Mayor’s ordinances could target demolition by neglect, absentee owners in south Kansas City

By Tony Madden

Mayor Quinton Lucas is sponsoring three ordinances to target a practice south Kansas City knows well: demolition by neglect and absentee property owners. The region is all too familiar with vacant homes and abandoned commercial buildings in a state of blight, often with out-of-state owners who might not pick up the phone.

Demolition by neglect is when a property owner skirts the demolition permit process by intentionally deferring maintenance until restoration of the building is unfeasible. The city then declares the property dangerous, which allows for demolition. Demolition by neglect is often used to justify demolishing historic properties, sidestepping preservation laws. 

Amendments to Lucas’ three ordinances are set to go before the council’s Neighborhood Planning and Development Committee on Tuesday, June 9, City Clerk documents say.

Ordinance 260399 would set minimum standards for “mothballing,” or boarding up and securing vacant and foreclosed properties. The standards would be enacted to prevent deterioration, protect public safety and reduce negative neighborhood impacts. The ordinance also allows the city to step in and mothball a building if the owner does not comply with the standards. This section of the ordinance also includes a mechanism for cost recovery, in which the city can place a lien on the property for the work completed.

Ordinance 260400 would allow the Kansas City Historic Preservation Commission to intervene and review cases when a historic building is up for demolition. The ordinance notes the city’s current exemption of these demolitions from review undermines Kansas City’s historic preservation goals and contributes to a cycle of neglect contributing to blight, disinvestment, and the permanent loss of historic resources.

Sometimes, vacant property owners’ identities are obscured by other LLCs acting as registered agents. The mystery owner might be located in another state or dodging attempts at contact. Ordinance 260401 would attempt to cut down on absentee ownership by changing the city registration requirements for vacant and foreclosing properties. It would require owners to provide emergency contact information, a street address (not a P.O. box) and designate someone to conduct a monthly inspection. 

Darrell Curls, Councilman for the 5th District at Large, listed several examples of demolition by neglect and absentee ownership across his district, which includes Hickman Mills and Ruskin Heights. He centered on the old Robandee Shopping Center on the northeast corner of Bannister and James A. Reed Roads. 

The once thriving shopping mall has become a site for dumping and trespassing in recent years, Curls said. Its last tenant, a liquor store, burned down last summer. The city designated that portion of the building as dangerous and stepped in to demolish it when Texas-based owner Babar Khan would not “take responsibility,” Curls said. 

But last summer, Khan’s company, Commodity Express, also shared a rendering with the Telegraph showing a new mixed-use development on the property. Curls said despite those promises, Khan has fallen out of touch with the city. Officials will now petition the court for a judge to appoint the receiver to revitalize the property, Curls told the Telegraph.

In the case of a receivership, a third party such as a developer would take over the Robandee Shopping Center property and develop it. The receiver would be in control of the project, but Babar Khan of Commodity Express would still own the property.

Curls added the Mayor’s proposed ordinances are a good start in preventing cases such as Robandee Shopping Center and holding property owners more accountable. He said there are several such nuisance properties, including but not limited to homes in Ruskin Heights and the Robandee building at 8800 Blue Ridge Blvd.

He also said the ordinances are an opportunity for absentee owners to come forward and develop their properties, or at least secure them by mothballing.

“We’ve got several areas in south Kansas City, but we need to really look at how we can demolish these buildings,” Curls said. “They’ve been sitting vacant — some of them — for 20-plus years. I mean, that’s unacceptable to me.”