OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — More than two months after sending plans back to the drawing board, an out-of-state developer is hoping Overland Park leaders will reconsider plans to create hundreds of high-rise apartments near the Blue Valley Sports Complex. 

Minnesota-based developer Ryan Companies is requesting the city rezone approximately 17 acres at 135th Street and Antioch Road to make way for a new mixed-use development. 

In August, the city council voted 9-3 to send the proposal back to the planning commission for further review.

On Monday, the Planning Commission voted 8-0 to recommend the city council approve the updated request. Commissioner Rob Krewson recused himself from the vote because his employer worked on the traffic study for the proposed project.  

The original proposal included the construction of a 446-unit apartment complex with additional retail space.

The updated plan reduces the total number of apartments from 446 to 413 units and increases the total number of parking spaces from 602 to 707. The revision also reduces the height of buildings within the complex from five stories to four. 

Ted McBride, president of the Nottingham Forest South Homeowners Association, said density is still the biggest concern from nearby homeowners. McBride said homeowners requested the developer consider a 15% reduction in density, dropping the number of total units to 379. 

“(Ryan Companies) told us they could not reduce the density as it would not be economically feasible,” McBride said. “Yet in September, you all (the Planning Commission) just approved an RP-6 apartment project at the corner of 135th Street and Pflumm that had 252 units on 13 acres. Somehow that developer found it financially viable.”

“They ultimately did not budge on density and instructed us to sign a document that would silence our entire neighborhood, bar us from mounting a legal challenge and promise items that the city planning staff had not even weighed in on. We could not agree to this, so they ignored our negotiations up to that point and submitted a completely different proposal,” McBride said.  

Commissioner Kip Strauss said he feels the number of requested apartment units is appropriate based on other developments surrounding the project site. 

“If you think about the U.S. 69 corridor, 135th Street is the most intensely developed east-west corridor. I think being so close to the U.S. 69 corridor, which is having improvements made to it over the next few years, I think this type of density is appropriate in this area,” Strauss said. 

The Overland Park City Council is scheduled to review the rezone request on Monday, Dec. 5.