By Kathy Feist
With two new housing developments underway at the Village of Loch Lloyd and another one threatening to invade a former golf course, it was time for residents there to take to task the original Master Plan.
About 80 homeowners from Loch Lloyd attended a Tuesday night meeting to review the proposed future master plan that included the possible annexation of surrounding property, 150-foot buffers between homes and recreation areas and more housing.
Christopher Shires, a planning consultant from Confluence, Inc., discussed the final outcome of meetings, open houses, website questionnaires and workshops conducted since August. The December 5th meeting should have been the Board of Trustees final adoption of the plan. But that date was postponed to December 19 in order to meet the two-week publication requirement of the public meeting. Instead the meeting became another working session to further tweak the the proposed plan.
“Loch Lloyd has always been branded a gated golf community with single family homes. Let’s keep the brand of Loch Lloyd strong. Keep it single family!” pleaded former Missouri legislator Jason Holsman who moved into the gated community last year.
One requirement added to the Master Plan included no less than a 150-foot buffer between a home and a zoned Recreational Open Space such as a golf course or lake. Though homeowners at Wednesday’s meeting seemed to be astonished by the choice of 150 feet–the size of half a football field–that length received the largest approval rate by those surveyed.
Buffering has become a matter of interest recently to long-time residents who built their homes around a 9-hole golf course. The golf course has been shut down. Currently a housing development called the Sechrest (after the golf course designed by Donald Sechrest) is being proposed in its stead by Loch Lloyd developer/owner Brian Illig. It consists of a hundred homes, townhomes and accompanying infrastructure.
“We don’t want homes behind our houses,” said Troy Braswell, who moved into his home 23 years ago there. “The original homes backed up to golf courses, woods and lakes. If we wanted to live in Johnson County where homes are on top of roofs, we wouldn’t have moved here.” Braswell said he has received a 90 percent response from a survey given to homeowners affected by the potential build. They were not in favor of the development.
Another concern was the addition of attached housing and commercial property which currently does not exist in Loch Lloyd. Redesigned land use maps showed attached housing and retail in areas that currently are not owned by Loch Lloyd: a northeast property that borders Jackson County and a southeast property adjacent to 172nd Street across from Sneed’s Bar-B-Q. Those areas would require annexation with the Village of Loch Lloyd. Plans for those properties–should they annex–would include attached housing along Holmes Road as well as single family homes. At the southeast end, future plans would include zoning for commercial properties.
Those northeast and southeast designs are meant to sweeten the deal for property owners who might consider annexation. “Annexing somebody depends on willingness,” said Shires. Many feared Kansas City developers could provide better incentives for the property owners.
“[In the future], something is going to happen on those properties that you won’t have any control over,” he warned.
One property has already been listed for sale.
The December 19 public hearing will be held at 6 pm at Loch Lloyd Country Club.
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During ‘public comments’ period for the $250 million mixed-use project, Paragon Star soccer complex in Lees Summit, many neighbors bordering the (unforeseen) proposed development objected because they specifically bought their property for the seclusion of trees and meadows – not the buildings n scapes of a $250 million mixed-use project.
You know what the response of some board members were to that concern? “Well, then you should’ve purchased that land to forestall anything you might find objectionable in the distant future.”
That’s right, folks. You should’ve pioneered yourselves into a humongous real estate conglomerate, so you, too, could bring hundreds of millions of dollars to buy your American dream, and stop unforeseen, eebil developers. Well, except for that pesky Kelo V New London the scotus blessed us all with when big piles of tax dollars are to be pocketed by local governments via eminent domain.
“The December 5th meeting should have been the Board of Trustees final adoption of the plan.”
Sorry to break it to you, Loch Lloyd. This deal is going down despite your good faith expectations 20 years ago, or current objections. Big piles of cash & tax dollars are to be pocketed by developers & local governments. They will humor you with another public meeting, though.