Jan 27, 2025

SHAWNEE CITY COUNCIL MEETING

January 27, 2025

You can stream the full City Council meeting at the link below! If you don't have time to watch, here's my quick recap. 

At tonight’s meeting, the governing body heard a report on the 2024 Community Development Block Grant program, which is a summary of the way the city used their grant funds. They discussed some possible uses for the remaining $200,000 of COVID relief dollars; there are limited opportunities remaining to spend these dollars, but there may be a few agencies that could use them for approved reasons. One member of the public suggested using these funds preparing for future emergencies especially as it pertains to mental health/trauma; it’s possible some agencies could use it for mental health but staff will have to determine if this is a permissible use of those funds.

The governing body also approved a FEMA-required Hazard Mitigation Plan presented by the fire department and FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program Community Rating System presented by the public works department. The fire department shared a bit about what they are doing to educate the  public about emergency awareness. One member of the public asked about the mental health and trauma response aspects of the program, so they elaborated on that a bit. Another member of the public who previously worked for FEMA shared his thoughts on the program and the attempt on a national level to defund FEMA.

One member of the public did speak during Business from the Floor - Ray Erlichman accused the mayor of lying about Councilmember Murphy submitting a request to serve on the Downtown Partnership because Erlichman’s KORA request did not yield any emails on the subject. Mayor Sandifer replied that the request was made verbally, which Erlichman felt was insufficient, leading to a brief argument  between the two.

Additionally, the Council considered the following:

• Passed consent agenda (unanimous)

• Passed a resolution allowing the city manager to waive certain conflicts of interest (unanimous)

• Approved Med-Act agreement with Johnson County for use of space in Fire Stations 71 and 73

• Final change order for the King Street Reconstruction Project (unanimous)

• Approved revisions to Policy Statement 33 covering the acquisition of easements and right-of-way for construction projects (unanimous)

• Ratified semimonthly claims (unanimous)

At Council Committee, the committee discussed the Planning Commission’s proposed changes to the Future Land Use Framework in the Achieve Shawnee Comprehensive Plan. The Future Land Use Framework provides policy guidance regarding the location, character, and type of future land use in Shawnee. Each undeveloped parcel of land in Shawnee carries a recommendation based on that framework, which was adopted in 2021 after multiple rounds of public feedback. For these updates, the Planning Commission proposed clarification to the “Mixed Residential” zoning definition that clarifies that it should be a mix of housing types rather than predominantly one housing type, whether that be apartments or single-family homes. They also recommended zoning changes for a few small parcels of land; some changed from more dense housing to less dense housing; some vice versa, and some did not involve housing at all. 

Overall, the council was appreciative of these changes but several councilmembers (Knappen, Kemmling, and Gillette) took the opportunity to express their disdain for apartments and that they hoped future developments in mixed-residential zones did not include apartments. Several councilmembers also objected to a zoning change for one small parcel near 75th and Hedge Lane Terrace; the proposal was to change that parcel from Mixed Residential to Attached Residential (which would theoretically allow for more apartments) but Councilmembers Knappen and Stiens objected because they felt neighbors in that area would not want apartments nearby and that the apartments would create too much traffic. Councilmember Murphy was okay with leaving that parcel as mixed residential, but wanted the council to be clear that “mixed means mixed” and that she would not want to see only single-family homes there because we already have so many single-family homes. This will come before the full council for a vote at their next meeting.

City Council Meeting: 

https://cityofshawnee.civicweb.net/Portal/MeetingInformation.aspx?Org=Cal&Id=10040 

Council Committee Meeting:

https://cityofshawnee.civicweb.net/document/307111/?splitscreen=true&media=true 

Recap by: Alex Welch Blattner