has gone on

[5:00] to faithfully serve on the Board for the last 15 years.

[5:04] And whereas during his time on the Park Board, George Mitchell served as Board President

[5:09] in 2014, 2015, and 2023.

[5:13] And whereas George Mitchell has been instrumental on multiple committees including the Park

[5:22] committee and also served for four years as liaison to the BMX Board and now

[5:30] therefore I Michael McDonough mayor of the city of Raytown do hereby recognize

[5:34] George Mitchell for his 15 years of service on the Raytown Park Board. From

[5:39] myself the board of Alderman and the residents of Raytown extended our

[5:44] sincere appreciation for the leadership and experience he has shared for the

[5:48] the Betterment of Raytown.

[5:50] We really, really appreciate all your hard work.

[5:54] And by the way, these folks do this for free.

[5:57] So let's give them a round of applause.

[6:03] Thank you.

[6:10] Woo!

[6:11] Those are very kind words I really appreciate.

[6:13] The mayor, Alderman, Damon, that we've all worked with,

[6:17] but mainly I could not do anything by myself.

[6:21] I am blessed to work with a very talented parks department a very talented board who are all

[6:26] Back in the back row right now

[6:29] So without them, they're the ones that kind of help

[6:33] Us get some things done for the city

[6:35] So I I'm sitting up here as a give my proclamation, but it's really out to Dave and his crew at the park sport

[6:41] So you guys

[7:03] So once a year, we have the honor, and when I say we, I'm talking about a group of people,

[7:11] including myself, who have been given the honor of the Ray Town, I'm sorry, the Truman

[7:17] Harlan Foundation, Toast of the Town, Citizen of the Year.

[7:20] This award has to do with all of the things that people have done in charity and in all

[7:29] the work they've done for the different organizations in this city helping their fellow man.

[7:37] Every year we have a struggle as a group to pick out of so many people that are so deserving.

[7:46] So we work at it and we work at it for a while in a day and bring up all these different

[7:53] people and finally we bring it down to a point where we pick a person and that

[8:00] person doesn't get to know that they've been picked until I give this

[8:05] proclamation and then they'll know and very soon in the news media their name

[8:13] will be there. It culminates in September in a really wonderful dinner and

[8:21] award ceremony downtown Kansas City put on by the Truman Heartland Foundation where a

[8:27] lot of people, past recipients and others that do so much for the metropolitan area of Kansas

[8:37] City come together to honor all of the people from the different cities who get this.

[8:43] So it's going to be my honor to

[8:50] read this proclamation, and then I'm going to have that person come forward just for a moment.

[8:58] Whereas Martha Cockrell, retired from Raytown Quality Schools, is Deputy Superintendent of Human Resources in 2009.

[9:09] Whereas after retirement from Raytown Quality Schools, Martha Cockrell offered her leadership experience

[9:14] and talents as executive director of Raytown Educational Foundation under her leadership,

[9:19] it has grown to an over one million dollar foundation which helps to ensure the excellence

[9:25] of our school district and community. And whereas Martha Cockrell gives countless hours

[9:31] to the community through her active membership with the Raytown Quality School District's

[9:37] Citizen Advisory Committee, the Raytown Area Chamber of Commerce and Tourism,

[9:40] the Raytown Kiwanis Club and the Truman Heartland Community Foundation Board on which she served

[9:46] as the 2014 Chairman of the Board.

[9:51] Now, if you don't think that, it wasn't hard trying to keep that out of her vision when

[9:54] she worked with those looks.

[9:56] Now therefore, I am Michael McDonough, Mayor of the City of Raytown, do hereby express

[10:00] the grateful appreciation of the citizens of the City of Raytown, Missouri to Martha

[10:05] Cockrell for her commitment to the Raytown community and her countless efforts to

[10:09] supports the success and education of the youth in Raytown.

[10:13] We recognize Martha Cockrell as a 2023

[10:16] German Heartland Foundation, Raytown citizen of the year,

[10:20] for her tireless service and dedication

[10:22] to the betterment of our community.

[10:24] Signed the 60th of June in the year 2023,

[10:28] Michael McDonough, Mayor.

[10:29] Let's give her a hand and Mark, I need you up front.

[10:40] Because you

[10:56] have to say that Shirley Worth is quite

[10:58] the pixie because, you know, it was,

[11:00] Well, they're having this big meeting and Mike wants to see some friendly faces.

[11:06] And so here I am.

[11:10] I don't do well with these kinds of things with the script, but if it's something emotional,

[11:16] like my son's eighth grade confirmation, the words just don't even come out well.

[11:21] So thank you, community. Thank you. Thank you very much.

[11:34] And I've got to tell you what, she's not easy to fool.

[11:40] And thank you very much guys for playing along and I know, she told me she's going to have

[11:48] to go to church numerous times for the lives.

[11:51] I told her I'd give her a special dispensation, you know, okay.

[12:31] Okay.

[12:34] Before we get started with public comments, I want to make sure everybody understands

[12:37] that as you came in, if you want to just in general talk about things that are

[12:41] before this board, the usual general communication comments, there was one

[12:48] sheet. If you want to talk as far as the public hearing, then you should sign

[12:55] the other sheet so we can keep them separate. However, let me go over some

[12:59] rules and the rules apply to both comments and also the public hearing.

[13:07] I want to make sure that everyone understands the rules for the Board of

[13:11] All-In meetings. They are different than planning and zoning. I will explain

[13:16] them to you. These were passed in 2018 by the way, there wasn't something new.

[13:22] They are different than planning zoning as I said and as a presiding

[13:25] answer to this board, what I expect from everyone is courtesy, no yelling, screaming, clapping,

[13:32] or carrying on from out in the gallery. That's not necessary. I want everybody to have a chance

[13:38] to have their say. And we're going to respect each other. And we're going to follow these rules,

[13:45] where you won't speak until everybody's calmed down.

[13:50] The rules in accordance with Resolution

[13:54] R3106-18 which was passed again like I said in 2018 by the Raytown Board of

[13:59] Aldermen, states that those allowed to speak will be the following. Raytown

[14:04] residents, Raytown business owners. The rest were representatives for

[14:10] non-profit service club with the derogation in Raytown and speaking on

[14:13] special events, this isn't a special event, special event being held in the

[14:23] When you come up, you will have to tell us preferably what your address is, but at least what city you are from.

[14:33] And if you're not from Raytown or own a business in Raytown, or at least you are in the school district of Raytown, you won't be speaking.

[14:43] That's the rules.

[14:46] When you call up to the podium, again you will give your name, the city you live in, and preferably your address so we know what ward you live in too.

[14:55] That's the way these aldermen know, in case you want to talk to them later on who they're dealing with.

[15:00] Only fair. You will have five minutes, whether you speak for a group or for yourself personally.

[15:07] You will not be able to surrender your time to another person, any or any part of it. You get your five minutes.

[15:15] If you use two, that's what you get, and you're not making more than one trip to the podium.

[15:21] If you wish to speak in regard to the public hearing, please wait and speak then, as I said before, not during the normal comment section.

[15:31] Again, I will not tolerate this order in regard to the public hearing especially.

[15:38] Please wait and speak.

[15:40] Then during the comments section for that, they all have the same rules.

[15:47] I just want to make sure everybody understands that so we don't have a problem.

[15:52] So I will now open the floor to public comments.

[15:56] Each person has five minutes.

[15:57] If you're speaking for the group, please identify what group that is and you will

[16:00] I have five minutes.

[16:01] The public comment section is meant for business

[16:04] that this Board of Aldermen has jurisdiction over.

[16:07] That being said.

[16:11] Mr. Mayor, I have three people signed up

[16:14] under the public comment section.

[16:18] The first is Morris Malloy.

[16:22] Okay.

[16:35] I'm back.

[16:36] I'm in Raytown, 5816 Manning Avenue.

[16:40] I appreciate the comments about respect.

[16:42] I started that a few months ago before this board to say that I think that we all need respect,

[16:52] whether it's you as a 20-year veteran, whether it's me as a new resident,

[16:59] whether it's someone in the audience that's a new resident,

[17:04] or whether it's you as a 16-year resident.

[17:08] And you have a very difficult issue before you.

[17:12] I'm not going to speak about that.

[17:14] I want to speak a little bit about the process,

[17:17] because we were told to follow the process.

[17:20] And that process includes us as residents.

[17:26] You as Alderman.

[17:29] But what's happened over the last few months

[17:32] is a lot of discussions and negotiations

[17:35] have occurred without our input.

[17:41] Yes, we had planning and zoning.

[17:45] Yes, we have this forum,

[17:50] but the developer who lives outside of Raytown

[17:57] has had countless opportunities to meet with staff,

[18:01] countless opportunities to present views,

[18:05] And yet none of us as residents had the opportunity to be there.

[18:12] And so to stand there and tell us that we have five minutes to say how this or any other proposal before the Board of Aldermen affects the 35 years, 40 years, two years, two months,

[18:37] of what's before them just seems strange that that developer who lives in Kansas whose representatives

[18:50] live in Kansas have unlimited opportunities to speak not only before you but before the

[18:59] staff and generate an approval when we as residents had nothing to say about it and are

[19:10] limited to five minutes.

[19:13] So I would just say look at your process and recognize why people have concerns about

[19:20] what's happening here.

[19:22] Not just here tonight, but in the future and in the past.

[19:28] Thank you.

[19:30] Councillor.

[19:32] Jeremy Wisdom.

[19:40] Good evening, sir.

[19:44] I want to turn that on at the bottom again.

[19:47] My name is Jeremy Wisdom.

[19:49] I live at 110011020 East 54th Street.

[19:55] And ladies and gentlemen of the board,

[19:56] I greatly appreciate the five minutes that you're allowing me.

[20:00] My issue is unrelated to what everybody else is here.

[20:04] I live at 54th and down around Appleton and back around 53rd Terrace.

[20:12] And over the last couple of years, there's been some alarming things happening in our neighborhood.

[20:18] We saw five or six houses being sold to a real estate investor,

[20:23] turned around and rented at a very, very high price

[20:27] to where many people have to live in the house in order to afford it,

[20:32] which results in people parking in grass and driveways

[20:37] and just not caring about the quality of their property at all.

[20:43] So that's the first concern.

[20:44] The other concern is just overall general maintenance of our street

[20:49] and holding homeowners accountable.

[20:51] I go to walk my dog every night,

[20:53] and at the corner of 54th and Appleton,

[20:56] there is a house that's for sale.

[20:58] It was a rental, but now it's back for sale.

[21:00] There's a sewage leak and wastewater that runs down the sidewalk and it smells gross.

[21:10] Myself, my girlfriend, several of our neighbors have called to try to address the issue.

[21:18] It's just fallen on deaf ears.

[21:20] So I would very much invite my alderman to contact me or come visit my neighborhood

[21:29] to try to address some of these issues.

[21:33] Overall, my ask is, I know that everybody is here with an agenda,

[21:37] but let's treat all of our issues the same, you know,

[21:42] whether it be a liquor store going in

[21:44] or the quality of our streets that we live in.

[21:47] So that's all I have to say. Thank you.

[21:49] Thank you, sir.

[21:50] Number three?

[21:51] Jeanette Gentry.

[21:53] I'm sorry?

[21:54] Jeanette Gentry.

[21:57] Good evening, Jeanette.

[21:58] Thank

[22:01] you.

[22:03] Jeanette Gentry, 11,000 East 57th Street, Raytown, Missouri, Raytown resident Ward 3.

[22:10] I noticed that today I believe it was posted that Charles going on retreat for goal setting

[22:15] this weekend.

[22:17] Is that correct?

[22:19] I hope some of those topics that are talked about in your goal setting session are

[22:24] communication, consistent communication.

[22:30] Several of you know some issues that I've had with that.

[22:34] I sent you all an email on Friday night about this particular public hearing.

[22:40] By the way, that was posted on social media Sunday at 1 p.m.

[22:44] So I hope that you discussed communication.

[22:47] I hope you discussed how to engage the residents of Raytown.

[22:52] We deserve to be engaged with and that has to start from leadership and move forward.

[22:58] I hope that that engagement includes the necessary changes coming before a comprehensive plan.

[23:06] I have no doubt that that will be in the 2023 budget.

[23:10] But don't – these people all of Raytown, all 30,219 of us need to be engaged in that comprehensive plan

[23:20] because it dictates our quality of life and how you get money for grants.

[23:27] So that's what I would like to encourage you to discuss in your goal-setting session this weekend. Thank you.

[23:36] Anyone else, Councilor?

[23:39] No one else.

[23:43] Ms. Henry, do you have anyone electronically?

[23:51] I am not showing anyone, sir.

[23:52] All right. Thank you.

[23:54] Okay. I'll now close public comments.

[23:57] We'll move on now to Communication Mayor.

[23:58] to keep this short and simple. Please attend the Raytown Live concert this

[24:04] Saturday, June 10th from 7 to 9 p.m. on the green space. The band will be

[24:11] packaged band. They play Motown, they play disco, they play lots of different kinds

[24:17] of music. They're really good. We've had them once before.

[24:22] All these concerts

[24:23] sponsors that we have all summer long or family-oriented.

[24:26] You can bring your lawn chairs, your coolers, your favorite drinks, water.

[24:34] We will have food trucks at each one of the events for you to buy stuff from if you wish.

[24:40] You can bring your own food if you wish.

[24:43] Really love to have more people.

[24:45] This is not paid for by you taxpayers.

[24:47] It's paid for by myself and many other sponsors that put money into this so we can hire

[24:54] these bands and get the stage and all those kind of things and several of

[24:58] people back there in the parks including me, a few others in Main Street and the

[25:05] Chamber get that set up and take it down every second Saturday from May

[25:12] through September. The only difference is in September it's from six to eight

[25:18] instead of seven and nine because it gets a little dark that time of year so

[25:22] it's a little harder to see when you're getting ready to take stuff down.

[25:25] We've got a full slate of really good music.

[25:29] Love to have you bring your kids, your grandkids, neighbors, family members,

[25:36] and encourage you to be there for your community, get to know your neighbors.

[25:41] We usually have quite a few people, but I'd like to see even more.

[25:44] Again, it's on the green space.

[25:46] It's about 60-second in Raytown Road.

[25:48] You can't miss it. You'll see the stage.

[25:50] If you get there a little bit late, you'll hear the music.

[25:53] With that, I'll turn it over to the City Administrator Damon Hodges.

[25:56] What do you have for us?

[25:57] Good evening.

[25:58] A couple of weeks ago, the Public Works Department crews challenged our citizens to report potholes,

[26:05] which I think a lot of us probably did.

[26:07] So about 150 people responded.

[26:10] And in two weeks, crews filled over 450 potholes.

[26:14] I say that.

[26:19] That's good and bad, but that's a good thing.

[26:23] Also, the city participated in Chambers National Trials Day celebration for Rock Island Trials

[26:29] Saturday and then next Thursday, the 15th, we have our farmers market held at Rice

[26:34] Tremonti from 4 to 7 p.m.

[26:36] Thank you and that'd be it for me.

[26:38] All right.

[26:38] Very good.

[26:39] Anything from the aldermen?

[26:46] I should have known.

[26:47] Right at the last minute.

[26:49] Go ahead.

[26:50] Thank you, sir.

[26:51] I just wanted to mention that tomorrow morning at 8 a.m.

[26:58] We'll be having the meeting of the Raytown Police Pension Board.

[27:05] I will be there, Mayor McDonough and Chief Kuhl and all of the board members that belong to the board.

[27:13] So I just wanted to make you aware that that meeting is taking place tomorrow morning. Thank you.

[27:17] Thank you, Bill.

[27:18] All right, before we go any further, we've got a study session with Parks and Recreation

[27:25] Annual Report.

[27:26] Dave Turner, Parks and Recreation Director.

[27:30] Come give us your report.

[27:32] Oh, there you are.

[27:33] Good to see you.

[27:34] Move over there.

[27:36] Yeah, I'm trying to share screen here.

[28:17] Okay.

[28:18] All right.

[28:19] Thank you, everyone.

[28:20] Sorry about that.

[28:21] Just, this is a state statute.

[28:24] it's state statute 90.560 that the park board gives an annual review at the end

[28:31] of May before the second Saturday in June.

[28:40] All right, here is the Ray Tom

[28:42] Parks organizational chart. The park board is appointed by the mayor approved

[28:49] by the Board of Aldermen and then they go on and are over the staff of the

[28:53] Parks Department. We do have the Rice-Tramani Board that reports to

[28:58] us. We run programs, our Raytown BMX, and our administrative services are all staff

[29:04] at the Parks Department. We have nine full-time staff employees and we have one

[29:08] seasonal that works maintenance there at the Parks Department doing mostly

[29:13] horticulture work. The BMX board is a five-member board of volunteers right

[29:18] now and they do a lot of extra work. They bring a lot of people into

[29:22] right now and we're real proud of that.

[29:27] Okay, here's our financial report. This is

[29:31] again not the fiscal year. This goes from June to May. As you can see, our

[29:37] property tax comes in in December and January. That's a big spike in revenue

[29:42] for us. This particular year we had a grant reimbursement in September. That's

[29:48] where you see that big spike in September. That was a $448,000

[29:53] dollar project and we were reimbursed $224,000 on that. We also received a trim

[30:00] We did $13,000 worth of work and got $10,000 back from the Missouri Department of Conservation.

[30:06] So we're doing everything we can to maximize our dollars, get 50% to 75% back every time

[30:12] we take on a major project if that is possible. Over this time, revenue was $1,333,000,

[30:29] and

[30:29] though this is not the exact fiscal year,

[30:31] this is a point of year that the state

[30:34] would like us to report on.

[30:37] All right, the end of year actuals, our revenue was,

[30:47] again, $1 million.3, and our expenses was $1.6 million.

[30:52] And again, that was due, a large part

[30:54] to that $448,000 project.

[30:57] We had a $90,000 playground that we installed and then the trim grant over $13,000.

[31:04] Just about all of that other is contractual work and maintenance of the parks department.

[31:11] Our revenue sources, property taxes, the vast majority at 46%, sales tax makes up about

[31:17] a quarter of our percent, fees and charges, a small portion, and then grants last

[31:24] year were almost 25% of our revenue.

[31:26] That's an outstanding number that's much more than the parks department has ever

[31:31] reached before.

[31:34] Our budgeted expenses, staffing is a very large part. Our

[31:38] maintenance, because we have 170 acres under our control, taking care of all

[31:43] that, the infrastructure there, the pipes, the electricity, lights, as well as

[31:48] mowing. Programs and events, they're $50,000 and then our capital

[31:53] improvements in our 2023 budget is a very large number, and that is another grant project

[32:02] that will be a 50-50 sponsoring grant project for a $1 million total project.

[32:08] Our accomplishments this year, we have been offered to be awarded the Land Water Conservation

[32:14] Fund Grant.

[32:15] That is the $1 million project I was just speaking about, and we will recover $500,000

[32:20] once that is complete.

[32:22] We were awarded an omnibus grant for $3 million.

[32:26] This is a very non-typical grant.

[32:28] This is fully funded.

[32:29] 100 percent.

[32:30] That's $3 million from the federal government coming into Raytown with no capital from the

[32:36] citizens of Raytown.

[32:37] That was just a gift from the federal government that we applied for.

[32:41] We did some asphalt work trail at Critzer Park at the end of 2002.

[32:46] We put in, like I said, the playground and a tennis court at Kanaggy Park.

[32:49] 2022, we coordinated those, so those operations would be going together at the same time,

[32:55] so our park was not down for more construction than absolutely necessary.

[33:00] We had some donated property expanding Kanegi Park.

[33:03] We've been using solar LED lights at Coleman, Kanegi, and Critter Park.

[33:07] That helps with security.

[33:08] That also gives us no additional fees as far as utility bills.

[33:13] Once those are in, they just work at no further costs.

[33:18] We do have a security contractor that goes to all of our park properties twice after curfew of 11 p.m. to 6 a.m.

[33:29] We get checked, like I said, twice at every location.

[33:33] We did get two sculptures in 2022.

[33:36] One is in front of City Hall.

[33:37] One is at Coleman Park.

[33:39] that is a program, Creative Community Alliance.

[33:43] It's an art sharing program where we borrow those for two years

[33:47] and then we put them back and then we do have one that will be going back at the pocket park.

[33:51] And the duration on that one will be 2023 to 2025.

[33:55] We're hosting the Raytown High Tennis Team at Coleman Park.

[33:59] Very happy to do that. The Boys and Girls Tennis Team.

[34:03] We have a national race for the BMX coming up in July of 2023.

[34:07] And also, in this last year, the Ray Tom BMX Association has taken a step toward being

[34:13] more independent, and they are a 501C3.

[34:16] We did give them a grant instead of covering their operating expenses.

[34:20] We gave them a smaller portion of that grant that they are going to be holding onto and

[34:24] operating.

[34:25] We'll still monitor them.

[34:26] They are still using part of our properties that we allow them to use.

[34:32] and we hope to continue that partnership even though we are now more

[34:36] separate financially. And we have a new Little League Baseball down at Little

[34:39] Blue Trace. We're very excited about that. Here is the project at Critzer Park.

[34:44] We added some drainage. We were having some issues out there. It was under

[34:48] cutting a trail and creating an unsafe situation. So we did that and brought

[34:53] came back with Asphalt over the top. There's a new playground at

[34:56] Kanegi Park. That's our main playground right in the middle of that

[35:00] 18-acre property. And then our tennis court, that was our big project of last year. That

[35:05] was the $448,000 that was dedicated in July before we got our full reimbursements, I believe

[35:11] right around September. Our ongoing duties maintenance, we have 176 acres that we maintain.

[35:18] We do a lot of beautification on 63rd Street and Raytown Road, Highway 50, 63rd Street

[35:23] Blue Ridge Cut-Off, Gregory and Raytown Road. We do the front of City Hall. All

[35:28] the streetscapes and there are 10 welcome to Raytown signs that we maintain. We did

[35:32] have to replace one at 53rd and Blue Ridge cutoff if anybody has noticed that

[35:37] that has the new City logo and as we replace those we'll be replacing the

[35:41] old City logo with the new City logo instead of doing that all at once.

[35:46] We do

[35:46] monitor the budget and expenditures for the fiscal year 2023. We do always

[35:52] seek out extra funding alternatives for maintenance and redevelopment. We do

[35:59] constantly are planning to implement park events and programs. We do support the

[36:04] city with snow removal, helping public works. We maintain the parking lot here

[36:12] and down at the police department to maintain those areas stay open and snow

[36:17] events. And then we the park board has been working on plans for our sales

[36:22] tax will sunset here in a couple years and we need to make plans on how to keep that stream

[36:28] of revenue.

[36:30] Our most popular events, we have a Raytown Youth Basketball League that's been going

[36:35] since I believe 2016.

[36:37] We have 50-plus softball leagues, we have tennis leagues and lessons for adults and

[36:41] kids, fishing derby, Kids Day at Kanagi that will be coming up next week on Thursday,

[36:47] June 15th.

[36:49] Raytown Live concerts that the mayor discussed earlier,

[36:53] and then our BMX racing.

[36:55] We had a big state race June 5th of last year,

[36:57] and then in July of this year,

[36:59] we will have a national race.

[37:01] Typically brings in over 3,000 people.

[37:04] Our Festival of Trails, it'll be the third annual.

[37:06] That'll be at the Rice Tremonti home

[37:07] on September 9th, 2023.

[37:10] Some of the major challenges that we have

[37:12] is our staffing level.

[37:13] Again, with nine full-time staff,

[37:15] we get a couple of people sick or a couple of vacations

[37:17] and we are severely limited, you know, we are then down 33 percent on our capacity.

[37:24] So with a staff that small, we really have to stay on our toes to keep things on top of our duties.

[37:31] Keeping horticultural staff on board is also very difficult.

[37:34] They seem like they get paid higher in other states than they do in Missouri,

[37:39] but we're hoping we have a good couple of staff members here now.

[37:42] getting sponsorships and donations for public events that is always a difficult

[37:48] task but we do the majority of our special events are fully funded by

[37:53] sponsorships and donations by businesses that local businesses the

[37:59] storage of park vehicles and our maintenance equipment we again have a

[38:02] small building for our maintenance building we do end up storing city

[38:07] trucks city-owned trucks outdoors it's not an ideal situation we have had

[38:12] some things stolen in the past, but we keep moving with our updated lights and security

[38:18] systems to try to keep that at bay while we struggle on how to store our equipment during

[38:24] off hours.

[38:26] We did have limited capital improvement capability with our current level of revenue, which

[38:31] is why we are always seeking grants and other funding opportunities.

[38:36] And then we just have a lot of aging structures.

[38:38] We have trouble keeping up with our facilities.

[38:40] We have playgrounds at Coleman Park that are over 20 years old.

[38:45] Kritzer Park, which was brand new when I got hired here, that was developed in 2020.

[38:50] I'm sorry, 2000, year 2000, all that equipment out there is now going to be 23 years old.

[38:56] So that stuff keeps aging and it's our duty to keep replacing it and keep that in the safest condition that we can.

[39:03] And then our ongoing security issues with after hours activity and then side shows in a couple of our parks

[39:09] that we've been taking steps to try to find cures for that.

[39:16] Our future plans, our land water conservation fund is going to do a demolition on our 53rd

[39:22] Street property that's a million dollars to demo that and then the redevelopment of

[39:28] the Super Splash property with the omnibus funding grant.

[39:32] We will come back.

[39:33] That'll be basically a phase two to put back a community park where there was a water

[39:38] park that is no longer in use.

[39:40] We are going to redevelop Kanagi Park with some ADA compliance.

[39:44] Our restrooms are not great out there.

[39:46] Our trail surfaces are not great out there.

[39:49] And while we're doing some work out there, that skate park is 20 years old.

[39:53] Like I had said, we're going to replace some items out there for the skate park and just

[39:56] try to make more ADA compliant since we are doing so much work out at that location.

[40:03] We also need to redevelop some aging structures at Coleman Park, again, the playgrounds

[40:09] and the restroom, shelter houses out there

[40:11] are 1970s construction.

[40:14] You know, we've got a full life out of those

[40:15] and we need to bring better infrastructure

[40:19] to our citizens.

[40:22] Park Board does have a five year schedule

[40:24] for capital improvements, infrastructure,

[40:27] vehicle replacement, so we do have a map

[40:29] for the next five years on where our money is gonna go.

[40:32] We need to add to our trail system

[40:34] and connect to the larger trails

[40:35] that are available in the area

[40:37] and always keep and hire great, as good a staff as we could possibly get.

[40:44] It's our staff that take these tasks seriously and get our work done.

[40:51] Our budget concerns over on the left column, you can see that our personnel is a large number.

[40:57] Supplies and services, repairs and maintenance, utilities, asset management, those are all fixed costs.

[41:05] We're at $1.1 million with our fixed costs.

[41:08] And then as you can see in our parks revenue in 2022,

[41:13] we were $1.3 million,

[41:15] but we had almost $230,000 in reimbursement from grants.

[41:21] So a lot of that revenue, that $230,000 of that revenue

[41:26] was reimbursement from grant work.

[41:28] So we are just at the very edge of our capacity

[41:32] on what we can do with the funds that we do receive.

[41:37] And then I do want to – would be remiss if I didn't reach out to – and recognize

[41:41] some of the people in the city that are very helpful.

[41:43] Of course, the city administration is great.

[41:46] Tony Alexander, our public information officer, has taken on a lot of tasks and helped us

[41:51] get the word out and made media contacts that we would never have been able to

[41:55] made without her.

[41:56] The Rayton Police have been giving us support.

[41:59] Public Works is an unsung hero.

[42:00] They're always loaning us equipment, sharing their expertise, and again, just today we

[42:07] loaned them a piece of equipment that they didn't have, so that's a great, great working

[42:11] relationship with the Public Works Department, and we really appreciate that.

[42:15] The finance and administration help us in our long-range goals on what we're trying

[42:21] to accomplish, how to get there, and it's great to bounce ideas off of the professionals

[42:27] that the city have at their disposal.

[42:29] So I want to thank them for that.

[42:32] We have just a ton of volunteers that we work with, the BMX Board, the Bryce Tremonti Board,

[42:37] Qantas, they were a big sponsor for our fishing derby just this past weekend.

[42:42] Connection Point Church has always been great, Chamber of Commerce, Raytown Rotary.

[42:47] We have tons of scouts and Eagle Scout projects in our parks if you want to come

[42:51] and see some.

[42:52] The River Church, Graceway Church is helping us this coming weekend, they're having

[42:56] a big served day. I think they'll bring out 40 volunteers. They're going to help paint

[43:00] some of our shelter houses. So that's just wonderful. The Honor Society provide a lot

[43:07] of volunteer hours and just want to appreciate that. That is basically the end of my presentation.

[43:15] I did have a big packet that I sent. I wanted to bring this to your attention. This is

[43:21] a report from the City Works, the City Asset Management Program.

[43:26] We start, this went live in August, that's why we started in August with this report.

[43:30] I don't know if anybody has any specifics on this, I found very interesting the very

[43:34] last page.

[43:35] If you want to turn that just to the very last page, it lists all the people, all

[43:40] the different tasks that we do, and the very last report is on trash services.

[43:46] Just paying our staff hourly rate for yearly trash service, that is $25,357 of staff time

[43:56] that we put towards emptying our trash cans, picking up litter, cleaning up our parks.

[44:03] And so I have said it before, this is not our equipment.

[44:07] Actually, this document was almost twice as long.

[44:10] I left all the equipment expenses out of it.

[44:15] So, it is a real thing when somebody says, oh, just take a couple guys, go over there,

[44:19] it'll take you a couple hours, we're talking hundreds of dollars of staff time and equipment

[44:24] to do that.

[44:24] And it may need to be done, but sometimes we can have a volunteer do that at a different

[44:29] time and it's at no cost and the volunteer gets the benefit of doing what they're doing

[44:33] to help the city.

[44:34] So, at any rate, I just wanted to put that perspective out there that a couple hours

[44:40] of city staff time with the equipment it adds up and with this new asset

[44:45] management program we can print out these reports to see exactly on what day

[44:48] what we accomplished and what the cost of the citizens of Raytown was. Very good.

[44:54] Open the door.

[44:56] Great presentations.

[44:58] Anybody have any questions?

[45:02] Yes, I have a couple questions. You said how many people come in for the BMX?

[45:06] Oh, we have a few thousand people come in. That's a very family-oriented experience.

[45:13] So a lot of them come in with campers, and they'll bring the whole family, you know,

[45:18] three or four kids and mom and dad.

[45:20] They're coming from all over.

[45:21] Yeah, and these are the types that travel down to Oklahoma.

[45:24] We got people the last time we ran one, and I think it was 2023, 2021.

[45:30] We had license plates from New Jersey, we had license plates from California, you know Colorado out there

[45:36] So it was a great event and it's not very often that Raytown is a draw for the entire nation

[45:41] And so that is a very special thing to be able to promote that sport

[45:45] It's a unique sport and it helps for us to find our niches

[45:49] You know find where we could be the most effective and not in competition with bigger cities

[45:54] That can outspend us

[45:56] Yeah, if you've never been there, it's pretty amazing.

[45:59] It is amazing.

[45:59] I've been there numerous times to watch it.

[46:01] It's unbelievable.

[46:02] Can I have one more question?

[46:04] Yes, go ahead.

[46:07] So also, with our parks, you had mentioned the ongoing security issues.

[46:12] Can you mention that you're taking steps?

[46:14] I know I've had several people ask me.

[46:16] Can you kind of just let people know what their steps are?

[46:20] I appreciate the question.

[46:21] Thank you.

[46:21] Okay, out of Kanagi Park, people that have been out there have noticed we've had some

[46:26] problems with side shows, some car activity out there.

[46:29] We have put down some bots dots, they are traffic dots.

[46:32] That was a first effort.

[46:33] I don't know that we're completely done with those, or we're going to come back with

[46:36] a different effort altogether.

[46:39] But those are many speed bumps that we place out to try to prevent people from speeding,

[46:44] from sliding, from doing donuts, and things like that.

[46:47] So I don't know that it has been as effective as we hoped, but it was the first step in making

[46:55] an effort towards addressing that situation.

[46:58] And then we do had Homeland Security, the same security company, the school district

[47:04] hires.

[47:05] They were already driving around checking 13 school locations, so we added about seven

[47:09] park locations.

[47:11] We get a very reasonable rate with those, since that company is already very active

[47:15] in the area. And the other benefit is that when we have activities on school property,

[47:22] school has activities on our property, it's the same security staff that is familiar with

[47:27] the area and familiar with the situation. So again, they are doing curfew checks after

[47:33] hours. They stop by twice a night at all properties.

[47:38] Thank you very much.

[47:39] Brian Myers.

[47:41] Thank you. I'll make sure and take my bike to the BMX track.

[47:47] I don't land as soft as I used to when I was younger.

[47:54] So looking at the 22 revenue versus expenses, I know those numbers are skewed for grant

[48:00] income.

[48:02] With the implementation of our salary study, I'm looking forward.

[48:07] Are we thinking we're going to end up in the red for next year?

[48:13] We've been operating in the red kind of you know we've been our expenses have

[48:18] been higher than our net revenue for quite a while but we did have have a park

[48:23] reserve there to help fund those those overages but yes you know with the the

[48:30] step increase the bit you know fairly large step increase that we had during

[48:34] for the salary survey in comparison to what other cities are paying in the

[48:38] metro area. We are going to take a $60,000, $70,000 step up in salaries. That money has

[48:46] to come from somewhere. So we are looking at what we can do to still maintain our parks,

[48:51] still keep our parks mowed with our contractors that we need to have, and still pay for our

[48:58] utilities and all the other expenses that we have. So we just had our very first

[49:02] budget meeting this morning, so I haven't had a lot of time to look at that, but

[49:06] But that was one of the first things that jumped into my mind, yes.

[49:09] Gotcha.

[49:09] And then August 2024 is obviously with the sales tax.

[49:12] That's an important tax.

[49:15] We would like to have a date on when we're going to go to go on the ballot.

[49:20] That's basically our cut off on if we're, you know, we must have a plan to be on the

[49:25] ballot by August 2024.

[49:27] Okay.

[49:27] Thank you, Dave.

[49:28] Thank you.

[49:31] I have a question.

[49:32] Ms. Bill, did you want to speak?

[49:33] Yes.

[49:34] Okay.

[49:34] The part of the day that you have when you're talking about going on a 2024 ballot in August,

[49:41] do you know what percentage we're looking at asking for so that we can start planning?

[49:47] Sure.

[49:48] We actually talked about this with City Admins a little bit today about do we want to go

[49:54] with this all with sales tax?

[49:56] We want to consider property tax.

[49:59] You know, just basically exploring the ideas, exploring the different avenues that are out

[50:04] there to help fund the parks department.

[50:07] So we've begun those talks when we need to start talking to the citizens about that,

[50:11] when we can start getting citizen input on what they would like to see with their money,

[50:16] what they would like to see accomplished, and definitely what direction we shouldn't

[50:21] be going in.

[50:21] You know, I mean, that's as important as what direction we should be going in.

[50:24] It's just to keep that communication open.

[50:26] This is tax dollars and it needs to have that oversight.

[50:30] Okay, because I was wondering when we wanted to start so that we can put the information out to the people

[50:36] as they keep saying that they don't get the information and that it's not out there.

[50:41] And I know before we started on this like a year out.

[50:45] So I just want to make sure so we can start getting that out there.

[50:49] And then later on you can tell us about what it was.

[50:52] because did we do 70-30 last time?

[50:54] It was 75-25.

[50:56] It was 75-25 with the stormwater.

[50:59] Stormwater got 25% of the park's sales tax.

[51:04] And I would have liked to have been on the ballot

[51:08] on November of 23 this year,

[51:11] but I think we need to have a little bit more discussion

[51:13] than that.

[51:14] I think we need to bring more people aboard

[51:17] and really look at what projects we need to accomplish.

[51:22] before we started talking about what revenue level we need to be at.

[51:27] So, again, the Parks Department has not had an increase since our very first

[51:32] one-eighth cent sales tax in 2003.

[51:36] So we're going on the exact same funding level that we have been for the last 20 years

[51:40] and it's just not sustainable.

[51:42] We are underwater, basically, on our revenues versus our expenses.

[51:47] Thank you, Mr. Walbert.

[51:51] yes I was just going to suggest looking at I agree with you November would be

[51:55] preferred and I believe from what I understand there's going to be stuff

[51:59] from the state on the ballot which would cut your cost down considerably yeah so

[52:03] you may want to be looking at that thank you thank you Mr.

[52:10] Mayor when was the

[52:11] last levy increase on property tax when did that occur oh my goodness I that

[52:17] That was before me, honestly.

[52:20] The Parks Department, I don't remember when that was.

[52:23] I was hired in 1999, and that was before that.

[52:28] I was here for when we had our first sales tax in 2003.

[52:31] That was a big push.

[52:32] I remember that.

[52:34] I don't know when the park's property tax was initiated.

[52:39] Honestly, I'd have to go do some research on that.

[52:41] Okay.

[52:42] And that's 46% of the revenue, right?

[52:46] Yeah.

[52:46] comes from property tax.

[52:50] When is the exact date that the current sales tax sunsets?

[52:58] Okay, that was last past November of 2019. That was overwhelmingly supported. It was a renewal.

[53:07] And when we string all those together, they keep adding on when the last one ends and the last

[53:15] I believe it is 2026.

[53:17] If we do not get something passed before, what would the last be, November 25, we would

[53:24] probably have a gap in funding where our sales tax would run out before we would be able to

[53:30] go on, get it in April.

[53:32] I think it's March 31, 2026.

[53:34] Sales tax is 24% of our revenue.

[53:38] Yes, that's 24% of our revenue.

[53:39] Thank you.

[53:40] Thank you.

[53:41] Thank you, Mr. Van Boesker.

[53:42] Mr. Hayden, do you have anything?

[53:46] Okay.

[53:47] All right.

[53:48] Dave, excellent.

[53:49] Thank you for the presentation.

[53:51] Thank you all.

[53:52] Have a good meeting.

[53:53] All right.

[53:55] Okay.

[53:56] We want to legislate your session.

[53:58] We have before us consent agenda approval of the main 15th,

[54:02] 2023, greater Board of Aldermen meeting minutes and two

[54:05] resolutions for the appointment of Brett Hughes,

[54:07] reappointment of Brett Hughes Park Board and appointment of

[54:10] Rhonda Herring to the Park Board.

[54:13] Do I hear a motion?

[54:14] Mr. Mayor?

[54:15] Mr. Asia has a motion.

[54:17] Ms. Memms, is that you?

[54:19] Ms. Memms has a second.

[54:22] Any discussion?

[54:23] Any discussion?

[54:24] Call the roll, please.

[54:26] Who was the first, Mayor?

[54:29] Mr. Asia.

[54:30] I really did say the first, and then he said it at the same time.

[54:34] Come and be happy.

[54:35] But that's okay.

[54:37] Okay.

[54:38] Alderman Asia?

[54:39] Yes.

[54:40] Alderman Memms?

[54:42] Alderman Walters. Yes. Alderman Scott. Yes. Alderman Hayden. Yes. Alderman Myers. Yes. Alderman Emerson. Yes. Alderman Garza. Yes. Alderman Phil van Busker. Yes. Alderman Crescent. Yes. Yes.

[55:12] Microphones.

[55:17] Motion passes unanimously.

[55:19] Ms. Herring, where are you at?

[55:22] Could you step up here, please?

[55:24] I'm here tonight.

[55:27] Where are you at?

[55:32] Mr. Hue, are you here?

[55:34] Just

[55:37] for the appointment on him, so I think he was out of town on business with a bicycle group.

[55:43] Hi.

[55:44] Hello, good evening, everyone.

[55:45] Introduce yourself just a little bit in a little short speech of what your background is real quick

[55:51] and what you. My name is Rhonda Herring. I've been a resident of Ray Town since 1997. Two

[56:00] children went through the school district. I come from Transportation UPS,

[56:05] moving freight. I own a 24-hour daycare out here, so I'm just really going to be

[56:10] a part to help build into what we need done.

[56:16] Welcome aboard. Thank you. Thank

[56:18] Thank you.

[56:19] And now you've met the park director and then you've got some fellow park board members back

[56:25] there.

[56:25] And thank you.

[56:27] Thank you very much for offering to serve.

[56:30] We appreciate it very, very much.

[56:41] Okay, we're going to move on to old business.

[56:44] Ms. Mims,

[56:48] microphone please.

[56:50] I'm going to hold it.

[56:52] I'd like to make a motion to continue the second reading of bill number 6635-23.

[57:00] to the July 11, 2023 meeting, 2023 meeting.

[57:03] All second.

[57:05] Okay, Ms. Mim has had the first, second by Ms. Garza.

[57:14] This is the second reading, so,

[57:15] but we're going to move it to,

[57:17] do you want to explain that?

[57:21] Microphone, please.

[57:23] In another world today, I just ran the twins.

[57:26] I'm sorry, y'all,

[57:27] and they've got me discombobulated for a minute.

[57:30] The reason for this is I wanted to make sure

[57:32] that we were all in consistency

[57:35] with the two from Kansas City and what Raytown's information was so that it

[57:41] wasn't like one is doing more than the other. So if they get together and they

[57:44] do it and nobody has gotten to that point yet, so I want to make sure that

[57:49] in fairness to both Kansas City and Raytown because this property is split

[57:53] between both of us. Right. I appreciate that very much because we had that

[57:57] situation a long time ago on that same property. If I remember right. So all

[58:02] All right, Mr. Van Bosker.

[58:05] All right, from the last meeting when we heard the first reading of this, it was my understanding

[58:13] that they really wanted to get the Raytown portion of this first before going to Kansas

[58:21] City with it to make sure this is in place, because it's a small portion of it that's

[58:27] in Raytown and it's going to involve our sewer system and the building itself, I believe,

[58:35] or at least most of it, I believe all of it, would be in Kansas City, but maybe a portion

[58:43] of it could be in Raytown.

[58:45] But we have a lot of properties around Raytown that are split between the cities, personal

[58:53] properties and businesses and you know so it's something we deal with a lot. I

[59:02] don't know that I would be in favor of delaying this I think it's something that

[59:06] would be unfair to the people who have asked for this I don't believe I would

[59:13] be in favor of delaying it so I will vote against it. Okay anyone else call

[59:20] Roll roll please. Alderman Memms. Yes. Alderman Garza. Yes. Alderman Hayden. Yes. Alderman

[59:30] Creasek. Yes. Alderman Emerson. Yes. Alderman Scott. Yes. Alderman Van Busker. No.

[59:48] Alderman

[59:49] carries nine to one. Thank you everybody for your comments on that.

[59:56] Before we...

[1:00:00] Move on to number three.

[1:00:04] I'm going to ask the attorney to give us some information about a petition.

[1:00:10] Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So the next item on the agenda is going to be the public hearing

[1:00:16] to consider rezoning. You will notice in your packet there was a protest petition that was filed.

[1:00:22] So just wanted to kind of explain what that means. So the protest petition

[1:00:29] by state statute and by city code needed to be verified and needed to be signed by at

[1:00:35] least 30% of the property owners within 185 feet of the proposed rezoning.

[1:00:42] City staff did confirm that.

[1:00:44] It was signed by the requisite number.

[1:00:47] So what that means is that in order to approve the rezoning, it will require a two-third

[1:00:55] supermajority vote which is in this case would be seven out of the ten

[1:00:58] members and have to answer any questions. Anybody have any questions about that

[1:01:04] before we get started?

[1:01:07] Okay. So here's just a little bit further folks for those

[1:01:12] that are going to come up and speak. Okay. The comments must be directed to the

[1:01:17] mayor and the Board of Aldermen not to any one individual on the staff or any

[1:01:21] other individual. You need to address them to us and there will be no

[1:01:26] personal attacks being permitted. If you do, I'll ask you to sit down and your time will

[1:01:32] be up. Other than that, you can know what the rest of the rules are. So I will first

[1:01:41] have Ms. Henry do the first reading. Ms. Henry?

[1:01:44] In order to approve an amendment to the official zoning map of the City of Raytown for District

[1:01:50] R1 low density residential to District NC neighborhood commercial filed by the property

[1:01:56] owner Nazrudin Bamami, member Raytown Real Estate Development LLC of Olathe, Kansas, affecting

[1:02:03] the southeastern approximately 2.5 acres of a 5.29-acre parcel of land located at 5348

[1:02:11] Blue Ridge Boulevard within the city of Raytown, Jackson County, Missouri.

[1:02:16] Okay, and I will now open the public hearing to consider an amendment that she just

[1:02:19] read.

[1:02:20] Mr. Van Busker.

[1:02:22] Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

[1:02:23] I just want to make everyone aware that I have had ex parte communication related to this

[1:02:29] matter.

[1:02:30] I've had a number of emails, calls, and personal contacts from people expressing their opinion

[1:02:38] related to this, and I do not have an opinion on it.

[1:02:43] I will reserve that until I hear all the evidence and information presented to us

[1:02:49] before I make any decisions, so I want to make you aware of that.

[1:02:52] Thank you. Now that you've got that started before we have anybody come up to the podium,

[1:02:58] do we have anyone else on the board that has had ex parte, Ms. Crazy, to give you any ex

[1:03:05] parte communication? Yes. Go ahead and get your mic and you start off since you're down there.

[1:03:12] Just at the Beniz town hall, people made me aware of the situation and that's yeah.

[1:03:19] Nobody's contacted you, so.

[1:03:21] Knock knock.

[1:03:22] Miss Phimps.

[1:03:23] I've only had one person that called me, but I only listened.

[1:03:27] And I wanted to make sure I was being fair at the time.

[1:03:30] Like I told him, we didn't have any information.

[1:03:32] Didn't know anything about it.

[1:03:34] And I wanted to be fair to both sides.

[1:03:36] So, yes.

[1:03:37] Thank you, Bill.

[1:03:39] Garza.

[1:03:39] Yes, I have received.

[1:03:40] Microphone, please.

[1:03:43] I have received emails, but I have not responded back

[1:03:46] to them at this point.

[1:03:47] And then also at the town hall meeting, I've had several conversations with individuals around this particular subject when I was actually running for office before I came on board.

[1:03:56] Okay, thank you. Mr. Maher.

[1:03:58] I received emails and phone calls. I've indicated in both formats that I have no opinion on it yet, and I'm open to listening to both sides of the argument.

[1:04:09] Ms. Semerson.

[1:04:11] Thank you.

[1:04:12] I have had emails, phone calls, individual people that talked with me, and I have not.

[1:04:19] I want to hear everything before I make a decision.

[1:04:22] Mr. Ager.

[1:04:24] Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

[1:04:27] Actually, when I was running for office, I had seven different constituents at the

[1:04:30] door telling me that they were against this and didn't want to talk about it.

[1:04:35] And I did talk to them about it since I was running for office at that time.

[1:04:39] I didn't know if I would even be re-elected.

[1:04:42] Since that time, since re-election, I have not had any communication.

[1:04:50] I have done some research on my own, but I've not had any communication since re-election.

[1:04:57] Ms. Hayden?

[1:04:58] I have had some export to a communication with people on both sides of the aisle.

[1:05:02] It will not affect my decision.

[1:05:04] And I explained to them that I was, would make a final decision after it's been presented

[1:05:09] to the Board of Aldermen.

[1:05:10] Thank you.

[1:05:11] Mr. Scott?

[1:05:12] I've had a couple of people come up to me personally asking what my position is and

[1:05:17] I just told them no, I don't have a position until I get all the information and none

[1:05:21] of the conversations involved any particular information just to quick, what do you think

[1:05:26] about this?

[1:05:26] I don't think anything yet.

[1:05:28] I don't believe I've had any emails or phone calls on it though.

[1:05:33] Mr. Walters.

[1:05:34] I've had going back to what Mr. Asier did during the campaign.

[1:05:38] A lot of people talked to me about it.

[1:05:40] And I attended both the planning and zoning commission meetings.

[1:05:43] There were people there who talked to people about it.

[1:05:46] Talked to people on the board, talked to Mr. Hodges about it.

[1:05:51] Without going through it, just a lot of conversations.

[1:05:54] And I'm always open to hear new information.

[1:05:57] And I find everything that everybody tells me to be very enlightening.

[1:06:01] and I thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts with me.

[1:06:05] Thank you much.

[1:06:07] Okay, and I'm going to mention that I, too, have had people walk up to me

[1:06:10] and want to drug over from another business by one of the employees

[1:06:14] to where I was eating breakfast to ask me a question,

[1:06:17] which I gladly told her I don't have an opinion.

[1:06:21] As much as other people try to pretend like I do, I don't.

[1:06:24] I've not heard all the information. I don't even have a vote.

[1:06:27] But I do not have an opinion at this time.

[1:06:30] I if I had a vote if there was a tie, I don't have all the information either

[1:06:35] So we want to make sure everybody's heard and this board is really good about making sure overall

[1:06:41] Making sure that all the information is in

[1:06:45] Before we make a decision

[1:06:47] So with that I'm going to open up the floor

[1:06:51] Mr. Walters just real briefly. I'm looking through our packets and I notice all the information the city has provided us

[1:06:59] which is helpful and enlightening, but I also know that there was also a lot of

[1:07:04] information that was offered into evidence during the planning zoning commissions.

[1:07:07] I don't know if that's been made available to the board.

[1:07:10] I don't have it here in front of me in this packet.

[1:07:13] I think it would be enlightening for the board to have that information shared with them

[1:07:17] because it is written documents that were signed in by the city attorney during the hearing

[1:07:24] so that everybody would have a chance to see it.

[1:07:26] but we could have that added to our packet.

[1:07:28] We're going to have another meeting after this one.

[1:07:30] I see.

[1:07:30] We will.

[1:07:31] OK, so we've got another two weeks to review that.

[1:07:34] We'll see if that's what the board wants.

[1:07:37] Do you need a motion?

[1:07:38] I'll write this minute.

[1:07:39] OK, thank you.

[1:07:41] Mr. Chris Gilbert, would you give us the presentation, please?

[1:07:49] Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

[1:07:50] Members.

[1:07:50] Hang on just a second.

[1:07:51] Yes, Mr. Van Busker.

[1:07:53] Was there additional information in the electronic packet

[1:07:57] that's not in the paper packet. I believe there is. Is that correct?

[1:08:03] Yeah, everybody was given the electronic one also.

[1:08:07] Everybody's got it.

[1:08:07] If we have that, that's what I'm asking.

[1:08:11] All the documents were in an electronic packet that was sent by e-mail.

[1:08:18] Dropbox file.

[1:08:23] Okay, well, there's one that was sent out and everybody's been able to see it.

[1:08:26] So, as Mr. Van Busker said, it's a very large file, and some of the people out here have

[1:08:33] seen it too, so, again, you got it?

[1:08:38] Chris Gilbert, will you do your presentation, please?

[1:08:42] Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

[1:08:43] In relation to the documents referring to, that's the exhibits that were submitted during

[1:08:48] the nine hours of testimony taken before the Planning Commission on April 6th and May 11th.

[1:08:55] Those documents were referred to as being available at the Office of City Clerk

[1:09:00] for review for the benefit of public and they're still out there on the counter

[1:09:03] right now just where they were placed last week.

[1:09:08] Hundreds, approximately 400 pages of documents so it was not something

[1:09:12] that we could feasibly include in the paper copies without killing a lot

[1:09:18] of trees and publishing essentially dictionaries.

[1:09:22] trees. So using the Dropbox, I believe, was what the City Clerk did. I wasn't involved

[1:09:28] in that, but I believe that saves a lot of paper and a lot of trees and was very beneficial.

[1:09:33] So that's what that refers to. Again, before I start with the presentation, I do want

[1:09:41] to state that, again, there was nine hours of testimony taken, lots of—dozens of

[1:09:47] exhibits, probably about two dozen exhibits accepted into the record at those two meetings,

[1:09:53] which were both in drawbacks and on display, and in addition to that, I do want to mention

[1:10:01] also that there were personal tax on staff that occurred during those meetings. I do

[1:10:09] feel there's a need to state that because this board is tasked with running all

[1:10:18] the operations of the city and balancing a lot of different needs. Those needs

[1:10:22] include neighborhood development, those needs include economic development and

[1:10:27] this balancing act and you guys hire staff and the Planning Commission to

[1:10:32] help you make those decisions. So we look at available facts, documents,

[1:10:37] ordinance's general plan when we're crafting our decision and when we make a recommendation

[1:10:43] that's based upon an analysis that we do.

[1:10:48] It's important to point out also that making blatant statements, which we've heard during

[1:10:56] these nine hours of testimony, that the city has not followed its notice procedures

[1:11:02] is not appropriate either and I did state at the last planning commission, I believe

[1:11:06] the first one as well, that we have all the necessary documents showing that the required

[1:11:11] statutory and ordinance requirements regarding notice were met.

[1:11:18] Neighborhood meetings do not have a specific noticing requirement prior to the neighborhood

[1:11:23] meeting, so the process that was used is the one that's been used even prior to the

[1:11:28] time I got here.

[1:11:30] All of the notice requirements related to public hearings, actual official public

[1:11:35] here in Spline Commission City Council. Those all met the required 15-day notice, letters to

[1:11:40] neighbors with 105 feet, public hearing publications, which the City Clerk handles all 15 days prior.

[1:11:48] Everything was done. We have all the documentation. We have photos of the signs being posted on the

[1:11:52] property. Those are only required for Planning Commission by Code, which I have in front of me,

[1:11:57] does not require the Board of Aldermen to be on those signs for their meeting date and time.

[1:12:02] These are all issues that have been brought to our attention as violations of notice procedure.

[1:12:08] Again, I challenge anyone to point out where we have failed to properly follow notice procedure.

[1:12:15] It's very important because that's basically the crux of the whole democratic process involves notice.

[1:12:22] So, now that said, let me move on with the presentation.

[1:12:28] What this hearing is regarding is amending the city's official zoning map on a portion

[1:12:34] of a 5.2 acre tract in this very quiescent portion located at 5348 Blue Ridge Boulevard

[1:12:39] from District R1, Low Density Residential District, NC Neighborhood Commercial.

[1:12:44] The applicant who is here tonight with this team is Nazruddin Bamanee and he's got

[1:12:49] his full team right over here.

[1:12:52] Dana Blay from DBL Architecture is acting as agent also as architect.

[1:12:57] So let me move forward.

[1:13:00] Location Zoning Map.

[1:13:02] And this will make a lot more sense when I get later in the presentation

[1:13:06] to show you when you can see the boundaries.

[1:13:09] But this is the whole 5.2 acre of the Fannie DeHonio State Tract A,

[1:13:14] I believe it is, almost untouched in 100 years since it was subdivided.

[1:13:19] There's one little piece on the very southwest corner

[1:13:22] adjacent to Mr. Moore's property, which was carved off at some point and added to his lot.

[1:13:27] But aside from that, it's the original track from that day.

[1:13:31] Fifty-third street on the north, on the east, is Woodson,

[1:13:35] and with the CVS you can see on there directly to the east of the marked green property,

[1:13:40] and to the south is Blue Ridge Boulevard.

[1:13:43] All of the properties on the south and the west are residential zones.

[1:13:47] To the north, you have the R3 components all related to the Hidden Lake facility.

[1:13:54] The former fitness center, which you can see in the very south end of the blue,

[1:13:58] across 53rd Street, is now a church, been repurposed.

[1:14:02] There are duplex zoning to the east of that and to the west,

[1:14:08] and there's neighborhood commercial zoning north of that,

[1:14:11] and then on the west side of the Hidden Lake, there's more neighborhood commercial.

[1:14:15] On the east side of the subject tract where the CVS is and then all the way north through the Blue Ridge Shopping Center, the McDonald's, the auto repair shops, the car wash, that is all neighborhood commercial as well.

[1:14:26] And then on the south side of the CVS, wrapping all the way around up Blue Ridge, almost to 51st Street, is more R2 duplex zoning.

[1:14:36] So this is a very mixed use area. There's R1, there's R2, there's R3, and there's neighborhood commercial.

[1:14:42] So there's a lot of different uses that come together at 53rd and Woodson, as you can see

[1:14:48] on this.

[1:14:51] There was also some statements made during the months that went on regarding what actually

[1:14:59] happened on the program.

[1:15:00] Property. This was not an old couple selling flowers from their house. This is the 2012 aerial

[1:15:07] photo. This was a major landscape, not landscape, but tree nursery operation, as you can see by

[1:15:16] all the warehouses, greenhouses, warehousing facilities, storage facilities. There's even

[1:15:23] a contractor access off of Whitson Road. You can see the vehicles there loading up.

[1:15:28] This was a major commercial operation, so much so that in the existing land use map done by a third party consultant in 1996,

[1:15:39] they identified the existing land use at that time as red commercial.

[1:15:44] It was so extensive they didn't look at it and say, oh, that's residential. They identify as commercial.

[1:15:48] commercial. And that was not the city doing that as a third party consultant. And here

[1:15:54] you see the Zoom in commercial.

[1:15:58] Now, that being said, coming out of the comprehensive

[1:16:01] plan process in 1996, which when I was here the first time I was not a part of, unfortunately

[1:16:07] I missed that. I was later in the zoning development phase after this was completed.

[1:16:13] The property was R1.

[1:16:17] It's what is sewn today, and if you look, it's yellow for future land use, which is single-family residential.

[1:16:23] Now I'm going to zoom in on it, and you can see it right there outlined in black.

[1:16:27] So at the time the comprehensive plan, which is our last one that was written,

[1:16:33] when the future recommendations were done, it was thought at the time that that would develop as residential,

[1:16:40] And that's what you're seeing here, although it was identified as existing commercial.

[1:16:44] So any statements that this was not a commercial development are incorrect.

[1:16:50] Another important factor to consider, Raytown Street classification map.

[1:16:57] Raytown has four different classifications.

[1:17:03] Everyone that can look at that map and see the green on it, if you're able to, that's

[1:17:09] 350 highway running down the south, middle third from northwest, northeast. That is identified

[1:17:18] as highway. Then there's the next lower tier known as arterial. Those are all the red lines.

[1:17:25] And then below that is the collector. And it's interesting if you look at where this

[1:17:30] property is, and I'll see if we can get to arrow the work here.

[1:17:36] Yep, there it is.

[1:17:36] around the properties completely surrounding the subject property are blue lines.

[1:17:41] It's completely surrounded by what the City's Public Works Department years ago,

[1:17:46] this is 2014-15, identified as collector streets.

[1:17:51] These are not local streets.

[1:17:53] We heard testimony that these streets won't support the traffic that this project could bring.

[1:17:59] But here is almost a 10-year-old document identifying them as collector streets.

[1:18:05] all for them.

[1:18:09] The next diagram and the public works director can speak more to

[1:18:15] this if there are questions for more details later but this is the drainage

[1:18:20] topography in the vicinity proposed project. We had received testimony that

[1:18:26] there were flooding concerns which there we acknowledge there were in the

[1:18:30] the same 53rd Street here, but we had received also complaints from a mile away from this

[1:18:37] property that this would impact their cause flooding on their properties, which are patently

[1:18:44] false because Blue Ridge Boulevard runs along a ridge, so everything on the north side

[1:18:48] is going to go north and not affect the complainants that are a mile away south.

[1:18:53] So again, there was a lot of misinformation put out there in relation to comments on

[1:18:59] project. It's also important to note the applicant tonight is is this public

[1:19:05] hearing is regarding a rezoning request. If this rezoning request is

[1:19:10] ultimately approved, one of the condition approval is they come back

[1:19:14] through the process with their site plan and their conditional use permit for

[1:19:19] approval by the Planning Commission for recommendation and then this body for

[1:19:23] approval. The site plan process will be the nuts and bolts detail where all the

[1:19:30] specifics of the development of the site including retention, access to the public

[1:19:37] streets, screening, buffering, all that gets worked out and the plan that comes

[1:19:42] back should meet all codes ordinance's requirements related to site plan

[1:19:46] design, tonight he's only looking for consideration for rezoning.

[1:19:53] If the rezoning isn't approved, there's no point in spending the enormous amount of money

[1:19:57] that's required for a site plan design process, which is very detailed.

[1:20:01] Just one point to that.

[1:20:03] So we don't have all the answers to the details that there are going to be questions

[1:20:07] about tonight, but again he's not asking for that yet just for the rezoning.

[1:20:13] Another site photos, date stamp photo 2014,

[1:20:18] pull sign in front of the property blue rich nursery

[1:20:22] for sale concrete blocks.

[1:20:24] Again, another example that to go along

[1:20:27] with the third party general plan writer

[1:20:31] that this was a commercial property wasn't just an older

[1:20:34] couple selling flowers from the two buildings

[1:20:37] that are left on the site.

[1:20:38] This was a major commercial operation.

[1:20:44] This is what's left today.

[1:20:47] And it's important to compare that with that.

[1:20:54] You can see, if you can see the arrows there on the overhead,

[1:20:58] the scope and size of that operation right there,

[1:21:02] compared to what's today.

[1:21:04] Because most of the features have been removed

[1:21:06] or they've degraded, including the pole sign's gone.

[1:21:11] Okay, that was from Blue Ridge.

[1:21:13] This is the view from the CVS.

[1:21:15] This would be Whitson looking west toward the two houses

[1:21:18] still remaining on the property.

[1:21:20] You can kind of see the apron and the tracks from where

[1:21:24] the contractor vehicles that you saw in that photo access.

[1:21:27] This is on the north side of the property,

[1:21:30] not looking south toward Blue Ridge,

[1:21:32] but looking kind of southwesterly toward CVS,

[1:21:36] which you could see in the background.

[1:21:40] This, unfortunately, I apologize for the orientation

[1:21:44] of this drawing because I had to make it fit the best I could

[1:21:49] based on what was provided by the applicant.

[1:21:52] You'll see the R1, you need to turn it

[1:21:55] about 60 degrees in your mind.

[1:21:58] The R1 is everything north and west of the proposed rezone.

[1:22:01] The NC proposed is the project, which is approximately half of the entire 5.2 acres.

[1:22:09] So on the east on here is Blue Ridge, on the north is Whitson for comparison.

[1:22:16] Now zooming in on the proposed project, this is what they initially proposed to us.

[1:22:22] This is what the Planning Commission saw.

[1:22:25] There's an inline building, the pumps facing towards Blue Ridge to the south and across

[1:22:31] the street into the residential.

[1:22:34] One of the conditions in the recommendation was that they turned the building and the

[1:22:41] applicant was asked by the Planning Commission point blank if they could do it and they

[1:22:46] were honest.

[1:22:47] They said they weren't sure.

[1:22:49] Well, based on the comments that were received at the Planning Commission meeting,

[1:22:53] this next slide right here, this slide was not, and I'm stating this for the record,

[1:22:59] this slide was not viewed by the Planning Commission.

[1:23:02] This was submitted June 1 to show how the building could be turned to face CVS

[1:23:06] and not impact the adjacent residential.

[1:23:11] And I want to enter the drawing into the record for the city clerk so she can distribute it for your review.

[1:23:27] Now let's dwell on this for a little bit.

[1:23:30] What the condition asked was that the convenience store be turned and faced toward CVS, which is what this shows.

[1:23:40] It's approximately 6,000 square feet of retail space.

[1:23:42] to all the other spaces you see on there will be will be lease spaces for different types

[1:23:47] of businesses, whether it's a bookstore, whatever.

[1:23:53] There was a lot of testimony from residents at the two Planning Commission meetings.

[1:23:58] They are absolutely concerned about liquor stores, about different types of businesses

[1:24:04] they don't want to see in their neighborhood and just wanted to point out.

[1:24:10] And the applicant did agree that that's something that they could personally privately restrict on their own.

[1:24:18] But we didn't ask them to do that.

[1:24:19] And that's something that you'll probably hear more about tonight.

[1:24:22] This plan that they submitted June 1 shows at the north end the R1 property is having now trails and walking paths.

[1:24:34] So they're looking to add some amenities to benefit the neighborhood while at the same

[1:24:40] time fitting their project into the original planned rezone area.

[1:24:46] Again, this was not viewed by the Planning Commission.

[1:24:49] This is their response to what was heard at the Planning Commission meetings.

[1:24:54] And that's why I enter this in the record as an exhibit just now.

[1:25:01] Now, unfortunately, that is what we received.

[1:25:04] We did not receive revised drawings of the facade,

[1:25:09] but we'll expect them to hold up to the same standards

[1:25:12] they presented in their original plan,

[1:25:14] which is a very modern strip model facade.

[1:25:19] This is the original that was provided

[1:25:21] for Planning Commission here.

[1:25:26] Okay.

[1:25:38] Again, I went over all the noticing requirements.

[1:25:40] All the publication dates were met, all the 15-day noticing to property owners within 185 feet.

[1:25:48] And it's important to point out that if you look at this particular drawing, the entire boundary,

[1:25:56] the noticing to neighbors because it wasn't clear in the ordinance,

[1:26:00] went to everyone with 185 feet of the entire 5.2 acres.

[1:26:05] The protest petition that the city received,

[1:26:08] The protest petition is very specific that it's 185 feet from the boundary of the rezone.

[1:26:16] So that's 185 feet of just the 2.5 acres that's to be developed, rezone to NC for development.

[1:26:25] So we still went over every property owner in the protest petition, verified them against Jackson County records.

[1:26:31] They were all signed, notarized, and verified that over 30 percent, which is the standard

[1:26:37] in the ordinance, was indeed reached.

[1:26:39] At the 30 percent market, it doesn't matter what percent they have, it's a valid petition.

[1:26:44] So they did submit that.

[1:26:55] It's important to note, April 6, the Planning Commission, at their first hearing on this,

[1:27:02] where testimony was taken for four hours.

[1:27:06] Of course, we heard a lot of testimony related to the rezone when the case was actually on

[1:27:14] amending their land use plan.

[1:27:16] The Planning Commission, following those four hours of testimony, unanimously voted not to

[1:27:25] amend their land use plan from single-family residential to commercial.

[1:27:29] It's important to note that the Planning Commission is the keeper of the Comprehensive

[1:27:32] a comprehensive plan in Missouri and that is not a board approval thing.

[1:27:36] So they agreed or not agreed, they voted not to amend their comprehensive plan.

[1:27:40] That's significant because when I get to the,

[1:27:52] let's see here,

[1:27:58] well in the staff, in the staff board that you have,

[1:28:00] there is a reference to whether the rezoning request

[1:28:05] is an agreement with the comprehensive plan.

[1:28:08] Since the Planning Commission declined to amend this plan, it is not.

[1:28:13] The other factors that are in there regarding availability of services, regarding impact on the schools, impact on police services,

[1:28:26] even though we did take a lot of testimony from the public that that would increase crime issues,

[1:28:33] It is a commercial area.

[1:28:36] It fits in with the commercial area.

[1:28:38] There is a, what's known in the retail world as a small box retail store immediately across

[1:28:43] the street.

[1:28:45] Another document I want to reference, which was not part of the Planning Commission hearing,

[1:28:50] but I can reference it because it was entered at the Planning Commission hearing as an

[1:28:54] exhibit.

[1:28:54] Exhibit F, and that was done because we had an appraisal submitted to us by an

[1:29:02] analysis, the highest and best use, and that was submitted so soon before publication of

[1:29:08] the Planning Commission packet that we were not able to study it or make any kind of opinion

[1:29:13] recommendation on it.

[1:29:15] But in the meantime, we've had a chance to look at it, and there are two points I want

[1:29:22] to make.

[1:29:27] Page 50 of the exhibit F references financially feasible for retail.

[1:29:36] And the statement, I found that the subject's market, while undersupplied,

[1:29:42] has and will see future positive impacts in market fundamentals,

[1:29:46] given increasing household income as well as the presence of a new retail stock.

[1:29:50] Given the physical and legally possible use of speculative development

[1:29:54] the Multitenant Retail Shopping Center is considered to be marginally feasible.

[1:30:01] On page 52,

[1:30:05] this is regarding the use of it, of the property, a single family residential.

[1:30:10] Based on this analysis, appears the current market sale price for single family residential

[1:30:15] of 201,248 is not supportive of current construction costs of similar homes and, quote, and in parentheses

[1:30:23] they have 330,000. It appears that the lack of feasibility in the market is around $129,000.

[1:30:30] For this reason, I infer that single family residential development is not financially feasible at this time.

[1:30:38] That's significant because that is the statement I made at the very first Planning Commission meeting

[1:30:43] that we have had owners of the property when it auctioned in 2019 to an out-of-state developer on the East Coast.

[1:30:52] They attempted to work with numerous developers in the Kansas City area to develop that property residentially.

[1:30:58] after three years he gave up trying and he sold the property to the current

[1:31:04] applicant in late summer fall as best we can tell of 2022, which is last year.

[1:31:15] And staff believes that, again, based on all the evidence that's been presented,

[1:31:22] you'll hear the neighborhood speak next,

[1:31:27] but based on the evidence that's been presented,

[1:31:29] you look at what's likely to happen there.

[1:31:35] It's known for R1, it's not likely from the analysis,

[1:31:38] there's gonna be R1 there,

[1:31:40] so it's gonna come down to what is the city

[1:31:43] going to be willing to permit there?

[1:31:47] Is it going to be vacant for a long time,

[1:31:50] or is it gonna actually be put to use?

[1:31:52] And that's the decision that has to be made and that's not my decision to make

[1:31:56] I'm just giving you all the facts and information and

[1:32:04] Based upon that mr. Mayor, I have a number of

[1:32:11] Conditions of approval. Do you want me to address those now or do you want to wait for me to address?

[1:32:15] So it's we're gonna take a ten minute break until I'm back

[1:32:18] I want you to do that and then we will move on to people

[1:32:23] Thank you, sir.

[1:32:25] I'm going to take a ten minute break and be back in here at, let's just go ahead and make it 8.45.

[1:32:32] And it's 8.32 now.

[1:32:37] Keep it very much.

[1:32:39] Not you, them.

[1:32:44] Okay, we are back in session at 8.46 p.m.

[1:32:49] So we will continue first with the conditions so they're read into the record, Chris.

[1:33:03] Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

[1:33:04] I was going to use my slide again but it looks like it's already been switched over for the

[1:33:08] applicant so I'll do this with the how to benefit slides.

[1:33:11] There's a couple other points that you want to touch on before I do that and I apologize

[1:33:15] for that.

[1:33:16] I'm getting confused by the double-sided nature of this huge stack of paper.

[1:33:23] Detrimental effects to nearby properties, I want to address that.

[1:33:28] Even the lowest form of development in a single family home has an impact on the

[1:33:32] neighborhood when it's built. It's unavoidable. There's carbon footprint, there's neighbors,

[1:33:37] there's more people, more traffic. As a result of Raytown's rapid residential growth from

[1:33:44] the 50s through the 70s, the commercial that we have in Raytown and economic development,

[1:33:49] as I referred to previously, is something that this board needs to balance and everything

[1:33:55] else. Commercial occurred in small strips along 350 Highway and then other areas that

[1:34:01] with the exception of downtown where there's kind of a broader area.

[1:34:06] In traveling the city during this process and looking at these commercial strips, there

[1:34:12] is many, many, many, many areas where commercial, even Long 350 Highway, directly abuts residential

[1:34:18] behind it.

[1:34:19] It is a common occurrence to Raytown because we're 98% built out when you consider cemeteries.

[1:34:24] Other things are not likely to be anything else.

[1:34:27] There's not much available land left.

[1:34:29] So, if the city does want to move forward with economic development opportunities,

[1:34:34] you've got to look at the few pieces that are left and all these pieces have some kind

[1:34:38] of residential adjoining component to them.

[1:34:41] And so, this is going to come up with every single one of those pieces

[1:34:44] if there's a proposal like this.

[1:34:48] It's just the nature of the manner in which the city developed.

[1:34:53] If you look at it like Overland Park, for example,

[1:34:55] You've got big, huge, wide areas, you incorporate another 1,000 acres at will.

[1:35:00] You can put commercial notes wherever you want or along major thoroughfares because you can

[1:35:06] design it better.

[1:35:07] But when you're confined boundary, you can't grow anymore, you're 90% built, you're extremely

[1:35:13] limited in opportunities.

[1:35:17] So wherever commercials put now, it's going to have an impact on the joining residential

[1:35:22] unavoidable.

[1:35:23] And what we can do through the site plan process is we can address some of those unavoidable concerns

[1:35:29] by enforcing buffering, enforcing screening, enforcing light standards

[1:35:35] to make sure that we don't throw annoying light on neighbors, those kinds of things.

[1:35:40] And also by appropriate traffic regulations,

[1:35:43] which the applicant who's here tonight has their traffic engineer with them

[1:35:47] who is going to talk about that and did a plant commission as well.

[1:35:55] Length of time of vacancy, the property was operated by our records,

[1:36:01] supposedly longer from 1974 to 2015 as the Blue Ridge Nursery.

[1:36:06] It has not had a licensed business since, so it's been vacant now for eight years.

[1:36:11] And here's an opportunity for a viable use on the property.

[1:36:18] Consideration of, well, you'll hear from Public Safety on Traffic in such from the applicant

[1:36:25] shortly.

[1:36:27] All right, then do staff recommendations.

[1:36:31] And these are all contained in the draft ordinance that is included in your packets.

[1:36:42] Staff does recommend approval of this rezone request affecting the southeastern most 2.5

[1:36:49] acres of the 2.5.29 acre parcel land of 5348 Blue Ridge Boulevard in the city of

[1:36:57] Raytown, Jackson County, Missouri, more properly described in section two of the

[1:37:00] ordinance, and that is as Fannie DeHoney estate track day except I'm going to

[1:37:05] details of the degrees and so on that's there but that's all in section

[1:37:09] two.

[1:37:12] In a manner consistent with the general design concept provided by the

[1:37:16] applicant and that's the updated site layout that as a general concept, the one

[1:37:23] that is dated June 1st, has modified by the following conditions of approval.

[1:37:30] Number one, performance zoning shall be applied to this rezone.

[1:37:35] Establishing an 18 month timeframe from the date of approval of the rezoning ordinance

[1:37:39] within this timeframe shall occur approval of the conditional use permit

[1:37:43] for the fuel station component, approval of the final site plan issuance of building permits,

[1:37:48] and the start of project construction. This timeframe shall be extended by factors outside

[1:37:53] of the applicant's control, including actions taken by government that prevent progress.

[1:37:59] Should construction not commence by the end of this 18 month period,

[1:38:03] the Planning Commission may publish a notice, conduct a public hearing for the purpose

[1:38:06] of determining whether or not the change in zoning continues to be in the public interest

[1:38:11] and can take an action to recommend to the Board of Aldermen

[1:38:14] that extend the time of performance to a specified date,

[1:38:17] remove the time of performance section from this rezoning ordinance,

[1:38:22] or rezone the subject land to another specific district.

[1:38:27] Item 2, applicant shall apply for conditional use permit

[1:38:31] for the fuel station component along with the final site plan

[1:38:34] for the project for public hearing review.

[1:38:38] Item three, applicants shall rotate the convenience store and fuel pumps 90 degrees from the submitted plan to instead face Woodson Road and the CVS across the street.

[1:38:47] And that's what's reflecting the June 1st version.

[1:38:51] Raytown has no convenience stores with pumps, even those located next to residential areas that face directly toward residences.

[1:39:01] Number four, applicants shall restrict convenience store hours operation to within the 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. time frame.

[1:39:13] I had some input today that that might be requested by the applicant when they do their presentation to be considered to be modified somewhat.

[1:39:22] But that's what the ordinance says, that we recommend a condition that we're proposing.

[1:39:26] Number five, applicants shall provide the required screening buffer on the south

[1:39:31] and west sides of the project consistent with the NC Neighbor Commercial District bulk screening requirements.

[1:39:37] And if you look at that revised June 1st plan, they do show the 30-foot required buffer

[1:39:45] when you have an NC adjacent to any kind of R-Zone.

[1:39:49] And that is reflected on that revised drawing.

[1:39:52] Number six, the remainder of the subject property not included

[1:39:56] in the requested rezone application,

[1:39:59] which is approximately half the entire lot,

[1:40:01] shall remain R1 low-density residential.

[1:40:06] Mr. Mayor, those are the condition approval.

[1:40:10] Should the ordinance be approved?

[1:40:12] All right, thank you very much.

[1:40:15] So at this point, we'll move on to the presentation

[1:40:19] by your group. Hi. Introduce yourself again and let

[1:40:29] us know what you get. Make sure you push at the bottom and make the agreement. Here you go.

[1:40:34] My name is Stephanie Hazelton. I'm the attorney for the applicant. I'm here today with the applicant, Kevin Bimani, who's done business in Raytown for the last nine years and currently has two stores.

[1:40:48] I'm here with Dana Blay, the architect who did the drawings and part of the presentation

[1:40:56] that we're putting on today.

[1:40:58] I'm here with Kristin, who is the traffic engineer who will address some issues, and

[1:41:06] Bob Wallin, he moved, who is the listing broker or agent for Block & Company for

[1:41:12] the Center.

[1:41:13] And they should all be able to cover several topics.

[1:41:16] What

[1:41:19] else do you have for us?

[1:41:24] The applicant is proposing a $4 million shopping center at the

[1:41:40] 5348 Blue Ridge Boulevard that will be approximately 14,000 square feet.

[1:41:46] The shopping center facade will be stucco and stone.

[1:41:51] At one end, there will be a convenience store market.

[1:41:55] We're going to talk in detail about that.

[1:41:57] There will also be four gas pumps.

[1:42:00] At the other end, there will be a drive-through.

[1:42:02] There will be about six or seven stores in the location.

[1:42:17] We wanted to start out by addressing some of the things we've heard at the various

[1:42:22] meetings that have been totally inaccurate to make sure that we're all on the same

[1:42:27] page.

[1:42:28] Our theme tonight is myth busters.

[1:42:30] trees.

[1:42:36] Big topic at all of the meetings was the trees.

[1:42:42] Here's a drawing and you

[1:42:44] can see the existing trees that will be left. You see in the corners there's

[1:42:51] pictures of the existing trees that will be left and in fact no trees will

[1:42:57] be cut down. At the very front there may be one or two but let's continue on.

[1:43:05] These trees are staying. These trees are staying.

[1:43:09] These trees are staying. These trees are staying.

[1:43:14] Like I said, all the trees are staying except for maybe one or two in the very front.

[1:43:20] There are beautiful trees there. It beautifies the property.

[1:43:23] There's no reason to remove the trees, and we never intended to remove trees.

[1:43:28] And there have been a lot of impassioned people who want to talk about the trees,

[1:43:33] want to make sure nobody's worried. The trees are staying. Second, walkability.

[1:43:41] There was a lot of testimony that the area is not walkable, and I agree it's

[1:43:46] not walkable.

[1:43:49] It's going to be because we're putting in sidewalks and walking

[1:43:53] trails. This is a drawing. It shows you all the brown is where you're going

[1:44:00] have either sidewalk or walking trail. You're going to have a retention pond. You're going

[1:44:09] to have, remember, over two and a half acres, almost park-like behind the shopping center

[1:44:17] development. You're going to have, and I'll show you now, here is a walk. You're the

[1:44:28] walkable development that my client is proposing.

[1:45:03] You're seeing the drive-through side of the shopping center right there.

[1:45:32] As we discussed at the city planning meeting,

[1:45:35] there will be benches

[1:45:37] along the walkways,

[1:45:45] and we think the retention pond will actually be a nice water feature.

[1:45:49] That's located in the residential area, but it will also help solve some of the neighbors' issues with water.

[1:45:56] They were concerned about the concrete and the water runoff,

[1:46:02] and that's what it's going to look like.

[1:46:03] You

[1:46:21] can see these people are not walking that quickly but you're having a chance to see the walk.

[1:47:05] Walk is finished.

[1:47:08] Next, traffic study.

[1:47:11] There were challenges to the traffic study because one

[1:47:20] of the witnesses testified he had not seen counters.

[1:47:23] So he wasn't convinced that really any traffic study had been done.

[1:47:27] Our traffic engineer has responded to that.

[1:47:32] She used a camera system, which was much more accurate.

[1:47:37] If you look at these pages to provide, there's video,

[1:47:43] and she can explain in detail how they do the count,

[1:47:47] but the count is accurate tax

[1:47:59] revenue.

[1:48:01] There was testimony at one of the prior hearings

[1:48:04] from someone who does tax preparation in Raytown and who represents convenience in liquor stores.

[1:48:11] And her testimony was that she believes tax revenues being understated

[1:48:17] based on her experience because Raytown doesn't audit. Our point is that our client,

[1:48:25] I don't know about anybody else, our client does not understate tax revenues.

[1:48:29] his stores paid about $188,000 in sales tax in 2022.

[1:48:37] This project, particularly with the gas and the additional retailers,

[1:48:42] will generate many hundreds of thousands of sales tax revenue,

[1:48:47] which I think is an important factor for any city.

[1:48:52] Underground storage tanks.

[1:48:55] I've done a lot of underground storage tank litigation over the years.

[1:48:58] I'm familiar with the underground storage tank insurance fund, petroleum tank insurance.

[1:49:07] There's a requirement that you have this insurance.

[1:49:11] There are tests that you're running all the time to make sure there's no leakage.

[1:49:18] The state inspects and you give the reports.

[1:49:24] And there's a procedure, if there's a leak, they cover the clean up, but leaks are rare.

[1:49:31] And the operator pays a $10,000 deductible.

[1:49:36] And if you let your insurance lapse, the penalty is $10,000 a day.

[1:49:41] So there's a big incentive to keep your insurance in place.

[1:49:45] Aside from the fact that they're always checking.

[1:49:47] There was, hold on, a location that I guess is closed that used to be a car wash close by and that was brought up at the last meeting.

[1:50:02] And I called the state because there was some concern, you know, what about this location?

[1:50:07] We don't need any more underground storage tanks.

[1:50:09] I called the state.

[1:50:11] There was one tank at that location.

[1:50:13] It's been closed since 2021.

[1:50:16] There never was a claim, there never was a leak.

[1:50:20] The tank was pumped out and I have all those records if somebody is curious.

[1:50:28] But I will say that the tanks, the gas part of this is projected in the feasibility

[1:50:34] study because I don't think you have a lot of gas stations close by to do a million

[1:50:41] million dollars in gasoline sales per year.

[1:50:45] I need everybody in the audience to stop. That's not necessary. Understand?

[1:50:53] That's what I was talking about earlier. It's enough.

[1:50:58] A million dollars in gasoline sales each year at this location,

[1:51:02] and 250,000 in diesel sales at this location.

[1:51:06] So it's a very viable station.

[1:51:10] And that is another source of income.

[1:51:17] Next argument we heard, not in my backyard.

[1:51:21] All kinds of people got up and said,

[1:51:23] you're going to put this in Raytown because, you know,

[1:51:28] nobody else would let this happen in their city.

[1:51:31] And this is going to be terrible.

[1:51:34] So we took just, it's not hard to find examples,

[1:51:38] but we took examples from cities, surrounding cities that are centers that don't look as nice or are comparable,

[1:51:48] but probably most of these don't look as nice.

[1:51:51] And they're not in ray challenge.

[1:51:54] So I want you to know that there is not any negative about this shopping center,

[1:52:01] which will be a beautiful shopping center.

[1:52:03] You'll see in the video we'll be showing in a few minutes.

[1:52:06] It's not insult to the city of Raytown, and in fact it's my understanding that it would

[1:52:16] be the first new shopping center built in this city in the last 20 years.

[1:52:22] So I think that's something to think about.

[1:52:24] This center, Kansas City, Missouri, pretty close to my house, and backs up on residential.

[1:52:30] This center is Olathe.

[1:52:40] Okay?

[1:52:40] Ours will look as good or better.

[1:52:43] This center

[1:52:46] is Overland Park.

[1:52:51] Once again, our center will look as good or better.

[1:52:59] Okay?

[1:53:00] This center,

[1:53:09] Kansas City, Missouri, also not far from my house,

[1:53:13] backs up to residential.

[1:53:14] Central,

[1:53:16] this center,

[1:53:25] and we need Bob, hold on, Shull Creek, okay, Shull Creek, ours will

[1:53:34] look at least as good or better.

[1:53:37] This center, Bob, Oberlin Park,

[1:53:44] this center, the summit, actually looks pretty bad.

[1:53:50] This center.

[1:53:53] If you've got somebody that's going to be helping you, they need to be up here and introduced

[1:53:57] also.

[1:53:58] And I haven't done it from the audience either.

[1:54:00] If anybody else can, they can't either.

[1:54:01] Okay.

[1:54:02] So they need to be up here.

[1:54:03] Well, I think we're done with that, but my point is it's not an insult, it's not

[1:54:09] a bad project, it's not an ugly project, it's an asset.

[1:54:14] Raytown is not being discriminated against.

[1:54:17] Okay.

[1:54:18] The biggest of all, liquor store.

[1:54:21] No matter how many times we've said there will not be a liquor store at this center,

[1:54:26] no matter how many times we said we'll do lease restrictions, no liquor stores,

[1:54:31] no tobacco shops, no adult stores, no vape shops.

[1:54:39] Okay, I want to tell you about the store because I think there's a massive misunderstanding.

[1:54:44] In this store, there will be a restaurant kitchen.

[1:54:51] There will be fried chicken made with fresh chicken, fresh, not frozen.

[1:54:56] Battered and fried every day.

[1:54:59] Burritos, mac and cheese, corn dogs, potato wedges, fried okra,

[1:55:04] freshly baked donuts every single day.

[1:55:10] There will be a deli, you'll see on the drawing,

[1:55:12] where there will be sandwich meats and cheeses, sliced to order.

[1:55:16] There will be a meat slicer, potato salad, coleslaw, baked beans, bean salad.

[1:55:23] There will be an ice cream section similar to a Baskin Robbins.

[1:55:28] In fact, we've talked to Baskin Robbins.

[1:55:31] And there will be at least 15 flavors of ice cream for cones or cups.

[1:55:36] So it'll be a deal where you walk up.

[1:55:38] You have the bends of the ice cream.

[1:55:41] You get your ice cream cone or your ice cream cup, pay for it,

[1:55:48] grocery products.

[1:55:51] There will be, this is the list, canned goods, soups, vegetables, frozen foods.

[1:55:57] I don't have to read all these, look at the list.

[1:56:04] You'll have fresh, I want to emphasize fresh fruits and vegetables.

[1:56:08] Okay.

[1:56:11] There will be a lot of people I believe walking to this place to buy their groceries.

[1:56:15] eggs, cheese flour, sugar, candy juice, coffee tea, condiments, it will also be

[1:56:24] laundry detergent of the normal things you would expect, diapers, wipes. Okay, here

[1:56:33] is the current rendering of the inside of the store. I wish I could make it even

[1:56:39] bigger but you will see that you walk in and you can see the deli, you can see

[1:56:46] the ice cream, you can see the kitchen area,

[1:56:54] you can see the beverage station.

[1:56:59] So

[1:56:59] the percentage of alcohol sales projected now of course you take in the

[1:57:04] fuel I mean it's going to be minuscule but if you take out the fuel you're

[1:57:08] still projecting less than 20 percent you know probably 10 to 20 percent range

[1:57:15] of the sales of this store.

[1:57:17] It is not a liquor store.

[1:57:19] It's never been proposed to be a liquor store.

[1:57:22] And I hope people stop saying that.

[1:57:26] Crime.

[1:57:28] Now, we had a lot of testimony from neighbors

[1:57:31] about a lot of crime problems currently

[1:57:33] in their neighborhood.

[1:57:35] We heard some horrible stories.

[1:57:37] One man had someone actually breaking into his house

[1:57:41] and he was pushing the door.

[1:57:43] The guy was coming in and coming in.

[1:57:44] And he called the police and he said it took the police 30 minutes to get there, half an

[1:57:49] hour.

[1:57:50] We had another person testify that someone was walking through the neighborhood shooting

[1:57:54] a gun into backyards.

[1:57:57] And then he called the police.

[1:57:58] It took them forever to get there.

[1:58:00] And then apparently the guy had thrown away the gun, so they didn't even arrest him.

[1:58:06] There were other people who testified that they felt unsafe and they just didn't feel

[1:58:12] the police were prompt and responding. My client has had an amazing, amazing relationship

[1:58:19] with the police department here. The police come in just minutes whenever there's a call.

[1:58:26] There has not been major problems, you know, but if we call for loitering, if we call

[1:58:32] for panhandling, if we call for shoplifting, the police are there. And the police have

[1:58:38] even started a program, apparently, where they come at night and check everything out

[1:58:44] and then they'll leave a little tag or something that shows that they've been there.

[1:58:50] It is phenomenal.

[1:58:53] My point is that if this facility is there, I'm assuming it won't take a half an hour

[1:59:00] for the police to get to a call there because our experience has been its minutes.

[1:59:05] These

[1:59:10] are the crime statistics that were provided.

[1:59:12] There was a comparison, which, you know,

[1:59:15] I mean, there are definitely some calls,

[1:59:17] but we are fewer calls at the other stores than the CVS.

[1:59:23] So I don't see this as a major problem.

[1:59:26] I'm hoping it's going to be an asset.

[1:59:28] We will also have a security team.

[1:59:31] We'll sort of see how it works,

[1:59:33] but we'll have security guards patrolling

[1:59:38] if we deem necessary, particularly because we're going to be closed, you know, at night

[1:59:45] we're not going to be 24 hours. We are asking as a condition that on Friday and Saturday

[1:59:50] night we can stay open until 11 instead of 10. But other than that it's 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.

[2:00:01] Financial failure. That was the other theme we heard repeatedly. And it makes you cry.

[2:00:09] I mean, repeatedly, people testified that no business survives in Raytown. It's a place where businesses go to die.

[2:00:20] Don't invest your money here. You will lose your money. There are too many failing businesses.

[2:00:26] There are too many empty shopping centers. So don't do it.

[2:00:31] Well, I say if you have a person who's going to develop a nice project, if you have lenders

[2:00:38] who are going to loan them money, if you don't have new construction, if you're going to be

[2:00:43] left with over two and a half acres of beautiful green space adjacent to the shopping center,

[2:00:50] if you're going to get a high quality first rate center, let them take a chance.

[2:00:56] Let them take a chance.

[2:00:57] I mean, don't say no just because you think everything fails in Raytown.

[2:01:03] My client does not believe that.

[2:01:06] So we hope that you will move forward with it.

[2:01:12] This is a video of what the center will look like in the turn position and

[2:01:25] I want you to

[2:01:26] compare it with the other centers I showed you which are all well-occupied, nice centers

[2:01:33] and tell me which one looks better to you.

[2:02:49] I wish I knew how to speed it up.

[2:02:51] Oh, it's speeding.

[2:02:53] Okay, good.

[2:03:37] And I think the reason that you don't see many cars in the parking lots is you can tell that there's no product in the store.

[2:03:44] But that is it.

[2:03:52] Any questions for me or the members of the team?

[2:03:59] Thank you Mr. Mayor. I just have a couple of questions. So I noticed the cobblestone sidewalk.

[2:04:08] I don't know if that was cobblestone or wood chips. I know, I'm just wondering. I don't know if that's cobblestone or wood chips.

[2:04:13] You'd have to ask Dana that, but okay.

[2:04:16] So it is or isn't going to be cobblestone?

[2:04:19] It's not cobblestone.

[2:04:20] Why did you show me a picture of it?

[2:04:22] Again, if you're going to speak, you need to be up here at the microphone.

[2:04:24] It's wood chips. It's wood chips is what you can put the picture. It will either be sidewalk or wood chips or mulch.

[2:04:31] It won't be cobblestone. We could talk about cobblestone.

[2:04:34] My eyes to see me, but cobblestone is very difficult to keep up. How about the covered parking?

[2:04:40] What do you mean? How about the coverage?

[2:04:42] I'm sure there's a picture of a covered parking. It looked like you see it in a gas station, but it's...

[2:04:48] This is Dana Blay from Leewood, Kansas.

[2:04:50] This is the canopy where the gas pumps are.

[2:04:54] Oh, it's going to be a gas station too?

[2:04:56] Yes.

[2:04:57] It doesn't look like a gas station.

[2:04:58] That's the turn.

[2:04:59] It's like a parking area.

[2:05:00] That's the idea.

[2:05:02] So the gas station is off to the north on the CVS side now.

[2:05:08] All right, I just, when I looked at it,

[2:05:10] I didn't say that was obviously a gas station.

[2:05:13] I'm wondering what else that would be.

[2:05:14] Let me interrupt you just a minute.

[2:05:16] would you introduce yourself?

[2:05:18] I know that you've testified a lot of times,

[2:05:20] not everybody here knows who you are.

[2:05:22] Okay, I thought I did.

[2:05:23] Dana Blay with DBL Architecture, Leewood, Kansas.

[2:05:27] So if you guys stay there, as people might want to ask questions,

[2:05:30] I need you both there if you're going to talk.

[2:05:32] You have to be there where it can be recorded.

[2:05:34] And I apologize if you think that that's cobblestone.

[2:05:37] It's a texture that comes with the program.

[2:05:41] that that I've seen a lot of we're thinking that maybe it would be you know

[2:05:46] look just like some kind of I will just mention one thing one of the most

[2:05:50] attractive buildings in right town like out of flowers it's like a lot of

[2:05:56] shopping centers today it's a church so there are and I see and and even

[2:06:02] Olathe spit moles that are vacant you know and again that's something to

[2:06:07] that are also it is a reality churches are popping up on every almost all of our

[2:06:14] shopping centers so it is are you saying you want a restriction that it cannot be

[2:06:20] oh okay I'm just saying that there's a saturation point in certain areas for

[2:06:27] example Olathe is a very healthy area and so you would assume if you built an

[2:06:32] Olathe is going to work.

[2:06:34] But I've seen entire strip malls that are vacant.

[2:06:38] And so just because it's built in Olathe,

[2:06:41] in a very popular area where people

[2:06:43] probably have a higher income than Raytown,

[2:06:46] it sometimes fails.

[2:06:48] So when people question whether or not,

[2:06:52] and from what I saw, it looked really good,

[2:06:55] except I didn't see it right.

[2:06:57] I thought it was out of the tone.

[2:06:58] And I thought it was a canopy, it's really a gas station.

[2:07:01] and it was a little deceptive to me, that's all.

[2:07:03] Well, we can show it again.

[2:07:04] We're no much more deceptive.

[2:07:06] Mr. Walter.

[2:07:10] Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

[2:07:11] I do have some questions.

[2:07:13] The 14,000 square feet, is that the size of the store

[2:07:16] or is that the size of the entire complex?

[2:07:18] That's the entire shopping center, the stores.

[2:07:20] Okay, how big is the store?

[2:07:22] That particular store.

[2:07:24] The gasoline station convenience slash convenience store.

[2:07:26] Convenience store is about 5,600 square feet.

[2:07:29] 5,600 square feet.

[2:07:32] You didn't give a dollar amount that you anticipate made from sales in that place?

[2:07:37] I did.

[2:07:38] You owned a few percentages.

[2:07:41] Well, I said a hundred and a thousand percent.

[2:07:41] Well, I said a hundred and a thousand percent of alcohol.

[2:07:44] And I've seen similar stores to this.

[2:07:47] In fact, one owned by the applicant on a holiday where it was a steady stream of people

[2:07:52] going in and they weren't coming out eating.

[2:07:55] They were buying, and they're buying alcohol.

[2:07:57] And most of the store space is used for alcohol.

[2:08:00] No, but that's the point. I mean, those are not liquor stores, but this is a market.

[2:08:07] So it's really, really not a liquor store. Those other stores don't have kitchen, don't have restaurant items,

[2:08:15] don't have deli items, don't have ice cream, don't have extensive grocery.

[2:08:20] The whole complex is 14,000 square feet.

[2:08:23] Yes.

[2:08:23] Okay. And what did you say, the part that was the gasoline station?

[2:08:30] 5600, grocery.

[2:08:32] No, we didn't say discount smokes and we didn't say alcohol, but it's 5600.

[2:08:37] 5600, yes.

[2:08:38] Okay. I think you're painting with a really broad brush when you say that you're going to have very little alcohol sales there when you don't have to have a lot of space for alcohol, as opposed to the other things.

[2:08:51] You're talking about food that people can buy, but that's actually at the other end, isn't it?

[2:08:56] No. I was talking about this convenience store, the things that food items I listed, this convenience store.

[2:09:03] That's what I'm saying. We'll have the deli. We'll have the ice cream.

[2:09:07] I mean, there will be other businesses.

[2:09:09] Other businesses, I understand that.

[2:09:11] But no, I was only talking.

[2:09:12] You're going to push all this into 5600.

[2:09:14] That's right. That's right. The plan shows it. That's the plan.

[2:09:17] I saw the pictures, but that's not really the plan.

[2:09:20] My other question has to do with when we build the houses,

[2:09:24] the houses that are promised to be done,

[2:09:25] how many homes do you think can be built there?

[2:09:27] You're talking about the residential area?

[2:09:30] Yes, ma'am.

[2:09:31] I don't think there's been a decision to build houses.

[2:09:35] I think it depends right now.

[2:09:37] It's a beautiful green space.

[2:09:40] And I think you're talking several years down the road

[2:09:44] when we can look and see what might be options.

[2:09:47] I know that.

[2:09:48] Maybe it won't be developed.

[2:09:49] Maybe it will be a park-like setting for many years.

[2:09:52] Maybe it will be developed residentially,

[2:09:54] but we have done different drawings to decide,

[2:09:58] but there's no planning side.

[2:10:01] This is why I actually had to turn to Mr. Gilbert if that's okay.

[2:10:05] Great.

[2:10:07] There was a dollar store, a dollar general,

[2:10:12] I believe, built on 63rd Street next to Blue Ridge Elementary School,

[2:10:16] and there were some homes built along with it.

[2:10:18] And I believe that they had to be built within a certain timeframe as part of the agreement on that. Am I correct?

[2:10:26] Because they went up pretty darn quick when the building went up.

[2:10:31] Go ahead.

[2:10:34] Mr. Mayor, I have a very short answer to that. That was way before my time back here.

[2:10:38] Okay.

[2:10:39] That was around 2015-16 timeframe.

[2:10:42] I don't have an answer for you.

[2:10:43] That's in my ward. And I know a lot of people live there.

[2:10:45] And they've told me that that was part of the agreement that they had to get the houses built at the same time.

[2:10:49] We have not had this.

[2:10:49] Would the applicant be willing to do that?

[2:10:52] We haven't talked about that.

[2:10:56] If that would be something important to you, maybe.

[2:10:59] I think the way it is right now, it looks pretty nice.

[2:11:02] And if I were one of the neighbors, I'd say, give me the walking trail, the grass and

[2:11:06] the trees.

[2:11:07] But if that's something that's important, we can talk about it for sure.

[2:11:11] One of the things.

[2:11:12] Given the fact that it's going to be the back of basically what looks to me like

[2:11:16] a strip mall more than a shopping center, they're not really attractive.

[2:11:20] You may want to have houses blocking it, if possible.

[2:11:23] And that's right, because I really wonder if when we don't have, well, this drawing

[2:11:26] here shows it.

[2:11:29] I don't think there's a whole lot of room for houses that belong here.

[2:11:33] One of the things I'd like to interject is that I laid out some lots to be every

[2:11:40] single house to be on that pond or retention pond.

[2:11:46] So water attracts a little bit more residential type, better housing.

[2:11:54] So when I laid it out, it was kind of a wedge type shape going around, and I was able to

[2:12:01] get about six houses on that property with an easement, access easement on the very

[2:12:09] I don't want to take all the time up and I appreciate that because I'm sure these people

[2:12:18] out here want to have their say as well and we've been here since seven so we've earned

[2:12:24] through about two and a half hours so far.

[2:12:26] Ms. Creason.

[2:12:29] I would just like to go back a little bit in history when Kevin Boji was Parks Director.

[2:12:35] director, there was a day when he was looking at buying that property and making it into

[2:12:40] a park.

[2:12:41] So it's kind of a sweet deal to kind of leave it green space and then let things kind of

[2:12:47] evolve in my opinion.

[2:12:48] You and I are on the same page, but I know not everyone may agree with that.

[2:12:53] But to me, I love that idea.

[2:12:56] I would love it, take my dog, you know, go out and play, croquet, do whatever, football

[2:13:01] with my kid, whatever, you know, I think it's nice.

[2:13:04] Yeah.

[2:13:04] But I just wanted to bring that up. Parkes was looking at that property.

[2:13:09] All right, and I believe

[2:13:12] if I remember right that

[2:13:15] Where you're talking about on 63rd Street that whole thing was the original deal

[2:13:20] So that's that's what they had planned all along because they had enough land to do all that

[2:13:24] It wasn't for any other reason other than he could do both and make money at both

[2:13:28] This van busker

[2:13:32] Thank you. I if there was other development of houses there

[2:13:37] Obviously, you talk about the trees, those would have to be removed.

[2:13:40] Some of them.

[2:13:41] Some of them would go.

[2:13:42] I mean, no people would try to keep as many of those nice, mature trees, but I agree with

[2:13:46] you there, too.

[2:13:47] Some trees would have to be cut down if they were houses built.

[2:13:50] I know when our development took place back in the early 70s, a lot of trees were removed.

[2:13:57] Yeah.

[2:13:58] And architects will go to great lengths, move this over here, make sure the tree's

[2:14:02] there.

[2:14:02] and you know, but sure some trees would go and right now it's beautiful, right?

[2:14:08] And that's what we moved to write down in 72. That's when our

[2:14:11] Development took place where where we currently live still live

[2:14:16] You're talking about

[2:14:18] tax, yeah taxes

[2:14:20] The property value itself would increase tremendously absolutely

[2:14:28] Absolutely just a question. I know and I agree with you

[2:14:31] I'm not begging for a tax increase, but, you know, I agree with you.

[2:14:35] I agree with you.

[2:14:36] To go from a property that's idle for some eight or nine years and is blighted now to

[2:14:45] what you're proposing would make a huge increase in the value of the property.

[2:14:51] And as you know, the property tax, you know, the way you value commercial property

[2:14:55] is based on the income stream.

[2:14:57] So if it's a thriving center, it will.

[2:15:00] That would become a very valuable piece of problem.

[2:15:01] Thank you.

[2:15:03] Ms. Hayden, did you have something, ma'am?

[2:15:07] Yes, sir. I just wanted to say I appreciate all the work that you guys have done in the presentation.

[2:15:12] I am going to ask to be excused, but I promise that I will come back and review all the rest of the comments.

[2:15:18] Thank you, Ms. Hayden, and if you are excused.

[2:15:24] Anyone else have any questions at this point?

[2:15:29] Okay.

[2:15:31] Ms. Emerson and then Ms. Gardner.

[2:15:35] There are two trees on the property that Mr. Voorhees showed me that are specially trees

[2:15:41] that he grafted together, and so those two trees, I think, should stay.

[2:15:47] Are they on the residential or the commercial area?

[2:15:50] They're on the commercial.

[2:15:51] Okay.

[2:15:52] We'll work around that then, for sure.

[2:15:54] Ms. Gardner?

[2:15:56] Yes.

[2:15:57] My question is just more of a clarification from Mr. Gilbert.

[2:15:59] So, although it was, okay, so it's, regardless of whether it's commercial, right, because

[2:16:08] there's signs or whatever, right now this is more about the comprehensive plan still states

[2:16:15] it as residential.

[2:16:16] Is that correct?

[2:16:17] And therefore it's never been re-zoned?

[2:16:25] There are several prongs to your question, and I'll try to answer them.

[2:16:28] Looking back through history, the property has been,

[2:16:33] since zoning became a viable tool in the 1920s,

[2:16:36] that property has never been anything but

[2:16:39] residentially zoned.

[2:16:40] Although the comprehensive plan, the last one we have,

[2:16:43] identifies the existing use in 1996 was commercial,

[2:16:48] as proven by the aerial photo shots.

[2:16:50] It's still residentially zoned today.

[2:16:53] So the plan has never been changed to kind of

[2:16:56] side with what the property was being utilized for.

[2:16:59] That's correct.

[2:17:00] It's typical when cities move forward with rezonings, which by the way, rezoning is a

[2:17:06] very common event in any city.

[2:17:09] They don't all get approved, of course, but it's a very common event.

[2:17:11] Many times a land use plan amendment is required to facilitate that.

[2:17:17] And that was the case here.

[2:17:19] And the land use plan amendment was what the Plan Commission heard on April 6th and that was changed at the time they decided not to make.

[2:17:31] Thank you.

[2:17:32] Ms. Bimps.

[2:17:35] I think this one is for Mr. Gilbert and it's not so much a question as it is.

[2:17:40] I guess a little piece of history that I learned.

[2:17:43] This property was there and the family had it in an early late 1930s.

[2:17:49] when I started looking at some of the history on this property and I don't

[2:17:55] remember the guy's name but I heard you mentioned it while ago it was there and

[2:18:00] they were doing they were operating the nursery and selling the plants and stuff

[2:18:08] out of the home which in today's time would be considered commercial but that

[2:18:13] then this was when it wasn't even a Raytown it wasn't a city or anything so

[2:18:19] So as Raytown became an annex from Kansas City,

[2:18:25] I'm going to make sure I got this right,

[2:18:26] and when they annexed and became Raytown,

[2:18:30] then they were left alone,

[2:18:32] and pretty much grandfathered in and nobody bothered them.

[2:18:36] So when the rules and the laws all started changing

[2:18:40] for a lot of the areas around,

[2:18:43] no one really bothered that.

[2:18:44] And then when the owner sold it,

[2:18:46] And from what I'm understanding, he became very elderly and he sold the property, nothing had been done, nobody bothered it, the trees and stuff continued to grow, and I'm not sure who was cutting the grass or whatever at that time.

[2:19:04] And then I learned later, if I'm correct, the city was maintaining cutting the grass, and so I'm not sure.

[2:19:12] I'm just asking so but I'm just telling you what I learned and that's from

[2:19:18] talking to a lot of the elders, the one to make sure this information was going

[2:19:23] to be corrected. Then I learned that in the process of selling it and the other

[2:19:29] person wanted to build homes on it but he never did get anybody to bite what

[2:19:33] his plans were and stuff so then he ended up selling the land and the

[2:19:39] person now bought the land. And then in the process of learning a lot of this

[2:19:46] particular piece, no one ever said anything because nobody wanted to step on

[2:19:51] anybody's toes. It was kind of like it was a respectful thing because this

[2:19:55] person and I think he's still alive from what someone told me and he's in his

[2:20:02] 90s or something like that. So people started calling him, and it really has upset him. And

[2:20:11] for an elderly to be called with but being bothered with something like this after he's

[2:20:17] gone on, I find it just really appalling, leaving him alone. So in the process of that piece

[2:20:26] incense so he had some trees and I needed to say this tonight Mr. Mayor because I

[2:20:32] wanted to be clear of what I got and when I tell you I'm serious about when

[2:20:37] people bring stuff like this and then when there's nasty things out here told

[2:20:41] and falsehoods and things that's you know you're talking about it's going

[2:20:46] to bring in what is it what do you call them women off the street and you

[2:20:52] know, it's going to bring a whole lot. This is what's happening and this man is

[2:20:57] reading and seeing this stuff and being called on it and it's really been really

[2:21:01] upsetting to him. Okay, his main focus was the trees. If I'm correct, it's the

[2:21:09] certain trees that something that he had and they've been there all these

[2:21:13] years. I don't know what type of they are. What type of trees are they? Yes,

[2:21:20] And he just wanted to make those be maintained.

[2:21:24] And he wanted the new owner to know that's the only thing he said.

[2:21:28] He wanted everything else because he felt

[2:21:31] when you sell something, you can't tell people how to, what to do with

[2:21:36] when they walk, when they give it up.

[2:21:38] And even though there was his passion and that was where he grew up with all of this.

[2:21:42] So I wanted to make sure I got this out to make sure that everybody understood

[2:21:47] how he felt. Now, you didn't even know I knew that, but I did get two calls.

[2:21:52] You both knew it, apparently. Well, and that's why I'm looking at her, because when I heard her

[2:21:56] mention it a while ago. So what I'm seeing is children knew only. Those trees

[2:22:01] is a very important piece, but the other part was he didn't want anybody

[2:22:06] trying to tell him what to do and why are we doing this now. And I needed to

[2:22:12] say that, because that came out. So, thank you, Mr. Mayor, and I'll move on.

[2:22:19] Mr. Walters, before I call on you, I'm going to do two things. I'm going to clarify some

[2:22:23] housekeeping things. Earlier, I had asked somebody, they got upset. I'm going to make

[2:22:28] it real clear. We do not approach the dais, even on breaks. If you want to talk to

[2:22:34] an alderman, ask them to come down there. It's a security issue, and I'm not going

[2:22:39] go into it but it's a security issue so whoever is back there got upset sorry but

[2:22:44] that's the rule want to make sure my people up here are safe so if you have

[2:22:49] something to say during a break you ask one of these alderman from back there

[2:22:53] and they'll come down and talk to you if that's what they feel like doing don't

[2:22:57] approach the day I say I don't care whether we know you're not you do it

[2:23:00] and somebody else to do it may not be somebody that we need up here the

[2:23:05] The second thing is typically we do the talking each person on an issue and then you get two

[2:23:15] minutes the second time.

[2:23:16] Because this is a big issue I'm going to relax that a little bit so I'm going to make

[2:23:21] it the same the first time and then you get a second time and I'll make it five minutes

[2:23:28] but we're going to keep it to that because we're not going to go on and on and on

[2:23:31] and obligating and carrying on.

[2:23:33] So Mr. Walters, this is time number two, you've got it.

[2:23:36] Thank you.

[2:23:38] I did a story, I know Bob Voorhees,

[2:23:41] I've known him since I had dark hair

[2:23:43] and my children were very small.

[2:23:45] I bought plants from him and trees from him.

[2:23:48] He was the one that owned the property.

[2:23:50] The last owner that sold it that ended up

[2:23:52] to somebody in Pennsylvania

[2:23:53] who then sold it to the current owner now.

[2:23:56] He gave me a detailed history of who owned all the property

[2:24:00] going back to a gentleman named Mr. Snoddy I believe was his name but I've got

[2:24:04] this written I did a story on it and I will provide it to everybody on the board

[2:24:08] so you had the true history. Mr. Voorhees did not have any problems with

[2:24:12] talking to me about it we are friends for many many years he lives in

[2:24:16] Columbia he's an excellent health and he just wanted everybody to know what

[2:24:21] the story was so that's what it's there for so I'll share this with

[2:24:25] with y'all. And Bonnet's rendition is somewhat close, but there's a lot of stuff in there

[2:24:31] that's not exactly accurate, and ours is just the facts on our story. So that's all I have

[2:24:36] to say, and I will...

[2:24:38] Well, we would love to have that. I think that would be such a thing.

[2:24:41] I'd be happy to share it with you.

[2:24:42] Yeah, such anything, maybe to have a plaque made or something.

[2:24:45] No, not especially that. I just want everybody to know what the actual facts are on it,

[2:24:50] you know, why he sold it.

[2:24:52] The other thing I'd want to bring up,

[2:24:54] we had a picture that was shown, Mr. Gilbridge.

[2:24:57] Yes, he showed the picture of an industrial complex there.

[2:25:01] Didn't say those exact words, but it sounded like it.

[2:25:04] Those houses and those buildings there,

[2:25:07] those are greenhouses.

[2:25:10] They were shanties, were basically

[2:25:12] to keep the sun from being too bright

[2:25:14] on the vegetable gardens in the area there.

[2:25:17] The place when it was started originally

[2:25:18] was a tree farm.

[2:25:19] firm, he still grew and sold trees. He sold me a tree, which me and him almost had a big

[2:25:25] fight about it because it grew so big. But don't ever buy a River Birch, I'll just tell

[2:25:30] you that. Anyway, but he's a very good man, a very good business man. His operation was

[2:25:40] not a commercial, it was more of a hybrid operation. Greenhouse, that type of,

[2:25:49] that

[2:25:49] a nursery is not really like a nuts and bolts type of business.

[2:25:53] The two little buildings he had there,

[2:25:55] one was a one room office,

[2:25:57] that's where he worked his business out of.

[2:25:59] The other one was basically a garage

[2:26:01] where they kept the equipment that they did.

[2:26:05] And if he might've sold certain types of nutrients

[2:26:09] for plants and stuff like that,

[2:26:11] but that was so that his customers would have something,

[2:26:13] it was not because he was going

[2:26:14] into the ace hardware business for instance.

[2:26:17] But he had a full-scale nursery?

[2:26:19] It was a full-scale nursery, but man...

[2:26:21] No, no, I just...

[2:26:22] That's the same as the full-scale nursery behind this building, which is acres large.

[2:26:26] Sure, but he didn't live there, though.

[2:26:28] No, Heavens, no. He lived about two miles from there.

[2:26:31] Right, so that's kind of a business.

[2:26:34] Kind of, but it's really a stretch to try to make it sound like it was an industrial complex

[2:26:38] where they had heavy equipment moving around and all these buildings back there.

[2:26:42] When they weren't buildings at all...

[2:26:43] These buildings are...

[2:26:43] Yeah, they're...

[2:26:45] The residential zoning my point on this is is accurate for that land since it started back in the 30s

[2:26:54] It may look like it, but it really wasn't I was there myself many many times

[2:26:59] We used to go over there and just I just go over there and we just visit and talk for hours

[2:27:03] He'd take me around show me what he had

[2:27:05] What what is characterized as a lot of heavy equipment stuff moving around was not so

[2:27:10] It's kind of like having a block and say concrete blocks and having one concrete block there

[2:27:16] does not mean that you're building a mausoleum with them.

[2:27:19] It means you have some probably to help people wait stuff down that they're carrying away.

[2:27:25] That's just what I, we talked about the hyperbole that comes with all these hearings and stuff

[2:27:30] like that.

[2:27:31] It cuts both ways and the knife is equally sharp on both sides.

[2:27:36] I'm not going to add any more at this point.

[2:27:37] I'm really anxious to hear what the people had to say, and Mr. Mayor, one other item

[2:27:42] on that, and this is, if I digress just a little bit, I would talk to the city attorney

[2:27:47] during our break, and she said it would be possible for us to extend the time for people

[2:27:51] to speak out here if they bring expert testimony in from people who are speaking on their

[2:27:56] behalf.

[2:27:57] Justice, these two gentlemen, this man and this woman, are speaking to us now because

[2:28:02] they are expert testimony on behalf of the applicant who has hired them to do

[2:28:07] It depends on your opinion number one of expert number two I still have to say

[2:28:11] they can bring potential to third vote of this board will still stick with what I

[2:28:16] just said. I understand this. Your time's up Mr. Ager. Mr. Mayor my question is just a

[2:28:25] point of order and I'm asking the question to the parliamentarian who I

[2:28:30] really don't know who is but so because I'm getting maybe a little

[2:28:36] confused on our time limits because we impose these new time limits but I do

[2:28:41] have some ideas that I want to present on some property that's on my

[2:28:45] identical and I think the proper time for that would be when we have our

[2:28:49] discussion so I don't really want to ask them a question I just want to know

[2:28:53] if the time I used up 15 minutes ago counts against me or does it start all

[2:28:58] over again once everybody's spoken.

[2:29:03] Well, your time is starting now.

[2:29:06] No, okay, but I'm not going to ask a question.

[2:29:09] I just want to know when that time period starts,

[2:29:11] because normally they have their presentation,

[2:29:15] they have their presentation.

[2:29:16] We have a chance to ask a question.

[2:29:18] If I ask a question, am I eating time up?

[2:29:20] That's all I'm asking.

[2:29:22] Okay, there are the applicants and they're the ones that,

[2:29:25] just like he has plenty of time talking,

[2:29:27] You have plenty of time to talk your first time talk as much as you want to your second time instead of two minutes

[2:29:32] Like it's been for quite some time and when they're done extended it to five minutes

[2:29:37] Okay, so I'm like this. Okay. I'm really dumb here. Okay, so let me ask it again

[2:29:42] The public's going to get up and talk and they're gonna be normally when they're done talking

[2:29:47] We have a discussion of the board. I would think that during that discussion of the board we get our five minutes

[2:29:56] in hearings like this, they're going to be making.

[2:30:00] Okay. And when they're all done, then you all can make statements at the tail end about

[2:30:05] what you want to say. Can we get five minutes? Yeah. Okay, that's fine. I'll take it. They

[2:30:09] got, okay, you understand that? In the meantime, with these folks or him, you have five minutes

[2:30:15] to pass that. Okay. All right. Okay. Mr. Mayor. Yes, ma'am. I need to clarify something

[2:30:23] because Alderman Walters, lately misspoke. I did not say that we were going to give

[2:30:28] them more time to speak.

[2:30:31] I said the rule is, as everybody gets five minutes,

[2:30:34] if the board ever wants to change that,

[2:30:36] they would need to direct staff to bring back a resolution

[2:30:40] changing that, so it'd be for any future public hearings,

[2:30:44] but we're not changing it for this hearing.

[2:30:46] I understand that, and I'm sorry if I wasn't clear

[2:30:50] on that, but going forward after tonight,

[2:30:53] one other thing.

[2:30:55] Mr. Welder?

[2:30:56] Your time is up, sir.

[2:30:57] Just a procedure.

[2:30:59] Your time is up, sir.

[2:31:01] Your time is up.

[2:31:03] These folks are waiting a long time.

[2:31:05] Ms. Emerson.

[2:31:07] Thank you, ma'am.

[2:31:08] I have known Mr. Voorhees for many, many, many years.

[2:31:12] We have been very good friends.

[2:31:14] He called me and said,

[2:31:16] what's going on?

[2:31:18] I'm getting calls.

[2:31:19] I talked to him at length.

[2:31:23] I talked to him at length at the Planning and Zoning Commission meeting.

[2:31:28] I asked Mr. Alderman Walters to take his phone number off of his blog, which he did.

[2:31:35] He went home and took it off immediately because he was very upset that people were calling him.

[2:31:42] Okay, Ms. Smiths?

[2:31:45] Ms. Smiths?

[2:31:47] I just wanted to clarify something, Mr. Mayor.

[2:31:49] I didn't say that I had talked to Mr. Roy Heave now that I know his name.

[2:31:53] Alderman Walters, what I was saying was what the cause from elderly people, senior citizens

[2:31:59] here was telling me.

[2:32:00] I didn't say that it was all correct.

[2:32:02] I didn't say it was accurate what I was saying.

[2:32:05] I repeated what they said to me.

[2:32:06] That's all.

[2:32:07] Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

[2:32:08] That's crazy.

[2:32:15] Okay.

[2:32:16] So I am going to say one thing and I'm not taking a position at all in saying this.

[2:32:21] It's just I want to make things clear.

[2:32:23] I lived here almost all my life. I was a police officer for 40 years.

[2:32:27] I went by that place every day that I was working, and every night I was working, and there were tractors there.

[2:32:33] And there was a lot of equipment, and there was a lot of people in and out.

[2:32:35] It was a full blown nursery where they were doing lots and lots of stuff, spring, summer, and fall.

[2:32:42] So to say that it wasn't a commercial operation, I'm sorry I can't sit here and let somebody say that when it's not accurate.

[2:32:49] it. It was a commercial operation. It was a very good operation and people that worked

[2:32:55] there and Mr. Voorhees and his people were very good people and it was a very good operation.

[2:33:00] It was almost like going to the grass pad, not quite as large, but it was a big operation

[2:33:05] and they didn't just sell flowers out of the house and they didn't. It was a big

[2:33:09] operation and they did have tractors and they door, you know, put holes in the

[2:33:13] ground, put trees in and on and on and on. I saw it every day. So it's not

[2:33:17] accurate for somebody to say that that's not what was happening there. So I just

[2:33:22] wanted to throw that in there. I'm not taking a position just strictly to clear

[2:33:26] the air because I saw it all the time. All right, you got anybody else that needs

[2:33:32] to testify before we go to public comment? Unless we have questions for the

[2:33:36] traffic. Thank you.

[2:33:47] Okay, thank you. Stick around here in case somebody's got

[2:33:50] something going on. Okay, we're going to take five minute break. Sorry, folks,

[2:33:57] there are people that have to take care of business.

[2:34:03] Okay, we are back in session

[2:34:05] at 9.53 p.m. We will now move on to public speaking.

[2:34:14] Counselor, who is the

[2:34:15] first one? And remember you have five minutes and it has to be on topic.

[2:34:21] Joe

[2:34:22] Joe Kramer.

[2:34:23] Joe Kramer.

[2:34:24] Give your name and address please.

[2:34:27] How are you this evening?

[2:34:28] Good, good.

[2:34:29] Don't forget to turn on the mic.

[2:34:31] Oh, we're safe.

[2:34:32] Right at the bottom there.

[2:34:35] There we go.

[2:34:36] Good evening, Board and Mayor.

[2:34:39] Thank you for allowing me to come up and speak on behalf of this project.

[2:34:44] As I was listening to staff, as I've been through the planning and zoning meetings,

[2:34:51] observing and speaking and listening to what staff said. There was a word, phrase, whatever

[2:34:59] you want to call it, akin to mind. So I looked it up. It was tautology, needless repetition

[2:35:04] of the same sense in different words or redundancy. Wikipedia says the word tautology was used

[2:35:12] by the ancient Greeks to describe a statement that was asserted to be true merely by

[2:35:18] virtue of saying the same thing twice. And that's what a lot of that's what's

[2:35:24] going on here. As I've observed social media in regards to the applicant, it's

[2:35:34] just been an attack on his person. And I personally know the man. I'm a

[2:35:40] customer there. I go there by cigars, I buy a bottle of bourbon

[2:35:43] occasionally, and I know him to be a good and kind man. His stores are clean, there's

[2:35:51] no evidence of any crime, and as he stated or his representative did, panhandlers

[2:36:00] have run off. I've seen it. I've seen him block him from the stores. He runs a

[2:36:05] good store. He's done a good job here in Raytown. And in that strip mall

[2:36:11] where the one is at 66th and Raytown Road, nothing stayed there until KB's came along, okay?

[2:36:20] It's still considered a convenience store by nature by the amount of grocery product that they carry.

[2:36:28] Some of these people may not like it. He does carry liquor there, which I go by there, I admit.

[2:36:33] But he's a good man. The attacks on his person have been the most bothersome to me.

[2:36:39] as I've seen them post-case net stuff in regards to him and say vile things about him that are

[2:36:49] just aren't true. They just aren't true. And they bother him as they should bother anybody.

[2:36:56] And in closing, I think of Marcus Aurelius when he said we live more in imagination than we do in

[2:37:03] reality. That's all I got. Thank you, Mr. Grammer.

[2:37:09] Cass, are you timing these also?

[2:37:11] City Clerk is timing. Okay, thank you. I just wanted to make sure we

[2:37:15] on the same page there. Okay. Who's next?

[2:37:19] Nelson Bunch. Nelson Bunch. Please come up, introduce yourself,

[2:37:23] and let us know where you live, please.

[2:37:27] Good evening, Mayor.

[2:37:29] Members of the Board of Aldermen. Thank you so much for giving me this time. My name is

[2:37:33] Nelson Bunch, I live at 11400 East 58th Street right here in Raytown, just a few blocks from

[2:37:39] the proposed site.

[2:37:41] I want to take a quick moment and just thank each of you for your service.

[2:37:45] I want to thank city staff for their service.

[2:37:49] Most people would not subject themselves to the things that you're going through tonight,

[2:37:54] and so it says something very good about your character, that you're willing to

[2:37:59] take this service on for your city.

[2:38:00] And so thank you for that and I'll show that thanks by getting more to the point now.

[2:38:05] To understand my testimony tonight, you have to understand a little bit about my background.

[2:38:09] Unlike many of you and many of the people who are here tonight, I am not a Raytown native.

[2:38:14] I grew up in Southwest Missouri in a little place out in the sticks between a couple

[2:38:17] of towns that were out in the sticks.

[2:38:19] And where I grew up, I had a lot of freedom.

[2:38:23] I had a lot of liberty.

[2:38:24] I could do what I wanted to do.

[2:38:26] You know what never happened where I grew up?

[2:38:28] Nobody ever came to my parents and said,

[2:38:31] hey, you can't park your trailer on the grass.

[2:38:34] They never said, hey, you can't have a vehicle

[2:38:36] in your driveway that doesn't have tags on it.

[2:38:39] And when I moved to the city with my family,

[2:38:41] where now my extended family has moved to be with me

[2:38:44] in Raytown, a place that I love being,

[2:38:47] I found it frustrating that in the city,

[2:38:51] people do that, people get upset about that.

[2:38:54] They look at the things around your property and they tell you how you should manage what you own, what you paid for.

[2:39:05] But the fact of the matter is, you as representatives of the city are given an incredible power.

[2:39:16] You are allowed to make decisions that tell private property owners how they can use what they have rightly bought.

[2:39:25] What is their possession?

[2:39:27] That is an incredible power.

[2:39:29] I can't do that to any of these people in this room.

[2:39:32] I can't tell them how their property has to be.

[2:39:36] But the city, through its representatives and through the rules that are established, can do that.

[2:39:41] We can do that because we have a collective identity.

[2:39:46] We're all tied together to each other in the wonderful place that is Raytown.

[2:39:55] Many of these people who are going to talk to you tonight who are concerned about this,

[2:40:00] and I'm sure people who are for it as well,

[2:40:03] they're going to talk to you about water flow and traffic plans

[2:40:07] and all kinds of things they are concerned about with the development.

[2:40:13] What I want to emphasize to you all tonight is that everything that Mr. Bhavani's team here,

[2:40:24] Everything that they say can be 100% true.

[2:40:28] This place could grow unicorns for us.

[2:40:32] And everything that the people who are upset about this say could be absolutely false.

[2:40:42] I won't say that none of it matters.

[2:40:45] What I will say is that even if what I'm saying is true, if they were all false

[2:40:49] and the folks who want to put in this development were all absolutely correct,

[2:40:53] You, as the representatives of the city, still have the grave decision and responsibility

[2:41:00] to decide what is best for the city of Raytown from an abstract perspective.

[2:41:07] Based on what is good for this town, based on what the future should look like for my

[2:41:14] family, my six children who will be here when I am gone, my mother and father-in-law

[2:41:20] who have moved here from out of state to be near us in this wonderful place.

[2:41:24] My sister-in-law, my brother and his wife, none of whom live anywhere near locally here

[2:41:30] and all of whom have moved to the wonderful place that is Raytown.

[2:41:34] You make a decision tonight that can decide what their futures look like.

[2:41:41] And so at the end of the day, when you're feeling all buried with the water studies

[2:41:44] and the land use plans and all of these tools, good tools, tools, information we need to have.

[2:41:52] But when you're feeling a little overwhelmed by it or you're surprised at the frustration

[2:41:56] expressed by other folks around here, take a moment and step back and remember

[2:42:02] that you don't have to decide whether or not it's a gas station. You don't have to decide

[2:42:06] what the tax revenue is going to be. You don't have to decide whether houses can be built

[2:42:11] on that property. You don't have to decide any of that to make this decision.

[2:42:16] you can simply look at the decision of does this property need to be changed to a commercial use

[2:42:23] for the future based on what we've seen. Is that in the best interest of the city of Raytown?

[2:42:30] And if the answer to that is no, your decision is made for you. You don't have to figure out

[2:42:35] a traffic plan. Thank you all so much for your time. I do appreciate it.

[2:42:39] Thank you.

[2:42:41] Cindy Sweetland?

[2:42:44] Good evening.

[2:42:48] Cindy Sweetland, 6325 Hedges.

[2:42:51] Speak up just a little bit.

[2:42:52] What's that?

[2:42:53] Speak up a little bit more.

[2:42:54] Okay, I'll try.

[2:42:54] Cindy Sweetland, 6325 Hedges Avenue, Raytown.

[2:42:59] I'm a little nervous.

[2:43:01] I am currently a landscape designer,

[2:43:03] and I have worked in the past with city planners in Kansas City

[2:43:06] and landscape architects.

[2:43:07] I wanted to address the 30 foot landscape buffer strip that is part of the site design presented by the architect.

[2:43:15] The staff at the zoning committee has mentioned this buffer strip several times and assured all of us that it will be strictly adhered to

[2:43:22] and that it will follow current code, and I believe them.

[2:43:27] This buffer strip is crucial to the protection of a surrounding residential from the noise and light pollution that will occur if this development goes through.

[2:43:35] true. The problem is, it is not effective for reducing the noise and light that will

[2:43:41] come from this development, even at current code. And there are multiple studies proving

[2:43:47] this fact. I'm going to quote from one study. Plant materials such as trees and shrubs

[2:43:54] have often been considered as effective noise buffers. Most landscape vegetation

[2:43:59] will accomplish little more than out-of-sight, out-of-mind reduction in noise.

[2:44:04] As a landscaper, there's two types of noise that I deal with.

[2:44:08] One is a line source, which would be kind of like the home you would hear from a distant highway.

[2:44:15] The second is a point source, kind of like a police siren.

[2:44:19] And the point source is almost impossible to screen.

[2:44:21] As a matter of fact, you can't screen anything like that.

[2:44:25] Also, the density and line of sight are important.

[2:44:28] the line of sight is simply defined as a person's eye level looking straight ahead.

[2:44:35] Buffer density is required for any reduction of noise to occur.

[2:44:39] I'll quote from another study.

[2:44:41] The noise buffer must completely block the line of sight.

[2:44:45] If any light can be seen through the buffer, it is providing no appreciable noise reduction.

[2:44:52] If noise reduction is desired for a two-story house,

[2:44:55] and the buffer must completely block the line of sight from the roof to the noise

[2:45:01] Hight and length are very important. Sound is refracted over and around the buffer.

[2:45:07] One typical home should have a buffer that extends in either direction four times the length of the house.

[2:45:13] And we are talking about a row of homes that will be affected.

[2:45:18] Then there's the lighting. Even with the lights dimmed after closing for safety reasons, there needs to be enough light to protect the businesses from theft,

[2:45:27] So the lighting will also be an issue.

[2:45:30] The lights in the canopy for the gas pumps are above everyone's line of sight,

[2:45:35] and there aren't enough trees to screen it.

[2:45:39] And there is so much more that I could talk about this.

[2:45:42] I don't like talking in front of people, so this really means a lot to me.

[2:45:49] You know, I could touch on crime a little bit from a different angle,

[2:45:52] but I'm not going to go there right now.

[2:45:54] but talking about, and it's about the green spaces.

[2:45:58] Multiple studies have been proven this worldwide

[2:46:00] that green spaces, there's a correlation

[2:46:02] between urban green spaces and the reduction of crime.

[2:46:08] But I don't like to speculate until I do,

[2:46:12] but I really think that the green space

[2:46:15] is gonna be left in about five or 10 years.

[2:46:18] It won't be green space anymore.

[2:46:21] I just really would like to encourage you

[2:46:24] that to keep this just to keep it green is all I'm asking and that's all I have.

[2:46:32] Thank you. Thank you. Carol Hinsley? Good evening Carol. How are you? Doing good.

[2:46:43] I'm actually a little nervous tonight. This is unusual for me. I'm Carol Hinsley. I live at

[2:46:50] 6400 Harris and Ray-Tan. I also own a business Mid-America Laminating at 6636

[2:46:56] Cedar Avenue, both of them in Ward 2. So I am here tonight because I have heard

[2:47:05] you cannot fight City Hall. And I actually have no clue what that needs.

[2:47:16] Do

[2:47:16] think so. And City Hall is nothing but a building. What's important is who is in

[2:47:25] this building. People who care about the future of Raytown. You guys up here, your

[2:47:34] reflection of the people that you represent. Your neighbors, your friends,

[2:47:41] your families and that's what Raytown is all about. People. People. So am I here to

[2:47:50] fight City Hall? No, I'm just here as a voice for the community. Wood 3 is not

[2:47:56] even in my district, but I feel very passionate for them. I'm opposed to the

[2:48:03] rezoning of Blue Ridge Boulevard from residential to commercial. At the

[2:48:08] It was said that there was a need for a convenience store in the north of Raytown.

[2:48:16] May I point out that Raytown is only, like, what, six miles wide?

[2:48:21] You know, in the first place, there are two convenience stores.

[2:48:26] One with a gas station at about a mile from this location.

[2:48:31] And another convenience store owned by KVs that is also about a mile away.

[2:48:38] from this location. I think all of the residences of the north side of Ray

[2:48:43] Town are quite willing to drive that extra few blocks to go down the street

[2:48:49] for their gas and milk. And if that isn't handy enough, the apple market is just

[2:48:55] 15 blocks away.

[2:48:58] Let's face it, I know Kevin and his staff has put a lot of

[2:49:04] time, effort and money into this project. I know the city staff has put in a lot of

[2:49:12] time on this project, but no matter how much time and how much money you throw at

[2:49:19] something, you can't make the wrong project right. It's not going to happen.

[2:49:27] In kindergarten, we learn the difference between wants and needs.

[2:49:33] We need our city to be safe.

[2:49:36] We need it to be friendly.

[2:49:38] We need to be welcoming to families.

[2:49:41] And I think we can all agree on that one.

[2:49:44] Why did my parents move to Raytown?

[2:49:47] Why did my husband and I choose to build a home here?

[2:49:51] Why did my daughter buy a house in Raytown?

[2:49:54] because we love the community and the family atmosphere.

[2:50:01] Don't sell us short.

[2:50:06] Our families deserve better.

[2:50:11] What we don't need or want is another convenience store

[2:50:16] and a gas station in the middle of our neighborhoods.

[2:50:20] Let's keep retown focused on the fact that families

[2:50:24] communities and communities are more important than the long commerce a few

[2:50:30] weeks ago the zoning board acknowledged that the rezoning should not take place

[2:50:36] and I ask you to support their decision thank you

[2:50:44] Allen Underwood?

[2:50:45] Folks remember what I said.

[2:50:48] Thank you for your comments good

[2:50:53] evening thank

[2:51:00] you Mr. Mayor Alderman I

[2:51:02] I appreciate getting the opportunity to do this.

[2:51:06] I have heard so many things from various sources

[2:51:10] that a lot of you, I believe, I can't.

[2:51:13] The name and address and name.

[2:51:16] I'm sorry, 6921 Anglewood Avenue, Raytown, Missouri.

[2:51:20] Yeah, say it again, I'm sorry.

[2:51:24] 6921 Anglewood Avenue, Raytown.

[2:51:26] And your name one more time.

[2:51:28] Allen Underwood.

[2:51:30] Thank you.

[2:51:32] Okay, so I'm sorry, I blew that.

[2:51:40] There are some things that I've heard and I can't seem to verify and get what I believe to be definitely known as facts.

[2:51:50] And like your story, Mrs. Mims, about listening to the history of what happened on the property and all of that,

[2:51:59] But there's a lot of things said, and some of them are just really, it appears not known.

[2:52:06] And one of them is, how much revenue are we going to get out of this?

[2:52:11] Hundreds of thousands of dollars of sales tax.

[2:52:16] And I'm thinking, well, what does that mean to Raytown?

[2:52:20] And I don't know the answer to that.

[2:52:22] And I hope you guys do.

[2:52:23] I also heard this number, it's not a liquor store because it has, correct me if I'm wrong too, I don't know everything.

[2:52:37] So it's not a liquor store because less than 20% of their sales is liquor.

[2:52:44] Is that what I'm understanding?

[2:52:47] Just address this.

[2:52:49] Okay, I'm sorry.

[2:52:51] Just make that statement.

[2:52:53] I don't really know the answer to that, but from a Simpleton's point of view you saw liquor, it's a liquor store.

[2:53:04] I've already expressed in the zoning meetings that I'm kind of a nut about trash because it's part of a bigger picture.

[2:53:15] And to me, we're talking about our accomplishments.

[2:53:19] The BMX Trail out here that I was shocked to hear drew people from faraway places.

[2:53:26] That encourages me.

[2:53:28] The idea that we're having concerts in the green space, that encourages me.

[2:53:35] Those are things that improve quality of life

[2:53:39] or make people at least believe that Raytown is making an effort towards improving quality of life.

[2:53:50] When you think about moving to a place, and I know this I've moved a couple of times, always ended up back here.

[2:53:58] There are pros and cons to wherever you go.

[2:54:03] Deal breakers are the things that you can't get over.

[2:54:07] I can't get over the fact that their schools aren't accredited, for example.

[2:54:12] I can't get over the fact that there's more liquor stores per capita in that city than any place in the state, for example.

[2:54:24] I don't see anybody who would look at a new liquor store and say,

[2:54:30] if they're on the fence between us and leave Summit or down the road some other place and

[2:54:40] say, you know what, I'm leaning towards Raytown because they're putting in another store on

[2:54:47] Blue Ridge Boulevard gas station convenience store smoke shop.

[2:54:52] We also heard from COPS,

[2:54:56] ACOP here in one of the zoning meetings, and said, it's just

[2:55:01] assumed to be true that any kind of commercial development is very likely to increase the

[2:55:09] amount of crime.

[2:55:12] And I see what's happening with homeless people, and I want to make real clear, I

[2:55:17] will offer money to help homeless people.

[2:55:21] I got nothing against homeless people, but there are a lot more homeless people around

[2:55:27] here than you might know, and they leave their trash anywhere and everywhere.

[2:55:34] And I've got more experience than anybody in this room picking up trash.

[2:55:41] So what makes an area better is when people want to live here.

[2:55:46] I got nothing against liquor stores.

[2:55:49] I got nothing against smoke shops, but I can tell you that it's not the kind of

[2:55:56] thing that makes somebody want to move to a community. It is not. I also heard this

[2:56:02] thing about the impact, you know, whatever you do, even if you built a

[2:56:09] house, it would impact that area. It's like, yeah, but which would you whether

[2:56:14] have in the vacant lot across your street, a house, or a convenience store, a gas station.

[2:56:22] This kind of reminds me of vacant outside the box, the business with the plans, and the

[2:56:30] sidewalks.

[2:56:34] A bunch of people sitting around the university trying to decide where the sidewalk should

[2:56:38] be.

[2:56:39] Go ahead and ramp it up.

[2:56:40] Give me about 30 seconds.

[2:56:41] Put the sidewalks where the people are, and the people are the homeless people going to

[2:56:46] be walking around for a place to hang out.

[2:56:49] And thank you for picking up the trash.

[2:56:51] I've seen you out there doing a lot of, we appreciate that.

[2:56:53] I appreciate you noticing.

[2:56:55] Thank you.

[2:56:57] Lisa Bloom.

[2:57:03] Okay.

[2:57:04] Who do we have next?

[2:57:07] Lisa Bloom.

[2:57:09] Hi.

[2:57:09] How are you?

[2:57:10] Good, thanks.

[2:57:11] You can introduce yourself.

[2:57:11] Give us your name and your address, please.

[2:57:13] My name's Lisa Bloom.

[2:57:14] I live on Lakeview Drive.

[2:57:15] I'd rather not give the number.

[2:57:17] I have lived in Raytown and paid taxes here for 25 years, and I raised my daughter here.

[2:57:24] And please notice I don't even live near the area in discussion tonight.

[2:57:28] I personally have worked as a licensed mental health therapist for over 30 years in Kansas City

[2:57:33] and at one point in Raytown at Rediscover.

[2:57:37] I've worked with first responders, military on challenges such as PTSD

[2:57:42] and with lots of average Joes just like you and I.

[2:57:46] Therefore, I am interested in the social and psychological impacts of a third KB's store

[2:57:53] in this space and also in the negative direction that Raytown appears to be going at times in

[2:57:59] the past several years.

[2:58:01] I spent many hours conducting an online literature review and I found many studies and papers

[2:58:07] citing the proven negative relationship of such businesses, convenience stores on its areas residents,

[2:58:16] and their well-being both physically, psychologically, and emotionally.

[2:58:21] Besides the obvious effects of increased alcohol use, and there is the criminal element it draws

[2:58:28] that others will address here, and the visual and noise blight that degrades the neighborhood.

[2:58:34] As he said, consider the homeless, the mentally ill, loiterers, petty thieves, and just those looking for a fight who are often drawn to hang around such businesses.

[2:58:44] As we watch this fancy movie, I thought about those kind of folks hanging out on these walkways.

[2:58:51] Do we have the social services in this town to handle this kind of thing, or do we leave that to our already overburdened police staff?

[2:58:59] Let us not also forget the psychological view of many prospective homebuyers not wanting to live in a place close to a so-called

[2:59:07] nuisance business. I'd like to read just a few excerpts from a couple of the 17 papers and studies that I have submitted to the

[2:59:16] City Clerk. So you all have had access to those. They're right here. I put them out, double-side. Can I present that at the end?

[2:59:25] I want to show facts and expertise in some meta-analyses and show you that we are not

[2:59:32] just a bunch of negative and grumpy people looking for an argument.

[2:59:36] Just a couple.

[2:59:37] From a Philadelphia study in 2020, many studies have shown that neighborhoods with

[2:59:42] a high density of alcohol outlets are associated with higher rates of violence, regardless

[2:59:48] of other community characteristics such as poverty or age of the residents.

[2:59:52] High alcohol accessibility clearly has been shown to be related to an increased rate of drinking and driving.

[3:00:00] Motor vehicle-related pedestrian industries, injuries, and even increased child abuse and neglect.

[3:00:07] In addition, liquor stores frequently sell processed foods and other goods that are unhealthy and expensive.

[3:00:13] My second brief source is from a real estate source, which explains which businesses diminish property values the most.

[3:00:23] Number one is a hospital. People don't want to live by a hospital.

[3:00:26] number two is a convenience store with a gas station and a quote people will be

[3:00:32] driving in and out of your intersection hanging out at the property and buying

[3:00:36] lots of lotto tickets cigarettes and beer when they gas up although handy

[3:00:42] these shops do nothing to help property values and hurt them

[3:00:45] significantly according to Zillow.com I don't have time to cite all of this

[3:00:51] information it's all here and you can look at it and you've also been

[3:00:54] and emailed the links, like I said.

[3:00:57] As an aside, I found this really interesting

[3:00:59] as a mental health person,

[3:01:01] developers tend to often put these businesses

[3:01:04] selling alcohol into areas with some

[3:01:07] or all minority populations.

[3:01:10] It was also interesting to see

[3:01:12] that the more affluent, predominantly white neighborhoods

[3:01:15] in a city actually have higher consumption of alcohol

[3:01:19] than these less affluent residents.

[3:01:21] But I digress.

[3:01:23] I want to just talk about Pride for a second. Psychologically, as a behavioral health specialist,

[3:01:30] I do not believe a developer and team based out of Johnson County, Kansas,

[3:01:35] can possibly have the pride and concern for property values and safety that all of us do.

[3:01:43] I understand the city needs revenue. Finance, you must be very frustrating for this board.

[3:01:48] All of us homeowners, and most of us are, also need to routinely come up with the funds to pay our bills and to improve our properties.

[3:01:58] But do we citizens turn to questionable activities to raise money, or do we move forward with honor?

[3:02:05] In this very room a couple of weeks ago, we celebrated the new Recovery Village Drug and Alcohol Treatment Facility,

[3:02:13] which treats those with addictions in our town off of 350 highway.

[3:02:19] Alcohol is the most widely abused drug in the United States,

[3:02:23] and it is most definitely a drug.

[3:02:26] And we can't not talk about this business and not talk about alcohol.

[3:02:32] We already have 53 some liquor licenses in this city.

[3:02:37] 53, I hear.

[3:02:39] Have we all just given up?

[3:02:41] In summary, I want to say that just south of this space,

[3:02:45] vacated by the nursery, there is one of those brown signs that says historic trails.

[3:02:50] You see them in national parks, and we have one right there.

[3:02:54] You may have seen it.

[3:02:55] Blue Ridge Boulevard is one of the prettiest boulevards left in Raytown,

[3:03:01] and I don't think we want to leave this type of establishment

[3:03:04] or what follows when it fails, if it does,

[3:03:06] as history sitting there for our kids and our grandkids.

[3:03:10] Let's think critically about this and leave them something positive that they can be proud

[3:03:15] of in years to come.

[3:03:17] Okay.

[3:03:18] Finally, my daughter who attended Ray South and who now lives quite a distance away upon

[3:03:23] her visit to me recently said, Mom, Raytown seems to like it's all liquor stores now.

[3:03:29] Maybe it's time for you to leave.

[3:03:31] I'm not yet prepared to give up and do that.

[3:03:34] Thank you.

[3:03:34] Thank you so much.

[3:03:37] Here's Kathy Walker.

[3:03:40] Kathy Walker.

[3:03:46] Good evening.

[3:03:51] Hi, I'm Kathy Walker, and I live on 65th Terrace about a house there two and a half years ago.

[3:03:57] I have worked most of my adult life in the mental health field,

[3:04:03] and I also have lived most of my adult life in the Kansas City Metro area.

[3:04:09] I spent a couple of years in Wyoming working on a therapeutic ranch with troubled children.

[3:04:13] Most of my life I have worked with abuse victims of different types and people with disabilities

[3:04:20] and troubled children.

[3:04:21] So that's really near and dear to my heart and I really was on the fence about speaking

[3:04:26] with you all this evening but I just decided if I didn't speak out I might not be able

[3:04:31] to sleep very well at night and I want you to know I do not live near where this

[3:04:39] proposed store convenience or liquor store whatever you want to call it is

[3:04:43] going to go in. I don't live close to that place but I do have driven by it I

[3:04:50] know of it. I know that there are children in that area so I want to give

[3:04:54] you a little bit story about something that's happened to me. When I moved here

[3:04:59] two and a half years ago I discovered this really what I thought was a very

[3:05:03] cool Chinese restaurant, almost right across from where I live, right next to KB's store.

[3:05:10] As I started frequenting this restaurant all the time, really liked it, one day I went

[3:05:15] there and my order wasn't ready yet, so I decided I was going to go into KB's and go look

[3:05:20] for something.

[3:05:21] And I got there and I got to meet Kevin.

[3:05:24] He was very polite, very nice, store seemed pretty clean, although he didn't have

[3:05:29] what I wanted, but it was okay.

[3:05:31] Next time I went to go and my order wasn't ready, I thought I'd go into KBS again and pick up something I need.

[3:05:38] Well, as I'm going in there, there is a gentleman who was clearly inebriated, looked like he had maybe urinated on himself

[3:05:46] and was kind of laying in front of the store and he was trying to panhandle some money from me or something like that.

[3:05:52] Okay, I get that. I'm the woman who always stops to give his money to homeless people.

[3:05:56] I've worked with the homeless a lot so I don't have an issue with that.

[3:05:58] I had an issue with the fact he was grabbing at me. I came in the store. I did my business.

[3:06:05] I was that time, though, I was parked very, very close to the front door.

[3:06:09] Now, you women are going to know something about what I'm talking about.

[3:06:12] Okay, it's scary to be grabbed at by a man, okay?

[3:06:16] A man who's inebriated, a man who maybe urinated on himself, a man who looks out of it.

[3:06:22] So I left, was able to ride in my car, and I left.

[3:06:27] The next time I had experience with that store, I went in, and as I was going in, an inebriated

[3:06:34] gentleman grabbed at me and started pulling at me.

[3:06:37] So I went into this, a nice clean store, and I asked the clerks, there were two male

[3:06:42] clerks there.

[3:06:43] Now this talks about the safety and security that they're saying that they're going

[3:06:46] to provide.

[3:06:47] Okay?

[3:06:48] So I go in this store, and I say to the two clerks, both of them male, one very

[3:06:54] large.

[3:06:54] And I say, could you help me?

[3:06:56] There's a man out there who's trying to grab at me.

[3:07:00] Now, I'm at this point, I'm not parked in front of the store.

[3:07:03] This time I'm parked over at the Chinese restaurant.

[3:07:06] So this gentleman looks at me.

[3:07:09] He says, no, we can't help you.

[3:07:10] I said, could you walk me to my car?

[3:07:12] No, we can't help you.

[3:07:12] We got to stay in the store.

[3:07:14] I said, well, could you help me somehow?

[3:07:17] No, we can't.

[3:07:18] We have to stay right here in the store.

[3:07:21] OK, fine.

[3:07:21] So I waited for 20 minutes for this man to leave and get out of sight so I could run to my car.

[3:07:29] Okay? Now, I continued to go to the Chinese restaurant for a while.

[3:07:34] But I always parked by the Chinese restaurant.

[3:07:37] But even parking by the Chinese restaurant, and some of you women are going to know what I'm talking about,

[3:07:42] there are drunk men in the parking lot, hooting and howling and saying absurdities to me.

[3:07:47] It got so uncomfortable to the point where, guess what, I don't go to the Chinese restaurant

[3:07:51] anymore.

[3:07:51] I certainly don't go to KVs.

[3:07:54] Now how safe is he going to keep this place?

[3:07:58] Now my big issue is, you know what, I don't know if I'd have bought my house if I'd

[3:08:02] known about that.

[3:08:03] And I live, I mean I'm in the walking distance, I'm in a neighborhood.

[3:08:07] I don't have that situation right on my block.

[3:08:11] I mean, you know, not that close to it, but still it makes a difference to me.

[3:08:18] I, you know, is a really, is something that bothers me.

[3:08:21] I don't go over there that way anymore.

[3:08:24] Now, the reason I'm here tonight is a proposed situation, which we are going to all say is not a liquor store,

[3:08:31] but I'm not seeing any safety at that other KBs is going to be where there are children.

[3:08:38] I work with children. I work with troubled children. I work with women who have been assaulted.

[3:08:44] I think I was pretty much assaulted in the store, got no help from the staff.

[3:08:50] For Christ's sake, they sought, excuse my language, but I'm very emotional about this.

[3:08:55] I would not be able to sleep tonight if I did not come here and tell you that I am very disturbed

[3:09:00] that this type of environment is going to go in where there are children.

[3:09:04] I don't live in that neighborhood, but it takes a village.

[3:09:08] It takes a village. Those children are my children. Those children are your children. Those children are Raytown's children.

[3:09:17] Now, I got to see the beautiful pictures of all the sidewalks and all the trees and all that stuff.

[3:09:23] You know what I think as a woman has been assaulted? I think great places for these guys to hang out and attack somebody.

[3:09:30] Well, that's pretty much what I had to say. I didn't have anything super prepared. I wanted to tell you my experience and my concerns.

[3:09:36] So thank you for your time, and I want you all to think of the children.

[3:09:40] Thank you for your time.

[3:09:42] Morris Malloy.

[3:09:43] My

[3:09:54] name is Morris Malloy.

[3:09:58] I gave my address earlier, 5816 Manning Avenue.

[3:10:02] It is public hearing, and I've already spoken at it.

[3:10:05] Go ahead and give your address again, please.

[3:10:08] I did.

[3:10:09] In front of you, you have an application.

[3:10:13] It's an application to rezone 5.37 acres of Raytown.

[3:10:23] It says, now that I'm reading, I apologize for your name, Kevin, I'm never good with

[3:10:30] names.

[3:10:31] And it has an address listed at 6625 Raytown Road.

[3:10:35] In the application, there's questions.

[3:10:42] They're nonchalantly answered the whole nine yards.

[3:10:46] But what's odd is staff has told us at repeated meetings that we've had,

[3:10:53] public, private, not private meetings.

[3:10:56] Staff hasn't been in any of our private meetings that this is only two and a half acres.

[3:11:02] But this application that you all have is for the entire five acres.

[3:11:09] So staff has been reviewing something totally different than what's been available to the residents that have concerns about this proposal.

[3:11:18] And in those meetings, it says that the name and address and phone number of the property owners is listed on the deed.

[3:11:27] Well, the deed has a totally different name, and a totally different address that's not in Raytown.

[3:11:37] And at the very first public meeting where the developer came and said to the residents,

[3:11:47] this is what I plan to do, I'm Raytown. I live here. He doesn't.

[3:11:55] But he tried to tell us, tell you, he does.

[3:12:00] Because there's no resonance at 6625 Raytown Road.

[3:12:08] And it says we propose the zoning be changed from R1 to CN.

[3:12:17] Do you know what CN is?

[3:12:19] Address us.

[3:12:21] Mr. Molloy here.

[3:12:22] Okay.

[3:12:23] Do any of you know what-

[3:12:24] statement and address us-

[3:12:25] Do any of you know what-

[3:12:26] Not all these other people.

[3:12:27] Do any of you know what CN zoning is?

[3:12:31] I don't.

[3:12:33] I've been looking.

[3:12:35] It's never been addressed.

[3:12:36] I wasn't here tonight, and it was presented at the other board meeting.

[3:12:39] Pardon me?

[3:12:39] It's been presented here tonight, and it was also

[3:12:42] mentioned during the other meetings.

[3:12:43] I'm just looking at the application.

[3:12:45] OK, well, anyway.

[3:12:47] Are you denying that the application is to rezone it to CN?

[3:12:53] Because that's what the application is.

[3:12:57] So, you know, I guess what I

[3:13:00] I don't understand, and many of us in Raytown don't understand, is that there's a proposal

[3:13:06] right here, application, for five acres.

[3:13:11] But yet we keep hearing that it's only two and a half of those acres.

[3:13:19] So I just don't know what's in front of us.

[3:13:22] And I don't think it's fair for the residents of Raytown to be limited to five minutes

[3:13:27] when we sat through five minutes of video of a sidewalk from people who live out of

[3:13:36] state.

[3:13:39] That's all I have. Thank you. Who else do you have? Bob Walker. Mr. Walker.

[3:13:51] That's what it

[3:13:52] looks like. Sorry. Good evening. Thank you. Good evening. Amen. Address please. My name is Bob

[3:13:59] I'm Bob Wallin. I'm a member of the team for Mr. Babani.

[3:14:04] I'm a commercial real estate agent with Block & Company, Inc. Realtors.

[3:14:10] I've been in business for 43 years, so I've been around. I've seen a lot of development.

[3:14:17] I was the agent that sold the property to Mr. Babani.

[3:14:21] Our firm represented the seller originally. I represented Kevin.

[3:14:26] We identified the site as a potential commercial site because of the size.

[3:14:34] We thought it would be a candidate for development.

[3:14:37] Mr. Babani owns two sea stores in Raytown.

[3:14:43] His business model is now advancing where a new sea store needs to grow

[3:14:50] and have a gas component along with liquor sales which is a component of the

[3:14:57] Seastore business.

[3:15:00] The site is being requested to be zoned neighborhood commercial on half of the site, retaining the

[3:15:10] underlying R1 zoning that's originally there. Now, that zoning, regardless of what it is,

[3:15:21] that site has been perceived as a commercial site for decades. And we've discussed it here,

[3:15:28] the history of the site.

[3:15:32] I have to say that Mr. Gilbert, I can summarize my

[3:15:39] whole interest here in three words. I agree with him. The planning department

[3:15:47] did an excellent job of the research of the use of the property, of the history

[3:15:58] conditions that affect the property, its potential for future development, and those

[3:16:06] are limited. What we're proposing is a convenience store with gas sales and a

[3:16:15] significant amount of retail. The retail is a buffer. That softens the idea of

[3:16:24] just a gasoline station that's going to sell liquor. It's not a big scary thing. We all

[3:16:31] go to sea stores. You go to quick trips, you go to it, wherever you go. So the retail component

[3:16:39] we can address in several different ways. We know that there's certain things that

[3:16:45] the ownership, Mr. Bermany, is not going to accept. He's not going to accept smoke

[3:16:52] He's not going to accept another liquor store.

[3:16:56] He's not going to accept some of these uses that people have discussed that are what they consider detrimental to the neighborhood.

[3:17:05] We're trying to be conscious of the neighbors of the area, build a quality product,

[3:17:13] and I want to say just as a clarification, Block & Company has no ownership interest in this development.

[3:17:20] This is Kevin's deal and to advance his C-store concept.

[3:17:27] We can address the retail component with business services.

[3:17:33] It could be a tax accountant's office, an attorney's office, a dental office.

[3:17:41] Our company has developed a lot of stuff in Raytown.

[3:17:44] I'm sure you're familiar with us.

[3:17:46] Raytown has not had a lot of new development.

[3:17:50] And you've got an individual who's willing to invest a lot of money to do this and to do it right.

[3:17:58] I mean, some of the recent developments go back, I believe, a decade or more.

[3:18:04] We built on 350 Highway and Raytown Road.

[3:18:09] We developed the IHOP, the Freddie's State Frozen Custard and State Burgers, the Tidal Wave Car Wash.

[3:18:18] So, you know, we know the situation that needs to be dealt with.

[3:18:23] And I think Kevin's got a plan that will benefit the neighborhood.

[3:18:30] This is a neighborhood retail center.

[3:18:34] It's not a big box store.

[3:18:36] It's not a large generator.

[3:18:41] It's a 14,000-foot roughly building.

[3:18:47] And I would ask that you consider approving the recommendation for the rezoning of the property.

[3:18:56] Thank you.

[3:18:59] Did you have a question, Mr. Walters?

[3:19:02] No, there's no question right now.

[3:19:03] You signed up to speak like the other folks.

[3:19:06] Okay.

[3:19:15] I didn't know he was going to do that until then, so he's part of that team, but I'm only

[3:19:21] going to hold him in five minutes because he didn't sign up with them, so.

[3:19:26] You're fine.

[3:19:27] Okay.

[3:19:27] I know you're done anyway, so.

[3:19:29] Next time, make sure you're with them, and that way there won't be a problem.

[3:19:32] Yeah, I thought I was going to go up after the original group.

[3:19:36] Okay.

[3:19:36] That's fair enough.

[3:19:37] Thank you a lot.

[3:19:38] Appreciate your judgment.

[3:19:43] Ken Moore.

[3:19:44] Ken Moore.

[3:19:48] How are you this evening, sir?

[3:19:54] Ken Moore, 5376 Blue Ridge Boulevard right next to the proposed rezoning.

[3:20:00] I think everything's been said that I was going to say, so I can't repeat myself.

[3:20:07] I just want to touch on you guys again. You got some big decisions to make,

[3:20:12] and most of the time progress is going so fast and technology is so fast, we tend to overstep

[3:20:23] our bounds and move forward without really needing to take a step back, take two steps

[3:20:31] back before you take one step forward and really make sure you're making the right

[3:20:37] decisions instead of just due to progress, you know. We need a good solid foundation in

[3:20:48] Raytown with the population. We need people to support all these businesses.

[3:20:55] You have a lot of businesses and I don't have people to support the

[3:20:59] businesses. They don't make all the money. They're not at their peak

[3:21:06] potential. We need you to consider the people. People come first. Businesses come second.

[3:21:20] I don't want to bash Kevin, you know, he's an entrepreneur, but you know, to come to

[3:21:26] somebody else's town and break ground,

[3:21:33] it's not fair to the public, I believe.

[3:21:39] Thank

[3:21:39] Thank you for listening to me.

[3:21:41] Thank you, sir.

[3:21:43] Next?

[3:21:44] Verletta Martin.

[3:21:47] Good evening, Ms. Martin. How are you?

[3:21:49] I am well, Mayor. How are you?

[3:21:50] I'm doing well. Thanks. Would you give us your name and your address, please?

[3:21:53] My name is Verletta Martin. I am here representing Luffy's Five Fish at

[3:21:56] 9120 East State Route 350 West.

[3:22:03] Oh, Raytown. How glorious it has been to watch your growth.

[3:22:08] I own Ladies' Sports Bar at 6635 Raytown Road.

[3:22:12] I was a neighbor to Kevin when he first moved in.

[3:22:17] My family has been a part of the Raytown community for many years.

[3:22:21] As an 80s baby, I experienced being the only black girl in my kindergarten class at West Ridge Elementary School

[3:22:28] and take pride in the diversity that I have watched us grow into.

[3:22:34] I was a neighbor to KB's first location on 66th and Raytown Road

[3:22:38] and one of the first to welcome Kevin into the neighborhood.

[3:22:41] Seeing how he transformed the Wonder Bread Bakery that I knew growing up and had many

[3:22:49] trips to with my mother was definitely made my heart smile.

[3:22:53] To see our community's evolution has been a marvel for me and with business owners like

[3:23:00] Kevin who have decided to invest in our community by opening multiple businesses in the area

[3:23:06] showing his commitment to Raytown is something I admire and continue to

[3:23:11] support. The opposition to his proposal has seen very bias towards this growth.

[3:23:17] Last Friday I reached out to Kevin to see if he had considered drafting his own

[3:23:22] petition as drafting his own petition as I have witnessed his kindness and

[3:23:28] generosity to his customers and knew he should have support. And he humbly

[3:23:33] reply, you know me. I don't have that thing in me to talk to people and ask them to come

[3:23:37] out. So I took it upon myself to draft a petition

[3:23:41] and put the word out that this meeting was taking place. And when I returned to the

[3:23:45] store less than three hours later, because I personally forgot to sign the petition,

[3:23:50] there was nearly 100 signatures on this petition. Now I know these things,

[3:23:59] over just

[3:24:00] Just a few days, we did collect around 500 signatures.

[3:24:04] I know these signatures haven't been certified, but I believe it shows what we as the people

[3:24:09] who have become loyal patrons to Histora's knows what his business style is.

[3:24:14] Clean, respectable, well-lit, and in Raytown.

[3:24:18] Furthermore, a lot of the people who visit Histora may not be Raytown residents.

[3:24:23] They bring their Kansas City dollars, their least-summoned dollars, right here to Histora

[3:24:28] because of who he is and how he does business.

[3:24:32] So we are asking for the Board of Aldermen to approve the amendment to the ordinance,

[3:24:38] allowing the property to be rezoned as neighborhood commercial

[3:24:42] and continue the growth that Kevin is obviously willing to invest in.

[3:24:47] Thank you.

[3:24:47] Thank you very much.

[3:24:50] Who do we have next?

[3:24:52] Doretta Golsby?

[3:24:56] Oh, sorry.

[3:24:56] I'm sorry.

[3:24:57] Can you give us your name and address, please?

[3:25:01] My name is Doretta Gouldsby.

[3:25:03] My address is 7212 Cedar Avenue.

[3:25:07] I am in Ward 2.

[3:25:09] I also am part of the Luffy's family.

[3:25:12] I grew up in Raytown.

[3:25:14] I've been here for about two decades now.

[3:25:16] I am a graduate of Raytown South.

[3:25:18] I am committed to the city of Raytown.

[3:25:23] Our restaurant was originally in that 66th Street little subdivision, so we were there

[3:25:32] when KBs originally came.

[3:25:35] As that was my first job, I was working for my mom.

[3:25:39] I was often walking back and forth to that restaurant, to that business.

[3:25:46] I've never had any problems at KBs.

[3:25:50] I've always been welcome, I've always been respected, I've always been greeted, it's always clean and

[3:25:58] it's a store even now that I have missed out, like it's the only store in Raytown who carries

[3:26:04] the snacks of my childhood, best sodas and things of that nature. It's one of the few places you

[3:26:11] can get it in the city of Raytown. I go to KVs once a week. It's where I go when I don't

[3:26:17] I don't want the lines of Walmart when I need to pick up a loaf of bread or a gallon of milk,

[3:26:23] and I don't want to fight the high prices of high V because in this economy, who does?

[3:26:31] But I've never had a problem there.

[3:26:33] And so to hear that people are having these kind of problems, it's not my experience.

[3:26:40] And I am there at least once a week, if not twice, because I have a soda addiction.

[3:26:46] That's neither here nor there.

[3:26:48] What we are here to talk about is KB's business model.

[3:26:53] I've seen nothing in the way he practices business to believe that what he is saying is not true.

[3:26:59] His team has done a lot of work.

[3:27:01] They have been diligent.

[3:27:02] Our planning committee has done a lot of work.

[3:27:04] They have been diligent.

[3:27:06] This land has been vacant for eight years.

[3:27:09] Someone else has come and attempted to put housing there.

[3:27:13] It never happened.

[3:27:15] So when we have someone who is already invested and committed to the city of Raytown, no matter

[3:27:21] where he lives, he opens his businesses here and he is frequented and supported by the

[3:27:28] city of Raytown because if Raytown citizens didn't support him, he would have gone out

[3:27:32] of business with the first door.

[3:27:34] So to say that we are worried about his financial, I'm not worried about Kevin's financial situation.

[3:27:40] What I am worried about is if we don't approve it, that land continues to lay vacant for another eight years.

[3:27:50] Are we going to do this every time?

[3:27:54] At some point, Raytown has to invest in moving forward.

[3:27:58] And because of that, I am asking the Board of Aldermen to approve this application and allow this to be rezoned from residential to neighborhood commercial.

[3:28:10] Thank you.

[3:28:10] Thank you very much, Ms. Perry.

[3:28:14] Okay, I'm going to botch this name. I'm so sorry.

[3:28:18] Oh, Ovanjei. I love that. Martin.

[3:28:22] Good evening. How are you? I'm Ovanjei Martin.

[3:28:26] I live at 7001 Lakeshore Drive. I also work

[3:28:30] at Lucas Pride Fish in Raytown. And I've been there the whole 16 years that it

[3:28:34] was open. We were originally at 6633 Raytown Road.

[3:28:38] We never had a problem.

[3:28:41] The only time we had a criminal element,

[3:28:44] all the business in that shopping center were broken into one night.

[3:28:48] Every last one.

[3:28:50] I've never heard of any bad things.

[3:28:53] I am a customer of KBs.

[3:28:55] I'm there every two days.

[3:28:56] I smoke cigarettes.

[3:28:58] He didn't originally have my cigarettes.

[3:29:01] He started carrying my cigarettes.

[3:29:03] I've changed cigarettes.

[3:29:05] He's always had what I wanted.

[3:29:07] I'm not a big drinker, I'm a pop addict, he has the pop that I want.

[3:29:14] Some people, convenience, I grew up in Raytown, West Ridge Elementary, Raytown South, Middle

[3:29:21] and Raytown High.

[3:29:24] Convenience is something that a lot of people living in Raytown, they had that, I've never

[3:29:30] had that.

[3:29:31] until KB's move. I had to go outside of Raytown to buy cigarettes. Convenience is

[3:29:38] something that y'all have the privilege of. Until KB's moved here, we had to go

[3:29:43] outside. Now we can stay here and spend our money here. Thank you. Thank you.

[3:29:51] Who else here? Rebecca, bourge, bourge water? Bridgewater?

[3:30:00] Rebecca? I did see some people leave, so it could be that somebody left. Rebecca? Going once, going twice, okay.

[3:30:12] Okay. Meredith Merly?

[3:30:22] Good evening.

[3:30:25] Give us your name and address, please.

[3:30:27] My name is Meredith Merly, and I live on Blue Ridge Boulevard between Sterling and Woodson. So Ward 3 Alderman, I am speaking directly to you.

[3:30:37] I'm not from here. I'm from Johnson County, Kansas. I've moved here two years ago, not

[3:30:44] by choice. FactRate Town was at the very bottom of my list of places to go. I bought the house

[3:30:51] during COVID to support parents who are elderly. One dying of cancer and who has since passed

[3:30:58] away is what I could afford to bring them into my home and help them.

[3:31:06] When I moved

[3:31:06] And what I still see is a lot of empty buildings, a lot of empty spaces.

[3:31:15] I see my neighbors constantly picking up trash along Blue Ridge Boulevard.

[3:31:21] I do it too, which unfortunately was one thing I told my realtor I did not want to do,

[3:31:25] and yet here I am still doing it.

[3:31:29] I have no doubt that this gentleman wants to invest in Raytown,

[3:31:34] wants to see it grow, wants to see it succeed.

[3:31:38] I don't have a problem with commercial development.

[3:31:41] What I do have a problem with is new development.

[3:31:44] We have so much empty.

[3:31:47] Why not revitalize what we have?

[3:31:50] Why not build your community what we have?

[3:31:53] Fox drugs and prescriptions, nothing there.

[3:31:56] Nothing there.

[3:31:57] In the two years I've been here.

[3:32:00] All of these strip malls, you can call it a mart.

[3:32:04] You can call it a shopping mall, a shopping mart, whatever.

[3:32:07] It's still a strip mall. It's all the same.

[3:32:09] It's just your vernacular has changed.

[3:32:11] There's no difference between a zoo and a sanctuary.

[3:32:14] They're both nonprofit. One just sounds better.

[3:32:21] They talk about, would we leave this area blank,

[3:32:28] vacant?

[3:32:29] Put a park there for the children in the area.

[3:32:33] put a community garden to support your neighbors, wouldn't even put any more work on your parks

[3:32:39] department as we would be the ones taking care of it.

[3:32:43] Do something better like that.

[3:32:45] Let this gentleman revitalize an area of the town that needs it, that needs it.

[3:32:50] That place doesn't need it.

[3:32:51] They talk about a wonderful walking place, never in all my life in Johnson County have

[3:32:57] I ever wanted to walk around a strip mall.

[3:33:01] and I can guarantee you they are not wrong when they say there are strip malls in

[3:33:06] Johnson County, Olathe, Lee Summit, Overland Park, Lonexa, I've seen them all. I have 30

[3:33:13] years of experience there. None of them and they do butt up to residential areas

[3:33:18] but they're not in the middle of a residential area like this would be. They

[3:33:25] They're on Maine Dragg's Metcalfe Avenue, Shawnee Mission Parkway.

[3:33:30] They are there.

[3:33:31] But there is a very clear line between them and your residents.

[3:33:39] That would not be the case here.

[3:33:43] Had I known that this would be coming up, I would have not bought this house.

[3:33:50] I would rather rent, and it is cheaper to own.

[3:33:55] And given the choice today, if this goes through and my property value declines, I would like to be compensated for the loss so that I can move out of this place.

[3:34:09] We talk about convenience.

[3:34:10] When I first moved here, I drove 40 minutes back to Johnson County to go shopping for my groceries, for my gas, for everything.

[3:34:20] And even now, I'll go to Lee Summit over here because to me, there is nothing here that has shown me that we are moving forward in this town.

[3:34:34] I will invest because I have to, because I am stuck here financially.

[3:34:41] So I'm asking my alderman to please listen to the people who you represent, you

[3:34:50] represent us, and a reminder that your voters are watching.

[3:34:59] Next.

[3:35:00] Nicole Moore.

[3:35:02] Nicole

[3:35:11] Moore.

[3:35:24] Good evening.

[3:35:25] Your address.

[3:35:26] Good evening.

[3:35:26] My name is Nicole Moore.

[3:35:27] I'm with the Safe at Home Program, Kansas City, Missouri.

[3:35:31] I'd like to start out by saying that planning and zoning voted the rezoning of this land that is residential to commercial no.

[3:35:39] Planning and zoning also voted for this commercial application as a no.

[3:35:45] I'm asking you tonight to trust the experts that are with the city with the planning and zoning who have been here and listened to our four hours of discussions.

[3:35:56] Ms. Stock stated, seems that we may almost have to take out that city recommendation referring to the city,

[3:36:06] cutting the land in half and making the commercial zoning seeming more appealing, leaving the other half zoned residential.

[3:36:14] She stated this along with some information that Willie wouldn't be appealing to a builder to build on the half of the property

[3:36:22] once a convenient shop gas station is planned there. Steve Myers, he stated,

[3:36:29] this is an opportunity to make something either available or not in a situation

[3:36:35] where we are boxed in. We need smarter economical development. Because of the

[3:36:41] environment we are in, we have a unique needs because of our situation, but

[3:36:46] this does not box us in where we have where we just have to have a house

[3:36:50] In fact, that Kevin has had a couple of businesses here.

[3:36:55] Steve has stated that he has to pump up his personal business,

[3:36:59] and he has to hunt down references and how good it is.

[3:37:02] The word unavoidable was scary to him.

[3:37:05] Steve Myers stated that there's so many unanswered questions to this plan.

[3:37:11] It is not a solid plan, and that maybe we could do this,

[3:37:14] but maybe it actually butts up to the community of the residents

[3:37:18] who have been here a long time and they are not hearing anything solid nor are

[3:37:23] anything in the best interest of them nor the particular property. I'm asking you

[3:37:32] guys to trust the experts of the planning and zoning and vote no. I did some

[3:37:38] personal research myself and I called builders, builders who have built in

[3:37:41] right town because there is new construction in right town. I spoke with

[3:37:45] two builders who have pending new construction houses currently right now on the market.

[3:37:50] One of them went under contract within four days, one of them went under contract within

[3:37:53] two days.

[3:37:55] Both of these builders are ready and willing to build on this property given the opportunity.

[3:37:59] It's not that this land has been left vacant, it's just that it's been unavailable for

[3:38:03] people to purchase, build on, or make an opportunity out of it.

[3:38:08] Please don't let that phase you, because it was listed so long ago for the 1.2 million

[3:38:13] And then it was gone on auction that that gentleman that bought it at auction had plans to put in patio villa homes

[3:38:20] Which I believe the community was fine with as that fits residential land, but COVID happened

[3:38:26] That's why it didn't happen COVID happen the influence the cost of the materials and then he himself and his family became sick

[3:38:36] I

[3:38:37] Reached up to a few more builders who have who actually have recently built into

[3:38:41] to Raytown within the last 12 years.

[3:38:44] Four of these builders that, and I only called for,

[3:38:47] I spoke to them and they are educated, licensed,

[3:38:50] motivated and ready to break ground in Raytown.

[3:38:53] They all found the property at 5348 Blue Ridge Boulevard

[3:38:56] to be appealing and willing to build.

[3:38:59] I also have a potential buyer who would like to invest

[3:39:02] in this property for a Christmas tree farm

[3:39:05] or a pumpkin farm for the Raytown community.

[3:39:08] But what a draw that would be for the surrounding cities

[3:39:10] to bring their children and enjoy this land that is so well-versed for this property and

[3:39:15] elements and adding value of quality life to the entire community. Raytown is known as a tree

[3:39:22] supporting city. It's been known for at least 20 years. There's been some news articles done on it

[3:39:28] stating that the greener we are, the wealthier we are. Let's not remove the green.

[3:39:37] It's what

[3:39:38] a uniqueness into it. There's labeled champion trees here. There's the

[3:39:44] Dawnwood, Redwood, the Sawtooth Oak, and Yellow Dogwood. And I hear the

[3:39:49] lawyer saying this. I just don't know if I believe it. But there are plaques and

[3:39:54] labels on these champion trees and there are actually people drive to

[3:39:58] California to stand among the phenomenal Redwoods. We need to save

[3:40:03] these trees. Maybe one of you guys can file a motion that they're not

[3:40:07] able to tear them down because they absorb at least 500 gallons of water each day.

[3:40:12] I also heard several times they said they will not sell smokes and liquor on this property.

[3:40:18] So I'm asking someone, anyone up here, to file a motion or call for a motion.

[3:40:23] If I say that wrong, I'm sorry, that there will be no liquor, there will be no liquor

[3:40:28] and there will be no smokes sold on this property as they're already agreed to it.

[3:40:35] I gave you guys some articles, like mine you said, that shows that in the past year,

[3:40:42] over 547 homes have sold in Raytown.

[3:40:45] We only have 19 homes available on the market active right now,

[3:40:48] and 57 of them are pending and ready to close.

[3:40:52] There is definitely a need for new construction.

[3:40:55] Robinson Meadows has a very good path.

[3:40:58] Yes.

[3:40:59] Robinson Meadows had a very good path of selling all their new homes quickly.

[3:41:03] building, and builders are ready and eager to build, and they have pulled permits in right

[3:41:07] time before and know how to do this. I guess my last...

[3:41:15] Okay, time's up.

[3:41:16] Okay, thank you.

[3:41:16] Time's up.

[3:41:17] Sorry, thank you.

[3:41:19] Kyle, Shanice. Shanice, sorry. Shanice, sorry.

[3:41:26] I know, I can't get it straight.

[3:41:29] Good evening.

[3:41:30] Good evening, sir.

[3:41:30] How are you, sir?

[3:41:31] I'm doing pretty good.

[3:41:33] Do you wish your name and your address, please?

[3:41:35] My name is Kyle Shaughnessy. I am part of the Safe at Home program in Kansas City, Missouri.

[3:41:41] And just so you know, Asia used to butcher my name in high school all the time, too.

[3:41:45] So that's something that's been happening all my life.

[3:41:49] But just to start out here, I wanted to run over a few things.

[3:41:54] Famed architect Hewell Newell Jacobson said,

[3:41:57] when you look at a city, it's like reading the hopes, aspirations,

[3:41:59] and pride of everyone who built it.

[3:42:01] The question before us today isn't one of passivity or a question based on purely economics.

[3:42:06] It's about the future of a city and what pride we want to take in a town we all love.

[3:42:10] You all, I am sure, have watched and taken to heart the Planning and Zoning Committee comments

[3:42:14] and hopefully watched the playback of the questions they ask and the testimony of the residents.

[3:42:20] I had a whole speech here and I'm kind of throwing most of it out the window at the moment.

[3:42:26] But one of the main points I wanted to bring up about that planning and zoning committee

[3:42:31] meeting was one thing that really struck out to me was one of the members on the committee

[3:42:39] asked the applicant directly why he doesn't have a store in his own home city of Olafa.

[3:42:48] Thank you.

[3:42:51] The question, and his response verbatim was there's no land over there for those kind of businesses.

[3:42:58] The city doesn't allow too many to be around there. The question was after that, why Raytown?

[3:43:03] If Olathe is saying no, why would Raytown say yes?

[3:43:06] We have a plethora of these types of businesses all over within a couple of miles of this space.

[3:43:10] His own location is at 1.5 miles away according to Google from this location.

[3:43:14] This should be very telling that the applicant even says those types of businesses.

[3:43:19] Now, I want to clearly stated that I've got no problem with economic growth, with, you

[3:43:27] know, wanting to develop Raytown, but it needs to be done in the right way.

[3:43:32] A lot of us just feel that this isn't the right way to do it.

[3:43:37] Obviously planning and zoning agreed with a lot of what the people said.

[3:43:44] They agreed that this needed to stay residential, that that was going to be the best use for this property.

[3:43:50] One member actually said, maybe commercial at a future point in time, but this is not the time.

[3:43:57] Also, I wanted to bring up a consultation that was done by one of the aldermen here.

[3:44:06] And I just, to me, it seemed to be a very extensively researched piece of testimony and it certainly made a view clear how he felt this property should be used.

[3:44:21] First, I want to talk about the crime statistic, how it may or may not increase in the area.

[3:44:26] Two things about that.

[3:44:28] If you speak and listen to the residents in the area, they are already concerned because of gunshots at night on repeated occasions,

[3:44:33] as well as speeding vehicles, making it dangerous to venture out at night,

[3:44:37] not to mention a police force that is currently understaffed.

[3:44:39] According to Neighborhood Scout, the Missouri average of being involved in a violent crime is 1 in 187 people.

[3:44:45] In Raytown, it is 1 in 158 people.

[3:44:47] Property crime in Missouri is 1 in 42 homes.

[3:44:51] In Raytown, it is way higher, 1 in 28 homes.

[3:44:54] Already, you see a pattern here.

[3:44:55] Another nuisance business right in the residential area with

[3:45:00] Vagrants migrating from 70 and 40 highway to another gas station or convenience store liquor

[3:45:05] smoke shop, then wanting to put in a walking trail that leads a number of these people directly

[3:45:08] to the back doors of the members of the neighborhood in that area. Clearly something to think about

[3:45:15] along with some FBI related statistics that you can actually hear during the planning

[3:45:20] and zoning committee meeting that my daughter brought up. These should really make you

[3:45:25] rethink the strategy for this area. The second point that I wanted to bring up was something

[3:45:31] that struck me as kind of misleading. In the report that was done, it was said that there

[3:45:37] were zero, there have been zero single-family home permits submitted by the city of Raytown

[3:45:47] since 2011. I think that's a very misleading stat because there have been a number of

[3:45:52] them. The city of Raytown just hasn't reported to that. Marcos, I believe it is. I think was

[3:45:58] the stat line that was used.

[3:46:02] Mark, Mark, sorry. And Chris can even attest to that, that there

[3:46:08] have been permits issued. So I think that purely on that basis was slightly misleading.

[3:46:15] And I just want to clearly stated that there have been residential homes built since 2011

[3:46:23] that the city hasn't remained stagnant. We can grow, we need to grow the right way.

[3:46:29] Is this the right way? I certainly don't think so.

[3:46:32] And then in kind of summation, we have open retail property.

[3:46:37] We have commercial lots for sale. We have a higher-than-average crime rate,

[3:46:39] and we have a lack of single-family homes.

[3:46:41] We have a lack of Raytownian pride.

[3:46:44] Let's take pride in creating something that does something for the city,

[3:46:47] not something that leads to citizens of Raytown just being another statistic.

[3:46:51] David Brooks, a commentator for the New York Times said,

[3:46:53] almost every successful person begins with two beliefs.

[3:46:56] The future can be better than the present, and I have the power to make it so.

[3:47:00] Make a better future for Raytown.

[3:47:01] Don't allow this project to come to fruition.

[3:47:03] Thank you for your time.

[3:47:05] Thank you.

[3:47:07] What do you have next?

[3:47:08] Mark Weis, Mark Weis.

[3:47:19] Name and address.

[3:47:21] Mark Weis, 11304 East 53rd Street, Braytown, Missouri, proud member of ward number three.

[3:47:31] I had a lot of information that was not going to be able to do in five minutes.

[3:47:38] I forwarded it to the city clerk yesterday and hopefully you guys will be able to get it.

[3:47:43] Some things that need to be addressed.

[3:47:48] Our group did not want to come back anything on the city development people in regards to the 10-day, 15-day letter notice.

[3:48:00] Both the ones that we were talking about were the ones sent by the proposer.

[3:48:06] They were mailed. One was dated on January the 17th. It was mailed on the 18th.

[3:48:12] We received it on the 20th for a meeting on the 24th.

[3:48:16] The other one was dated on March 10, it was mailed on March 15, received on the 17th for a meeting on the 21st.

[3:48:27] Both of those letters indicate that we were looking at 5.29 acres.

[3:48:34] Every time we come to a city meeting, it was different.

[3:48:38] We're going to do it all. We're going to do half. We're going to turn it.

[3:48:44] Planning and zoning meetings saw what was going on and that was one of the main

[3:48:49] reasons why they said no. Today we're sitting here the size of the proposal I

[3:48:59] honestly believe kept changing because they wanted to eliminate the 185 feet

[3:49:02] from the residential people of Ward 3.

[3:49:07] That's wrong. Every one of us in that

[3:49:10] area have a say or should have a say. The traffic study that was done, it was

[3:49:17] dated wrong on the front page, it was dated in 2019, it was certified in 2022

[3:49:25] and they gave the week of the last week of December or I'm sorry last week of

[3:49:29] November 1st week of December. In the traffic impact analysis under the city

[3:49:38] guidelines states existing conditions, a 24-hour traffic count needs to be done.

[3:49:46] Many of you have driven across the little black lines, little stripes.

[3:49:51] Those were never done.

[3:49:54] Their counts cannot be accurate.

[3:49:56] There was no diagram to show anything about this in that proposal.

[3:50:03] I have submitted also a hand-drawn diagram as part of it.

[3:50:13] Also, I am the officer that they talk about that's retired that has done the crime statistics.

[3:50:19] I'll fully admit to it, I'm the one that stood in front of that planning and zoning meeting

[3:50:23] that was here every day that they had for over 15 hours it seemed like.

[3:50:29] Those are the facts. We've had businesses that leave Raytown because of the crime, and it's

[3:50:35] nothing against our police department. I served with it for 20 years. Budget concerns cut their

[3:50:41] legs out from under them. We all understand that, but we have so many blight in our deals.

[3:50:52] What happens when this one goes under? We have another bill. If it gets re-zoned to

[3:50:59] commercial, and he backs out.

[3:51:02] The citizens of Ward 3 have no voice at that point in time

[3:51:08] to say what would go in there.

[3:51:10] That's one of the reasons why we're here.

[3:51:15] We've been there.

[3:51:15] I've been in my house now for 35 years.

[3:51:19] In fact, I was one of the two officers that responded when

[3:51:22] Mr. Bochi's had his heart attack and helped

[3:51:24] perform CPR.

[3:51:28] I have that tie.

[3:51:29] I have that to me, you know, the crime that comes with gas stations.

[3:51:38] Since this started, 17 gas stations in the Kansas City metropolitan area have had more

[3:51:43] than one shooting.

[3:51:46] Most of them have resulted in homicides.

[3:51:49] I don't want it in my neighborhood.

[3:51:52] I'm sure each and every one of you don't want it in your neighborhood.

[3:51:56] I'm not against economic development, but it has to be right.

[3:52:02] Raytown also has a city ordinance under Chapter 4, Section 278-G,

[3:52:12] which prohibits devices of games no licey shall allow upon the premises covered by such license

[3:52:19] any gambling of any kind or character for money, trade checks, prizes, merchandise, or any other consideration whatsoever.

[3:52:28] Three stores in Raytown right now have gaming machines in them.

[3:52:34] Two of them are KB stores.

[3:52:38] We need to address that by this board that it's another item that's going to bring crime back into our community.

[3:52:53] a lot of

[3:52:57] businesses around there right now have shortened their hours. That's causing

[3:53:00] loss of dollars because of some of the crime that's in the area. They've talked about how

[3:53:07] much money this will bring in from where.

[3:53:13] Raytown's not the tourist attraction.

[3:53:17] It's

[3:53:17] going to take from other businesses, and if we take from other businesses, they're

[3:53:23] going to lose, and they'll be boarded up just like some of the other businesses.

[3:53:28] Thank you.

[3:53:29] Who's next?

[3:53:31] Zach Mahauland.

[3:53:35] How many more people do you show?

[3:54:02] My name is Zach Mahauland.

[3:54:04] I live at 11216, East 53rd Terrace, right next to this development, and I have a packet that

[3:54:10] I've provided.

[3:54:12] Hopefully it'll be passed around there.

[3:54:13] I don't have enough time to go through everything here, so I'd encourage you to

[3:54:17] read it after at any time or ask me any questions if you're having an offend.

[3:54:22] I've lived in Raytown for only a couple years now and I chose to buy my house in Raytown

[3:54:27] because I really wanted to be invested in a community I believe is up and coming

[3:54:31] and will prosper in the future.

[3:54:35] Now, the concerns I have with this development is specifically at being commercial zoned.

[3:54:41] The first thing is the comprehensive plan.

[3:54:43] This re-zoning is directly in contrast to how the comprehensive plan has set it out.

[3:54:50] It says that single-family neighborhoods should remain Raytown's primary land use,

[3:54:54] and those neighborhoods should be protected from the intrusion of incompatible plan uses.

[3:54:58] And it also says that the comprehensive plan recommends that commercial uses be focused in two areas,

[3:55:04] the M350 corridor and downtown.

[3:55:07] Extensive commercial development on the periphery of Raytown and along its major corridors may discourage the redevelopment of downtown for such uses.

[3:55:19] The other concerns I have about the flooding and City staff has gone through and done some responses to what I have posted at Planning and Zoning.

[3:55:27] I appreciate that.

[3:55:28] But the issues with the flooding are poor.

[3:55:31] The blue ridge is on top of the hill.

[3:55:34] It flows downhill into homes.

[3:55:35] This property is surrounded on all three sides by homes, and the homes directly downhill from here already are experiencing flooding issues with water in the basement when it rains.

[3:55:48] And two of those homes have been condemned due to this flooding and demolished.

[3:55:53] We've lost two different homes that could have families or other things in Raytown directly because of the property.

[3:55:59] And that's as it sits right now.

[3:56:01] Not before any commercial repavement,

[3:56:05] it would only exacerbate and increase the problem

[3:56:08] as this is like 10 to 15 degree or foot drop

[3:56:12] from Blue Ridge down to 53rd Street.

[3:56:15] Another thing that was mentioned

[3:56:16] is that 53rd and Woodson are collector streets

[3:56:22] and that they should be able to handle the traffic

[3:56:24] and then the water runoff because of that.

[3:56:26] But 53rd and Woodson don't conform to our standards set out in our Raytown Design and

[3:56:34] Construction Manual or the Comprehensive Plan.

[3:56:37] And they don't have gutters or sidewalks or anything that's required for that plan.

[3:56:46] On page four, there's the actual homes that have been removed, satellite there in 2007.

[3:56:53] The homes are there.

[3:56:53] 2009, they've been condemned and demolished, directly downhill from this property.

[3:57:00] Another thing about this is gas stations and fast food restaurants and parking lots are

[3:57:06] considered commercial hot spots by the American Public Works Association's Manual of Best

[3:57:12] Management Practices for Stormwater Quality.

[3:57:15] And that is the design guide that we've adopted for our environmental requirements

[3:57:20] for Raytown and provides an example of best management practices for Raytown.

[3:57:27] And one of the requirements for that is that runoff from gas stations,

[3:57:31] specifically the area where it's being refueled from,

[3:57:34] that runoff needs to be filtered and then drained into the sanitary sewer,

[3:57:40] not into our streams and rivers.

[3:57:43] And that is the best management practice requirement.

[3:57:46] And we already know that our sewers are impaired in Ray Town, and we're making them better,

[3:57:51] but another more runoff from that is not helpful, especially in the area.

[3:57:59] The vacant gas station across the street has been addressed to some extent,

[3:58:04] and it's been vacant for a while.

[3:58:07] The gas station, the tank was installed in 2003 and drained in February 2014.

[3:58:14] From what I can tell, there's a long gap between the closing and when the tank was drained.

[3:58:18] A year after the tank was drained, there's supposed to be a soil contamination test.

[3:58:22] There isn't records of that test.

[3:58:24] There's never been an actual record of the soil contamination test at that site.

[3:58:29] The Missouri Department of Natural Resources doesn't require a soil test unless there's a spill.

[3:58:34] Luckily, there wasn't ever a reported spill there, but this test wasn't done.

[3:58:38] There wasn't a test done.

[3:58:39] And then when the tank is closed, there's supposed to be a test done,

[3:58:42] and that wasn't on record when I had contacted them.

[3:58:49] Another important thing is those trees on the property.

[3:58:52] There are two champion trees on this property,

[3:58:55] a dawn redwood and a sawtooth elk.

[3:58:58] These were both badged in 1979 and were the biggest trees in Kansas City at the time.

[3:59:07] This is a list that was collected by one of our local arborists at the time, Chuck Brasher,

[3:59:13] and he's dedicated his life to a lot of these trees and this list around Kansas City.

[3:59:19] These trees are pretty special as in based on that they were planted before Raytown was actually incorporated around the same time.

[3:59:29] That dawn redwood based on the growth pattern would have been planted around 1950 and aerial photographs from around 1958 of that area show that the redwood and that redwood growth there.

[3:59:40] This tree is grown up around with Raytown.

[3:59:43] It's been there the whole time we've been there, and it's right there is the entrance,

[3:59:48] the historic entrance along the Santa Fe Trail.

[3:59:51] Revit up.

[3:59:53] Okay.

[3:59:53] There's a 150-foot setback distance from that's required for

[4:00:00] For tobacco and liquor stores. This is directly required by the municipal code to sell packaged original liquor or malt original liquor.

[4:00:07] This property, not a single location on it, verifies the requirement.

[4:00:13] You can't sell liquor at this property during the current proposal. It is ineligible for a liquor license.

[4:00:19] Same thing, very similar for tobacco.

[4:00:23] And to set back, it's just too close to residence. There's houses all around.

[4:00:26] What if the zoning might be it might it might have been changed retroactively on top of the houses

[4:00:32] But there is houses north south and times up. Thank you

[4:00:36] Thank you. Let's take a ten minute break

[4:00:45] Okay, we're back in session 1132 hours. Let me ask everybody something here

[4:00:49] I want to make sure everybody's heard but it's same token. I don't want to just keep hearing the same thing over and over and over again

[4:00:55] so

[4:00:58] Does anybody have anything different that's already been out here statistics?

[4:01:03] and how they feel and all that kind of stuff

[4:01:05] because we've heard this at the planning and zoning

[4:01:09] and we've heard a lot of testimony tonight.

[4:01:12] And I'm just curious,

[4:01:14] because we're not voting on this tonight, obviously.

[4:01:16] If anybody else has something to say, different.

[4:01:20] Otherwise, we're gonna be here for another 70 minutes

[4:01:22] and if it's not anything super important then.

[4:01:28] I see that, Mark, thank you.

[4:01:31] Anyway.

[4:01:33] Can I see a show of hands who have something to say differently than whatever the people? Okay, so

[4:01:41] one two three

[4:01:43] four five six

[4:01:45] The people who have signed up that haven't spoke yet

[4:01:49] Are you okay with letting them?

[4:01:51] Say what they need to say and be done with it for the night or do you it fail like you just absolutely got to say something

[4:02:01] No, because I just want to see if there's something different to be said

[4:02:06] If you've got something to say then sign if you no,

[4:02:13] we're not voting tonight. That's not this is this is public hearing in the first reading

[4:02:17] We have another public hearing another reading on the 20th, sir

[4:02:23] That's it's doesn't take you can't do it all one night

[4:02:28] Okay,

[4:02:35] who's got their hand up?

[4:02:39] One two three four five we had 13

[4:02:48] So,

[4:02:54] if everybody's good with that, or unless you want to sit here another 70 minutes, I

[4:03:00] just don't want to keep hearing the same thing over and I don't know that you all want to

[4:03:03] either.

[4:03:03] I want to hear something fresh and new or something different angled.

[4:03:10] Yes?

[4:03:14] I'm sorry?

[4:03:19] Okay, the six people that wanted to talk, you guys have signed up, right?

[4:03:23] Okay.

[4:03:26] Who's the next one in line?

[4:03:28] and let's see if they want to tell me yes or no if they want to talk. Who's the next one?

[4:03:33] Sandy Kilkenny.

[4:03:36] Sandy?

[4:03:38] It's up to you. I'm just saying, if you don't have anything different, you've heard it all all night.

[4:03:43] Just like me.

[4:03:51] Okay. Well, there's another hearing on the 20th.

[4:03:55] Okay, what's the next one? Thank you very much.

[4:03:58] Aaron Pennington.

[4:03:59] Aaron Pennington. You

[4:04:03] want to speak? Come on up.

[4:04:05] Give us your name and address. Good evening.

[4:04:09] Hello, my name is Erin Pennington. I live at 11215 East 53rd Street.

[4:04:14] Please consider how much convenience store on the corner of Blue Ridge and Woodson would worsen Raytown's litter.

[4:04:20] The CVS across the street from 5348 has reduced its alcohol sales down to 30% of its stock and quit selling nicotine products entirely.

[4:04:28] This has slightly reduced the amount of discarded beer cans, bottles, and cigarette packages

[4:04:32] its customers litter onto our properties, but even so, our block suffers from the damage

[4:04:37] that businesses like theirs invite.

[4:04:39] My mom goes out nearly every day and walks her neighborhood to clean up the recyclables

[4:04:42] and garbage from her streets, ditches, and runoff pipes, but it's replaced almost as

[4:04:46] quickly as she collects it.

[4:04:47] This would be hard enough to ask even without the level of violent crime in our neighborhood.

[4:04:51] Many beers feel compelled to watch for her on her walks to get home safely.

[4:04:55] Even as it is now, our environment physically discourages us from saving it.

[4:04:59] She is not alone.

[4:05:00] Many of us are trying to keep Raytown clean, inviting and livable,

[4:05:03] but our efforts would be severely hurt by the addition of another convenience store,

[4:05:07] a business which by nature would not cut back on the sale of the liquor and tobacco smokes like the CVS did.

[4:05:14] I may add that the Blue Ridge Plaza across the street has been decrepit for longer than I have lived here or even been alive.

[4:05:19] It has been neglected by its landlord who lives out of state and has refused to maintain it.

[4:05:23] It has been stolen from, vandalized, and closed more of its shops than I can remember.

[4:05:27] We asked Mr. Bimani what he saw in 5348 that interested him, and he said that it was close

[4:05:31] to customers and would receive high traffic.

[4:05:33] It seemed to be vacant, trashed, and to need development.

[4:05:36] If that's what it's like now while it's green and unpaved, imagine what it's going

[4:05:39] to look like when it closes.

[4:05:41] While it is in business, we have no reason to believe his store would be safe from

[4:05:44] the vandalism and theft that the other stores in the area suffer from.

[4:05:48] If he builds a strip mall on the property, we have no evidence that they would

[4:05:50] profit, let alone survive.

[4:05:51] We do have evidence that it would bring crime closer to our homes.

[4:05:54] It would contribute to litter, and when it inevitably closes, it will contribute to the blood as well.

[4:05:58] We do not want another ugly, trashed, vandalized business in our neighborhood.

[4:06:02] Our official Raytown website states that we prioritize and adore our unique small-town businesses and novelties.

[4:06:08] Another chain convenience store does not bring unique or even positive attention to attract people to Raytown.

[4:06:13] It takes beautiful green land that is good purpose and wastes it.

[4:06:16] I'll go against the grain and say I don't have a lot of love for Raytown these days.

[4:06:20] When I come home from work, there are so few places left I can enjoy.

[4:06:24] I'm a traveling click for quick trip.

[4:06:26] I'm not here on their behalf, but I feel compelled to share my experience as someone employed

[4:06:29] by a gas station and convenience chain.

[4:06:32] Brayton also has a serious problem with drug abuse.

[4:06:35] If there is harm reduction strategies in place, I have not seen them.

[4:06:38] I have seen the needles.

[4:06:39] I have to clean out of public restrooms at work with no safe place to put them.

[4:06:43] I have seen AMTs save people's lives from overdoses in our buildings.

[4:06:48] When you build a convenience store in a low-income, marginalized, crime-ridden neighborhood with people desperate for housing, it becomes a dedicated and convenient place for people to use.

[4:06:59] Quick Trip is also clean, well-lit, and respectable.

[4:07:02] Quick Trip also stocks less than 30% of its store with alcohol.

[4:07:05] Quick Trip also sells fresh-made food from a dedicated kitchen.

[4:07:09] Quick Trip also sells gasoline.

[4:07:11] Quick Trip also sells each and every one of the mentioned grocery products from this proposal.

[4:07:15] It is also a convenient store chain, not a liquor store.

[4:07:18] That is correct.

[4:07:19] I can still say with 100% confidence that the majority of our sales in our two

[4:07:23] retail locations are from gasoline, alcohol, fast food, lottery, and tobacco in that order.

[4:07:30] I have made my choice that it is worth it for me to work in close proximity to that environment.

[4:07:34] I have plenty of good days too.

[4:07:36] I can't lie about that.

[4:07:38] But installing this building deprives the rest of my neighbors and their children of that choice.

[4:07:42] I am not impressed or relieved by the proposed addition of putting a walkway from that store to my house.

[4:07:49] We can do better than this.

[4:07:52] We can limit our commercial installations to unique shops that draw people to Raytown.

[4:07:56] We can sell commercial properties to local landlords to prevent the blight of Blue Ridge crossing from happening again.

[4:08:02] We can sell residential land to developers to house our low-po—Linco, excuse me—

[4:08:07] We can sell residential land to developers to house our low-income population instead

[4:08:10] of forcing gas stations to waste police resources to kick them off their property.

[4:08:15] Whether you maintain this cycle of sale and destruction and vacancy is up to you, but

[4:08:21] you owe it to us to do better.

[4:08:24] Thank you.

[4:08:25] Thank you.

[4:08:26] Beck Pennington.

[4:08:34] Good evening.

[4:08:37] I'll speak quickly because most of my points were done.

[4:08:40] Beck Pennington, 11215 East 53rd Street.

[4:08:43] I live two doors down from this proposed property.

[4:08:47] I'm just going to speak directly about Blue Ridge Plaza, Your Crystal Ball.

[4:08:51] It sits within a block of this proposed development.

[4:08:55] With the IGA grocery store long gone at that location, it's been supplanted by a family

[4:09:01] dollar and then a dollar general put the family dollar out of business.

[4:09:05] The only choices for nutrition in this area are already convenient stores and fast food.

[4:09:11] We have to travel to Kansas City for fresh produce.

[4:09:15] We don't travel to 350.

[4:09:17] We go to Lee's Summit if we want something special.

[4:09:20] Half of that plaza, Blue Ridge Plaza, just caddy corner from this location, is empty.

[4:09:28] The parking lot is the crater of the moon.

[4:09:31] The defunct gas station, there is an environmental hazard, do not be misled.

[4:09:36] It is redundant to build a second strip mall next to where the first one is already struggling to survive, and the landlord doesn't care.

[4:09:47] How does this plan address any of those problems? We have problems in Raytown, and we're not meaning to pile up on you.

[4:09:55] We understand it is daunting. Raytown needs money.

[4:10:02] I don't believe there's a single person in this room who would turn down a good

[4:10:05] plan for generating revenue for Raytown, but you see behind me, and you have seen

[4:10:10] them all night, a cloud of neighbors who are arguing against the rezoning of this

[4:10:14] parcel. I'm from Missouri, and I have not had anyone show me the demand for

[4:10:22] this business that this would somehow supply. Show me the character,

[4:10:31] the

[4:10:31] free town website that this will add to our community and enrich our lives.

[4:10:36] Show me one time when a liquor store or a gas station has improved the quality of a neighborhood.

[4:10:44] Oh, it's clearly enticing to hear a successful business owner wants to invest future in

[4:10:48] the city, but the devil is in the details.

[4:10:51] When those details are assessed, we do not find a major generator of revenue in

[4:10:55] this plan.

[4:10:56] It is fundamentally flawed because of its location.

[4:11:00] How

[4:11:04] does this plan address any of our problems?

[4:11:07] How does it improve Raytown?

[4:11:09] It is vital to assess what factors have led to Blue Ridge Plaza going from vibrant to dilapidated.

[4:11:15] Otherwise, you might as well consider this about to repeat history.

[4:11:21] Thank you.

[4:11:23] Thank you.

[4:11:24] Who else do we have?

[4:11:25] Tom Neff.

[4:11:31] One more time.

[4:11:31] Tom Neff.

[4:11:35] Okay.

[4:11:36] Okay.

[4:11:37] Connie Dressy.

[4:11:40] Say again.

[4:11:41] Connie Dressy.

[4:11:44] Connie.

[4:11:46] Okay.

[4:11:47] Next.

[4:11:47] Mary Ann.

[4:11:49] Oh, Mary Ann.

[4:11:51] Okay.

[4:11:51] Jeanette Gentry.

[4:12:02] Good evening.

[4:12:03] Jeanette Gentry, 11,000 East 57th Street, Raytown, Missouri.

[4:12:07] A few of the things that I'd like to bring up is that this is, that is a very

[4:12:14] impressive strip shopping center, very, very, very impressive. And it looked great on Raytown

[4:12:20] Road. A couple places on 350 Highway that it looked really good on, not applicable for this

[4:12:28] particular property. One of the things I wanted to point out is all the business that he says

[4:12:34] he's not allowing, well, that's because he's selling all of that product in the convenience

[4:12:40] So that kind of balances that out.

[4:12:44] There was some phenomenal money that the lawyer had spoke of.

[4:12:51] Where's it coming from?

[4:12:52] It's the same people who's going to be spending the same amount of money.

[4:12:55] It's not drawing any revenue into Raytown.

[4:12:59] So I don't know where that is.

[4:13:01] I mean, I don't know how much profit you make off of a gallon of gas.

[4:13:04] I can't imagine it's that much.

[4:13:06] I think it is important to point out that 100% of the homeowners who received the notice of this signed that petition when only 30% were acquired.

[4:13:20] But 100%, they had 100% sign it.

[4:13:24] If this is all the land we have left to develop, is this really what we want to develop before?

[4:13:30] I mean, we can do better.

[4:13:33] I do have a question, well, a couple of questions, actually.

[4:13:41] How many additional conditional use permits would have to be approved for this plan?

[4:13:49] There's the gas conditional use permit.

[4:13:52] I believe there's a zoning issue of 2,600 feet.

[4:13:55] I know it's late.

[4:13:56] I'm not 100 percent about selling liquor next to a church

[4:14:01] which are where another package looker cell is sold, which CVS still sells package looker.

[4:14:11] And then the last thing that I want to point out is in the planning and zoning meetings,

[4:14:17] Mr. Gilbert had put a conditional number seven, which these are notes that are year old,

[4:14:24] but it was a, the future land use is going to have to be changed on the comprehensive plan before the comprehensive plan is changed.

[4:14:40] I was a little wary of that and I know for some reason surprisingly so all of a sudden it wasn't going to be an issue for planning and zoning that apparently it could get taken care of here.

[4:14:52] but I don't understand how that is being addressed.

[4:14:57] Basically, you're putting the car before the horse.

[4:15:10] And I'll leave it at that. Thank you so much.

[4:15:15] Thank you. Next?

[4:15:17] Mayor, I cannot read this next name. It looks like the address is 9052 East 50th Street.

[4:15:25] 9052 East 50th Street.

[4:15:27] Does that sound familiar to anybody?

[4:15:48] Thank you for the time to do this. I wanted to say that we've been to multiple of these

[4:15:56] meetings, went to the planning and zoning meetings. Three of them went past midnight.

[4:16:02] The community really cares about this and we really are against it. We don't want this

[4:16:07] in our backyard. We do want to support business. We want business in Raytown. We want them

[4:16:12] to succeed. We want new money to come into it. This is not that proposal. This proposal

[4:16:18] is a pig. It really is. The presentation they had is lipstick on a pig. Yes, it

[4:16:24] It makes it a little bit better, but we still don't want it.

[4:16:27] And I wanted to make sure you knew that.

[4:16:29] It also seems that our aldermen aren't

[4:16:33] listening to our pleaser help.

[4:16:36] And I really wish you would.

[4:16:39] Why would planning and zoning recommend no?

[4:16:44] It's because they saw something

[4:16:46] that they know wasn't good.

[4:16:47] And they had some questions that weren't answered.

[4:16:50] And we're asking for your help.

[4:16:52] We're asking for you to help us and represent us pretty please.

[4:16:57] And all business is not good business.

[4:16:59] We want good business.

[4:17:01] This just doesn't happen to be the right one for this particular project.

[4:17:04] It is incorrect and it is not good.

[4:17:06] And crime would be an issue for us.

[4:17:09] Like I said, this won't bring new money.

[4:17:11] It will just swap money for what is already there.

[4:17:14] It's not going to attract new business people.

[4:17:16] I go, oh my God, we need to, you know what?

[4:17:18] Let's jump in the car and go to KB.

[4:17:20] That's not going to happen.

[4:17:21] That's not going to happen.

[4:17:22] We don't want that, and it's not going to be the traction that is proposed to even whatever

[4:17:28] were those nice little pictures of sidewalks were, that's not going to draw people to

[4:17:33] just go and do that.

[4:17:34] You're talking to an avid bicycle rider, I will peruse if this project does somehow

[4:17:40] go through and see if it's a safe thing, but safety is really an issue.

[4:17:45] My question is, is all that we've become here in Raytown, dollar generals, family dollars,

[4:17:52] and liquor stores like this proposal, we can do better? Pretty please help us do better.

[4:17:58] I also will let you know that we disagree that this is a good project.

[4:18:04] We believe that we can do better. We think that the reason why the proposal didn't go through was

[4:18:11] because the previous owner of the property was an out-of-state investor.

[4:18:17] When you live locally and you can network with people, you can bring change and you can get

[4:18:22] people going.

[4:18:24] Now that we've seen the outcry of the community, we know that we can do this.

[4:18:28] I alone have over 2800 LinkedIn connections.

[4:18:31] I know five people that are real estate agents that I went to high school with

[4:18:35] And I also live near to, we can get something there

[4:18:39] if given the opportunity again.

[4:18:42] We want Mr. Kevin to succeed.

[4:18:45] We want him to win.

[4:18:46] We would like a different proposal.

[4:18:48] We want to find a way for him to profit,

[4:18:52] but pretty please find a different opportunity for us.

[4:18:56] If you would be so kind as to vote no on this project,

[4:18:59] we'd very much appreciate that.

[4:19:00] and I do want to also share that I got something handed to me here that says

[4:19:06] that there are currently 53 liquor licenses in use in the city of breakdown

[4:19:12] and with that I will ask for your no vote on this when that time comes thank

[4:19:18] you so much and have a great one thank you Tommy next Mike Manziel good evening

[4:19:34] The only thing I've got is pretty much to give my perspective.

[4:19:41] I never really thought of myself as an elder, but 45 years living catty corner from this property

[4:19:48] might qualify.

[4:19:49] I don't know.

[4:19:52] First job that I ever had, Bob Voorhees signed that check.

[4:19:56] That first dollar I still have that I earned came from Bob.

[4:20:03] Say it was a major retail operation, I would beg to differ, but I guess what I'm getting

[4:20:11] at is the percentage of people that signed that petition, they were eligible and qualified,

[4:20:20] certified.

[4:20:21] It was almost 100 percent, if not 100 percent.

[4:20:27] What is the people surrounding that want you guys to do?

[4:20:32] If you are working for us, what are we asking?

[4:20:41] As far as you mentioned about Bob's wishes, as far as the trees and so on and so forth,

[4:20:52] my question is, and something that I would like you guys to consider would be,

[4:20:57] Has a certified arborist looked at this?

[4:21:00] Has the excavation of the tanks?

[4:21:02] What effect is that going to have on any of the existing trees,

[4:21:05] although they're not cutting them down?

[4:21:07] Anytime you excavate around a tree, you're going to do some damage to it.

[4:21:15] Basically, the other question I have is,

[4:21:18] what does a privately owned green space, how does that work?

[4:21:22] Liability.

[4:21:23] whose liability if something God forbid happened on that property.

[4:21:28] There's a retention pond supposedly going there.

[4:21:31] I know I have a pool in my backyard and I have a bunch of regulations I have to adhere to

[4:21:36] to make sure that no one drowns.

[4:21:38] Is there anything around that retention pond that needs to be done?

[4:21:41] And if so, what's that going to look like?

[4:21:45] There's a lot of questions still here.

[4:21:47] and I go back to the numbers. Everyone around there has asked for this not to be put in.

[4:22:00] I would really like you guys to consider that.

[4:22:05] There's a certain amount of buildings here in Raytown that has a former superintendent's name plastered on him.

[4:22:13] And he was a progressive superintendent at the time.

[4:22:17] But I guarantee you Joe need this name would have been on that petition because it would

[4:22:22] have directly affected them.

[4:22:24] Thank you.

[4:22:26] Thank you.

[4:22:28] Marilyn Layton.

[4:22:33] Is Marilyn here?

[4:22:35] She left also?

[4:22:37] Veronica Battle.

[4:22:39] Veronica?

[4:22:41] Good evening.

[4:22:42] Good evening.

[4:22:43] How are you?

[4:22:48] My name is Veronica Battle and I resided 5404 Whitson Road.

[4:22:53] So I'm two doors down from where this property might go.

[4:22:59] So I want to try not to go over hopefully the same things.

[4:23:04] Definitely want the investors to be profitable and have a good business to make them successful.

[4:23:12] My concern since I've been in the property that I am in is it's already a very high traffic road on Raytown.

[4:23:23] and it's difficult to get even good rest when in one of the bedrooms to that

[4:23:31] house because of the traffic that goes back and forth and how fast traffic is

[4:23:34] and the speeding up and down the street and the high-sounding cars and things

[4:23:39] that at nature our properties are becoming well on the week I would say

[4:23:46] each day we're picking up trash you know in the front of the yard so when

[4:23:50] People are turning the corner going around this is trash dump in the front yard things that at nature and being right there

[4:23:57] Within grass reach or a rock throw. So they say

[4:24:02] To the new property my concern is what would that?

[4:24:06] You know traffic B

[4:24:07] How would that be for my young grandkids that I need now would want to keep in the back as opposed to having them in the

[4:24:14] Front the increase of the traffic that may flow down that road

[4:24:20] And, of course, the additional presence of police that we may or may not need.

[4:24:26] I want Raytown to grow.

[4:24:27] I've been in Raytown probably for 25 years or so.

[4:24:31] I have children that raised in Raytown Middle School, raised out in Mount Grantson now and

[4:24:37] Raytown High School.

[4:24:39] So I had no intention of leaving Raytown at all because I love the community that

[4:24:45] we're in.

[4:24:45] I love the neighborhood that I'm in.

[4:24:47] and I just want us to have a safe, fruitful environment.

[4:24:53] And then with it being a convenient store

[4:24:55] and having like CVS right next door,

[4:24:58] I wonder to myself and I say,

[4:25:00] well, if we have groceries or things to buy

[4:25:04] at the store that's right across the street,

[4:25:06] what is that going to do to a business

[4:25:09] that's right across the street?

[4:25:11] You know, sell some of the same products

[4:25:14] and some right down the street

[4:25:15] and a little bit further down.

[4:25:18] So maybe, again, having a development there is great.

[4:25:21] Well, we can keep the natural environments and the beauty that we have in our community,

[4:25:26] but maybe not the same of what we have,

[4:25:30] because we do have a lot of property that does need some upkeep

[4:25:35] or that does need some attention and tender loving care

[4:25:38] that we can continue to grow our community,

[4:25:42] maybe just something different,

[4:25:44] but definitely not anything to increase the traffic flow of Woodson Road because it's it's really rough if you live right there on

[4:25:53] That area. It's very difficult to rest

[4:25:57] Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate you

[4:26:00] Close we have counsel Lois Moore

[4:26:07] Okay, and last person William Fish

[4:26:13] Good evening

[4:26:16] name and address please. William Fish, 5-2-2-5 Chris Avenue. I live, oh just

[4:26:24] block away from that property. I can see it from my backyard. I've came up here

[4:26:31] before and it spoke about several things and I don't want to keep repeating

[4:26:35] those things. But one thing that I hear the you know the people talk about in

[4:26:40] our audience and and the proposed you know the current owner of the

[4:26:44] property, and maybe from your point of view, I work in sales, technical sales,

[4:26:52] a mechanical engineer, and I contact industrial customers. Very different from

[4:26:57] the business being put in here. However, I do get once a quarter my

[4:27:01] supervisor comes in and we have a little talk and we look at how my sales

[4:27:05] are and where my projections are going and how I'm going to grow the

[4:27:08] business.

[4:27:11] Since these meetings I kind of go up and down Blue Ridge and

[4:27:14] and I do go to these types of gas stations

[4:27:17] that are close by to get gas.

[4:27:19] I don't buy anything else there.

[4:27:20] I don't smoke.

[4:27:21] It's just not the kind of place I want to go inside.

[4:27:24] The store does look like it could be nicer.

[4:27:27] If I didn't see close by businesses, very similar,

[4:27:31] I could say maybe this is a good, you know,

[4:27:33] maybe it isn't such a big deal to put in,

[4:27:35] but you have within a few blocks one direction

[4:27:38] the same business north or south.

[4:27:40] I just want to know, I hear, I've heard that this place is going to be great.

[4:27:49] It's going to have food.

[4:27:50] It's going to have, I don't know, I don't know if it's going to have liquor or cigarettes.

[4:27:54] I hear it's not a liquor store.

[4:27:56] It's not a cigarette smoke shop.

[4:27:58] But then I hear it's going to be in there.

[4:28:00] Either way, what new business is that going to bring this city of Raytown?

[4:28:06] I mean, I know you need tax dollars.

[4:28:08] I mean, you go down Stirling Road, they just redid it up at the Kansas City border, and

[4:28:13] it's bumpier in hell going down up to 53rd Street.

[4:28:17] And so if you're not able to generate revenue and not having a real business model proposed

[4:28:24] of what new sales or what sales, how you're going to bring this business, it may not

[4:28:30] happen.

[4:28:33] I mean, I'm on the fence, you know, I also hear like, why move to Raytown?

[4:28:38] So, I'm on the fence. I have a young daughter. She loves to be outdoors. We love going in the backyard.

[4:28:44] We've had our issues with people, you know, drifters walking around.

[4:28:48] You know, I mean, we've had some pretty weird stuff happen.

[4:28:51] Not all the time, but, you know, when you've had a gun pulled on you in your driveway,

[4:28:55] and it's on video, it's kind of concerning.

[4:28:59] I've given that to the police or, you know, they get them off the street,

[4:29:02] but the prosecutor in Jackson County is not going to do anything about it.

[4:29:05] So since 2010, when I moved in, compared to now, it's very different.

[4:29:10] It's just a very different world.

[4:29:13] This is just what we have to live with when we board our Kansas City.

[4:29:16] But I'm on the fence, would I stay in Raytown?

[4:29:19] I mean, does it make sense to have houses built there?

[4:29:24] Would you bring more tax revenue by getting residents to move in?

[4:29:27] But if people are going to move to Raytown, they have families,

[4:29:29] they're looking for things.

[4:29:31] If I compare it to Lee's Summit, Blue Springs.

[4:29:35] Independence even, you can go to the square, they're downtown.

[4:29:37] I used to never think that stuff was a real value, but it brings more of a family environment, things to do.

[4:29:45] There's restaurants to go to, there's places you can grab a craft beer, you can arts and crafts, and that stuff actually thrives.

[4:29:53] And so when I look at Raytown, we don't have that here.

[4:29:56] We have Crane Brewery, and it's right next to the rock.

[4:30:00] Rock Island Trail. I mean, that's kind of a nice little infrastructure start that could

[4:30:04] make Raytown a little bit, you know, revitalize the downtown. So, he bought the property. It

[4:30:13] wasn't zone commercial, so why are we, I mean, why is there this discussion now? I mean, you

[4:30:18] don't have a business model. It's just, oh, he knows what he's doing. He has two other

[4:30:22] stores, but, you know, each store is in a different location. When I talk to my supervisor,

[4:30:27] or I can't say, oh, I'm doing great at this business

[4:30:30] by talking about these three products,

[4:30:32] and it's gonna do the same thing at the next business

[4:30:34] that doesn't use those three products.

[4:30:36] I mean, it has to make sense.

[4:30:38] So before making a decision,

[4:30:42] I would really want to know

[4:30:43] that we're going to make more tax dollars

[4:30:45] in the city of Raytown by putting in the same business

[4:30:48] that's very close by.

[4:30:50] It just doesn't make sense to me.

[4:30:51] And that's all I have to say.

[4:30:52] Thank you so very much.

[4:30:54] Thank you.

[4:30:54] Okay.

[4:30:57] So the next thing we have before German is to, I need a motion and a second and then we'll vote

[4:31:04] on moving forward with the next public hearing and the second reading on June 20th.

[4:31:12] I hear a motion.

[4:31:13] So moved, Mr. Mayor.

[4:31:14] Second.

[4:31:15] Move.

[4:31:17] Mr.

[4:31:20] Scott Beach.

[4:31:21] All right.

[4:31:27] Call the roll please.

[4:31:31] The first and second.

[4:31:33] I'm sorry.

[4:31:34] The first was by Ms. Mims, the second by Mr. Scott.

[4:31:37] Thank you.

[4:31:39] Alderman Mims?

[4:31:41] Yes.

[4:31:42] Alderman Scott?

[4:31:44] Yes.

[4:31:45] Alderman Emerson?

[4:31:47] Yes.

[4:31:48] Alderman Kreese?

[4:31:49] Yes.

[4:31:50] Yes.

[4:31:51] Alderman Ayser?

[4:31:51] Yes.

[4:31:54] Alderman Zendeskert?

[4:31:56] Yes.

[4:31:58] Alderman Walters?

[4:31:59] Yes.

[4:32:00] Alderman Garza?

[4:32:02] Yes.

[4:32:03] Alderman Hayden. Alderman Myers. Yes. Motion carries nine to nothing and this

[4:32:14] will be heard again June 20th at the Board of Aldermen meeting at that time.

[4:32:20] Do I hear a motion for adjournment? So moved.

[4:32:24] We're not voting on this till the next.

[4:32:35] I thought we'd do that after we got done listening to everybody next week or next meeting and

[4:32:39] then you could have questions and answers and all that.

[4:32:44] Before we adjourn, Mr. Asia, by all means, go right in.

[4:32:50] First of all, like the people, I am very passionate about it.

[4:32:53] I have five minutes and I'll use them the best I can.

[4:32:56] I'm going to lay a few facts on the table.

[4:32:59] For the people, we can't vote on a project just because we like it or don't like it.

[4:33:08] What we do have to do is best for the people of Raytown.

[4:33:11] The question is, what is the best for the people of Raytown?

[4:33:14] Or should I say, what is best for Raytown?

[4:33:16] Because Raytown is a relative thing.

[4:33:19] For example, the people who live in that block, it's a boulevard.

[4:33:25] It's Raytown's only boulevard.

[4:33:27] On most boulevards, you can't drive a 16-wheeler.

[4:33:31] You certainly wouldn't put a palm reading shop on Ward Parkway.

[4:33:37] You just don't do that on boulevards.

[4:33:39] And the people that happen to live on that boulevard see it as a very special place.

[4:33:45] Now, are the people Raytown?

[4:33:48] Well, if you're an old woman and you say, hey, what's really important to me is commerce.

[4:33:53] I'm behind business.

[4:33:55] Then what you're really saying is, people don't come first.

[4:33:58] Raytown is really the people that build the liquor stores and the wallmarks and the gas stations.

[4:34:05] That's Raytown. The people who don't live here. He doesn't live here.

[4:34:09] He doesn't even live in our state. Does he really care about how the people of Raytown feel?

[4:34:14] No. He makes his money mostly off of liquor right now.

[4:34:19] I'm going to share something to you because this goes deeper than that.

[4:34:24] There was another landscaping company, another, it was on Spring Valley Road.

[4:34:33] I think it's maybe even a little bit bigger than his property.

[4:34:36] It's right in the middle of the neighborhood.

[4:34:38] And yes, it was there for a long time and it was commercial.

[4:34:42] And right across the street was Tony's little grocery store.

[4:34:47] They're not there that lands all vacant.

[4:34:50] What's really interesting is a guy came to me several weeks ago, a couple of months ago.

[4:34:56] He has one of the largest landscaping companies in Kansas City.

[4:35:01] And he said, you know, I've been looking all over. I really want to locate Raytown.

[4:35:06] And he said, I know you know Raytown and I'd like you to just take me on a tour.

[4:35:11] over. What land might be available? One of the places I took him out to was Spring Valley

[4:35:18] Road, Seminite Terrace. There's the old place where I bought my bushes and my flowers. It

[4:35:26] was all right there. It would make a perfect place for his project. No, that's really

[4:35:34] a lie because those people in that neighborhood would feel the same way. They wouldn't

[4:35:39] say, oh, yes, that's just right in the middle of a neighborhood.

[4:35:47] Then we drove down downtown

[4:35:49] Kansas City, downtown Raytown. Sixty second, Raytown Road. There was property for sale owned

[4:35:56] by Steve Gunther. I said, hey, this is perfect for you. It's the right size. No, I don't

[4:36:04] think we could do that because that's zone commercial, not industrial.

[4:36:11] We stopped the

[4:36:12] So how do we pick and choose what we're going to allow to build in the Raytown?

[4:36:19] This guy wants to come and put a major landscaping company right here in Raytown.

[4:36:25] It didn't fit downtown. The people of downtown who owned stores down there, they would not let that happen.

[4:36:34] We know this, too, because they wanted to put a neighborhood grocery store downtown.

[4:36:39] downtown, does it get built? Who is behind that motion to keep Wal-Mart out of downtown

[4:36:46] Raytown? Did they do it? Yes. Who voted to keep it out? The board of all the men.

[4:36:54] So the

[4:36:54] big question is, let's say suppose the people in this neighborhood decide that if we do

[4:37:01] pass it, they want to go ahead and let's stay through the city. Now, that's not going

[4:37:05] to probably happen. But why is that important? Because they could come to the city and

[4:37:10] say, are we all treated equal?

[4:37:13] How do you select who you support and who you don't support?

[4:37:16] What's fair and what's not fair?

[4:37:19] The people of Raytown that live in that little neighborhood

[4:37:21] is important to them, but we're not

[4:37:23] going to consider them important.

[4:37:25] They just don't want it.

[4:37:26] We want the few extra dollars.

[4:37:28] Maybe we can put a billboard up, get more people

[4:37:31] to drink more alcohol.

[4:37:33] And guess what?

[4:37:34] You get more tax money.

[4:37:35] Because that's the only way you're

[4:37:37] going to get more tax money is to drink more alcohol.

[4:37:39] One guy said, yeah, you already have 200 alcohol licenses in Raytown, so we surely need more.

[4:37:47] The point is, that is not a good argument.

[4:37:50] The real argument is, what is good for Raytown?

[4:37:54] Who is Raytown?

[4:37:56] Is it the company in New York City that owns over 150 rental houses?

[4:38:02] They surely own a lot of Raytown.

[4:38:04] They never come to Raytown.

[4:38:06] Is it the people who build businesses here, make the money off of Ray Town, but choose to live somewhere else?

[4:38:14] If you want the court and you ask the city, the judge would say, hey, when you choose who you're going to rezone for, how do you do it?

[4:38:27] Will you let him put his project on 79th Street?

[4:38:32] If the answers know that people will, if it's yes,

[4:38:37] well then why do you have a zoning committee?

[4:38:39] You don't need it.

[4:38:41] And that's what the real question is here.

[4:38:43] It's really, why did we make our decisions on how we zone?

[4:38:50] And who's making decisions for us?

[4:38:53] Is it staff or is it guy by?

[4:38:56] I think we need continuity.

[4:39:05] Let's do this by affirmation. All in favor say aye.

[4:39:08] Aye. Anyone against? All right. We have adjourned at 12.12 p.m. Thank you folks.

Jun 06, 2023 Board of Aldermen

Agenda

Transcript