ShawneeDispatch.com

Changes to Shawnee's Land Use Guide concerning future development gained support but no action from the City Council and Planning Commission during a joint meeting last week at Old Shawnee Town.

The list of 19 modifications, suggested by the Shawnee Area Chamber of Commerce, is one tool to help bring more commercial, retail and warehouse development to the city, planning director Paul Chaffee said.

"These changes represent a shift away from high and medium-density residential development toward office, warehouse and retail," Chaffee said.

City officials last revised the guidelines four years ago, when more residential development was sought to make way for future commercial businesses.

Chamber officials in 2002 developed a goal to increase commercial contributions to Shawnee's tax base to 35 percent from as low as 20 percent, based on other city's tax structures and Shawnee's potential to reach the mark.

"The goal was to try and come up with some sort of magic number to assure that there was good balance within the community," Chaffee said.

Chaffee said that the previous land use revisions were successful in increasing residential numbers in the community, especially west of Interstate 435 in the city's undeveloped areas.

Points of interest identified Thursday by Chaffee included changing land use designations for more than 750 acres of residential property. Reassignment of another 764 acres of undesignated land also were considered.

If all changes were adopted, the city would gain: 721 acres of industrial and warehouse land, 297 acres of office land, 171 acres of mixed-use office and retail and 160 acres of commercial property.

The city also would re-assign 101 acres of land for parks use and 58 acres for public use.

Ward I Council member Dan Pflumm proposed an additional point of interest at the end of the meeting.

Property that has been zoned for professional office use west of Interstate 435 on Midland Drive still is designated as residential on the Land Use Guide, according to the city's latest map.

Pflumm said that since zoning dictates that an office building eventually will be built on the site, city maps should illustrate the planned use. When the zoning request was approved by the City Council in the 1990s, the governing body assured neighbors nearby that the land would be used for residential development if an office building wasn't built.

Planning Commissioners formally will begin considering the points of interest at their next meeting, June 7, and forward their recommendations to the City Council.