City Commission to vote again on HERE parking plan after zoning debate

A student walks across a vacant lot catty-corner from the recently opened HERE Kansas apartments along Mississippi Street, Monday, Oct. 17, 2016.

About two months since it was first proposed, the plan to resolve the HERE apartment complex’s parking shortage is scheduled for final approval by the City Commission.

A debate regarding the zoning for the parking lot prolonged the decision, with worries that the zoning recommended by city planners could clear the way for a high-density apartment or dormitory to locate on the site in the future.

The commission approved the plan to build a parking lot around the corner from the complex in October. But following the vote, residents of the neighborhood said that decision was based in part on an inaccurate explanation of zoning codes from city planners.

City planners originally told the commission that the city’s land development code required the off-site parking lot to be zoned at least as the same density level as the HERE complex it would serve. The eight-story complex, located on Indiana Street near Memorial Stadium, has the city’s maximum zoning level, which allows for 32 dwelling units per acre.

But residents of the surrounding Oread neighborhood objected to the city’s interpretation of the code. Kyle Thompson, the chair of the Oread Residents Association, noted in a letter to the city that the code allowed an exception to the cited zoning requirement under some circumstances, all of which were met for the HERE project.

“This may have been an oversight in planning discussion and documents presented, but we now respectfully ask this exception be utilized to comply with our Oread Neighborhood Plan,” Thompson wrote.

Though the zoning of the lot doesn’t matter for the lot itself, some Oread residents have previously told the commission they were concerned that if the parking lot were zoned to match the complex, it could allow for another high-density complex to be built on the lot in the future. Though the parking plan would have noted that the site should only allow for a parking lot, not all residents were reassured that safeguard would be enough for future commissions.

In his request to apply the exception, Thompson said the lower zoning was better for the neighborhood.

“The lower zoning does more to protect the neighborhood, and in the future it would be easier to implement an increase in zoning density rather than a decrease,” Thompson wrote.

The $75 million luxury apartment complex consists of 624 bedrooms and 13,500 square feet of commercial space. The previous City Commission provided the Chicago development group behind the complex with an 85 percent property tax rebate after it touted the complex as a major boon for the area.

After Thompson’s letter was received, the parking proposal was sent back to the commission for additional review, but a final decision was deferred. City planners have since added further options to the proposal, including an option to use the exception in the code to downgrade the zoning of the lot.

The parking shortage has meant not all the bedrooms can be leased. Once the parking lot is built, HERE will be allowed to lease about 75 additional bedrooms. The parking shortage was created after the company hired to build a high-tech, automated parking garage for the apartment building went bankrupt and failed to deliver the parking system.

The City Commission will convene at 5:45 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, 6 E. Sixth St.