Quality Development

The overall quality of a city is determined by the quality of every development within it. To provide Kansas Citians with the best possible places to live, work, and play, the city must encourage developments that improve the quality of the area around them.

The recommendations of this Objective draw from the best of Kansas City’s historical development patterns and add ideas that reflect today’s needs. Through new and updated guidelines and standards, the city will help establish development that responds to market conditions yet supports the strong community desire for quality development. These guidelines and standards will ensure new developments in all parts of the city reflect sound urban design principles and contribute to the overall desirability of the communities in which they’re built.

Global Design Guidelines (see QD-1), will ensure characteristics suited to all areas of the city are incorporated into plans for new development. These are key development considerations desired in new development everywhere, regardless of community context. For example, all infrastructure should be designed to last 100 years or more no matter where it is located in the city.

The city will create new Development Form and Context Guidelines to ensure new development responds to various building forms and community contexts in Kansas City (see the Community Context Checklist to learn how the context of a community is determined.)

The Global Design Guidelines and Development Form and Context Guidelines together define what quality development is. They will shape the future of Kansas City’s built environment. These guidelines should be used with land use, building height, and other recommendations in relevant area plans to evaluate and guide future development proposals and zoning changes. By updating and codifying parts of the Development Form and Context Guidelines, Kansas City will ensure development citywide meets minimum standards for quality and responds adequately to unique contexts.

As part of implementing the Playbook, Kansas City will explore changes to base zoning districts to align those districts with adopted plans. That alignment will reduce development that is incompatible with its surrounding area, something Kansas City communities have desired. To ensure development is compatible in areas that have special character, the city should expand and standardize overlay zoning districts as recommended by area plans. Finally, the city should complete a review of the development code to identify and remove barriers to building quality places, especially infill development projects.

When paired with recommendations for land use and other area plan requirements, the Global Design Guidelines and the Development Context and Form Guidelines in the Playbook will be instrumental in creating a city that best serves all residents, can adapt to future needs and market trends, and is welcoming for everyone who wants to live, work, and play in Kansas City.


INDICATORS OF SUCCESS

Successful implementation of this Objective will strengthen the character and physical beauty of all Kansas City neighborhoods. New development and redevelopment projects will value the existing character of surrounding communities. Zoning will be better aligned with land-use designations, and the development process will be improved by removing obstacles to quality development.

BENEFITS

  • New development that helps to create a physically beautiful city (see Well-Designed City Goal)
  • New development that is compatible with a community’s context
  • Development tools to promote development that reflects community aspirations expressed in area plans
  • New development that supports the community identity and displays its collective values 
  • Predictable and consistent outcomes for the built community
  • Expanded opportunities for affordable housing by promoting a variety of housing types in a neighborhood (see Housing Affordability and Diversity Objective)
  • Creation of complete communities by encouraging more walkable mixed-use development (see Complete Communities Objective)


CONTEXT

Context-sensitive development standards are the key to ensuring quality development across a large, diverse city.

For more context, click HERE.


MEASURES OF SUCCESS

  • Land use entropy index; mixed-use development (increase)


KEY CONCEPTS

Ensure quality development citywide

Include the Global Design Guidelines and Development Form and Context Guidelines into the development review process and explore codification of these elements. Revise the development code according to development form guidelines to implement minimum standards for development. For areas with unique context, the city will adopt special character zoning overlays and other tools, using area plans to determine where to apply these tools.

Promote mixed-use and walkable developments throughout the city
Through the area planning processes, the city will identify opportunities for new mixed-use development. Mixed-use development patterns generally offer a higher quality of life for residents, and many Kansas City communities want to see more of this type of development.

Better align zoning with adopted land use plans
Proactively change base zoning districts in accordance with area plan recommendations. Identify priority areas for these changes in area plans. Use zoning and land use planning to mitigate and limit sensitive uses.

Remove barriers and obstacles to quality development
The city will review development and building codes to identify challenges to quality development and remove or revise provisions that create unnecessary obstacles. The city will encourage infill and mixed-use developments and use brownfield clean-up tools and infrastructure improvements to better position infill lots for new development. New infill projects must not inhibit or complicate infill development on adjacent lots.


COMMUNITY SUPPORTED ACTIONS (CSAs)


Ensure quality development citywide
QD-1
Incorporate Global Design Guidelines in new development. These guidelines relate to characteristics desired everywhere, regardless of community context, and should be used in the review of development proposals.
QD-2
Create Development Context and Form Guidelines and improve their usage in development review.
  • Context and form guidelines:
    • Create citywide development form guidelines to recognize the different form typologies within the city (corridor, node, district, neighborhood)
    • Create citywide development context guidelines to recognize the different context typologies within the city (downtown, urban, suburban, rural)
    • Adopt these form and context guidelines together as development review tool that provides site-specific guidelines for quality development
  • Codify the development context and form guidelines when appropriate
  • Strengthen the role of development guidelines in the development review and decision-making processes
  • Identify development context and form typologies within area plans:
    • Designate the appropriate development context and form typology for all areas
    • Designate the existing context and future desired context (urban and suburban for example) and character of development for all areas
    • Support walkable development patterns and the conversion of auto-centric developments into a more walkable/bikeable format
    • Develop a process to update all area plans either simultaneously or phased in groups
QD-3
Adopt new development standards for all areas and establish a minimum level of design quality.
  • Explore the codification of the Development Form and Context Guidelines (see above for recommended changes to these guidelines)
  • The standards could address things like exterior building materials, building design and entrance elements, windows and transparency requirements, building placement and orientation, parking and access, etc.
QD-4
Create additional standards for areas with distinctive character and adopt overlay and special character zoning districts.
  • Adopt overlay zoning or historic districts where appropriate to ensure new development is consistent with character of area neighborhoods
  • Develop quality design standards and a "traditional neighborhood" overlay district to preserve and enhance neighborhood identities
  • Areas with a special or distinctive character should be identified during future area plan updates
  • The city should create and adopt these overlays as recommended in the area plans
  • Be consistent in the application of these overlays (to treat similar areas the same, avoid unnecessary customization) and to recognize and respond to the context of the area (suburban vs urban contexts for example)
  • Implement development standards to improve the visual appearance of development adjacent to highways and image streets identified in area plans. Standards should address building materials and design, landscaping and screening, and signage
QD-5
Adopt zoning overlays for pedestrian friendly mixed-use development. Encourage the use of zoning overlay districts to increase the walkability and development quality of urban and suburban corridors in the city.
  • In urban corridors use existing overlays on Troost, Independence Avenue, or Main Street Overlays as templates for other urban corridors with similar character and development pattern (candidates will be determined during area plan update process)
  • Develop similar overlays for suburban corridor contexts
  • Establish overlay zoning tools that can be applied with little or no customization and set criteria for what types of areas each overlay is appropriate for


Promote mixed-use and walkable developments throughout the city
QD-6
Identify areas appropriate for mixed-use development during area plan updates. Opportunities include the following:
  • Retail in areas with highest densities, pedestrian traffic, and transit service
  • Increase housing supply within commercial areas/transit corridors
  • Focus highest density uses in the Central Business Corridor
  • Explore mixed-use zoning/overlays in industrial/commercial areas
QD-7
Identify strategies within area plans to improve the walkability of areas that currently have predominantly auto-oriented development. Include strategies and guidelines and zoning tools to retrofit these areas where appropriate as new development occurs.
QD-8
Implement transit-oriented development (TOD) Zoning Overlays in transit corridors. This recommendation would encourage the expanded use of zoning overlay districts that specifically aim to create a land use and development pattern that supports and increases transit access and ridership.
  • TOD zoning overlays should incorporate the elements and guidelines provided by the transit-oriented development policy
  • Ideally these overlays should be preceded by a “station area plan” which identifies the development typology appropriate for the area; delineates the extent of the overlay and permitted uses and building scale; identifies needed public improvements to maximize pedestrian and bike access; provides strategies to ensure affordable housing in the area; and includes recommendations for managing parking and reducing parking requirements

  • Reduce parking requirements, set parking maximums to reduce/minimize the amount of parking, and allow greater densities along transit corridors



Better align zoning with adopted land use plans
QD-9
Ensure appropriate base zoning districts. Identify areas to correct during area plan update process. Candidate areas will have a mismatch between the existing or intended development pattern and existing zoning.
QD-10
Adopt development code requirements to appropriately mitigate and condition the impacts of “sensitive uses”, such as landfills, quarries, halfway houses, late night liquor permits, etc.
  • Review the development code (and other sections of the city code) to identify what areas these sensitive uses are allowed and review the development standards that apply to each.  Make amendments to the code as necessary to ensure that these uses are appropriately screened, that compatibility with adjacent properties and neighborhoods is adequately considered, to ensure that these uses are not overly concentrated in certain areas, to ensure that the operation of these uses will minimize any potential negative impacts to the surrounding area, and consider requiring that developers demonstrate their project would provide tangible benefit to the community

  • Highlight community concerns and issues related to sensitive uses during area plan updates and provide recommendations and guidelines to address



Remove barriers and obstacles to quality development and infill development
QD-11
Explore incentives for quality design. In addition to certain design and development standards, the city could also explore offering incentives to developers to adhere to higher standards voluntarily. These incentives could take the form of allowances for increased density, reduced parking requirements, etc.
QD-12
Identify the issues and challenges inherent to infill development and develop strategies to minimize or reduce these issues:
  • Identify provisions in the development code that unintentionally inhibit infill projects (or require significant exceptions or variances) and explore revisions to better accommodate infill development. Issues to be explored include (but are not limited to) the following:
    • Irregular or substandard lot size or configuration
    • Setbacks and density restrictions
    • Improved flexibility
  • Ensure that new infill projects do not inhibit or complicate infill development on adjacent lots.
    • Encourage developers to look beyond the land they currently have control of for larger development opportunities. At a minimum consider how current infill project will fit within and connect to broader context/future development (see Connected City Objective)
    • Issues to consider include:
      • Changes to roadways/access (no connection to adjacent undeveloped land)
      • Land locking
      • Transitions
  • Make infill development for smaller urban sites and larger suburban tracts more feasible for private developers through land reclamation and utility system improvements
QD-13
Periodically review the city’s development and permitting processes. Implement changes needed to make the development and regulatory process efficient and clear and to minimize confusion or delays in the development process.
QD-14
Regularly review the city’s impact fee, dedication, and fee-in-lieu of dedication requirements to ensure new development is paying its fair share of costs for new infrastructure including trails.



RELATED LINKS

  • Affordable Community
  • Desirable Place
  • History and Heritage
  • KC Uniqueness
  • Physical Beauty
  • Sustainable Growth and Resilient City
  • Walkable, Clean, and Safe
  • Addressing Disinvestment
  • Citywide Accessibility
  • Community Collaboration
  • Community Engagement
  • Complete Communities
  • Inclusive Design
  • Providing Services
  • Welcoming Spaces



The overall quality of a city is determined by the quality of every development within it. To provide Kansas Citians with the best possible places to live, work, and play, the city must encourage developments that improve the quality of the area around them.

The recommendations of this Objective draw from the best of Kansas City’s historical development patterns and add ideas that reflect today’s needs. Through new and updated guidelines and standards, the city will help establish development that responds to market conditions yet supports the strong community desire for quality development. These guidelines and standards will ensure new developments in all parts of the city reflect sound urban design principles and contribute to the overall desirability of the communities in which they’re built.

Global Design Guidelines (see QD-1), will ensure characteristics suited to all areas of the city are incorporated into plans for new development. These are key development considerations desired in new development everywhere, regardless of community context. For example, all infrastructure should be designed to last 100 years or more no matter where it is located in the city.

The city will create new Development Form and Context Guidelines to ensure new development responds to various building forms and community contexts in Kansas City (see the Community Context Checklist to learn how the context of a community is determined.)

The Global Design Guidelines and Development Form and Context Guidelines together define what quality development is. They will shape the future of Kansas City’s built environment. These guidelines should be used with land use, building height, and other recommendations in relevant area plans to evaluate and guide future development proposals and zoning changes. By updating and codifying parts of the Development Form and Context Guidelines, Kansas City will ensure development citywide meets minimum standards for quality and responds adequately to unique contexts.

As part of implementing the Playbook, Kansas City will explore changes to base zoning districts to align those districts with adopted plans. That alignment will reduce development that is incompatible with its surrounding area, something Kansas City communities have desired. To ensure development is compatible in areas that have special character, the city should expand and standardize overlay zoning districts as recommended by area plans. Finally, the city should complete a review of the development code to identify and remove barriers to building quality places, especially infill development projects.

When paired with recommendations for land use and other area plan requirements, the Global Design Guidelines and the Development Context and Form Guidelines in the Playbook will be instrumental in creating a city that best serves all residents, can adapt to future needs and market trends, and is welcoming for everyone who wants to live, work, and play in Kansas City.


INDICATORS OF SUCCESS

Successful implementation of this Objective will strengthen the character and physical beauty of all Kansas City neighborhoods. New development and redevelopment projects will value the existing character of surrounding communities. Zoning will be better aligned with land-use designations, and the development process will be improved by removing obstacles to quality development.

BENEFITS

  • New development that helps to create a physically beautiful city (see Well-Designed City Goal)
  • New development that is compatible with a community’s context
  • Development tools to promote development that reflects community aspirations expressed in area plans
  • New development that supports the community identity and displays its collective values 
  • Predictable and consistent outcomes for the built community
  • Expanded opportunities for affordable housing by promoting a variety of housing types in a neighborhood (see Housing Affordability and Diversity Objective)
  • Creation of complete communities by encouraging more walkable mixed-use development (see Complete Communities Objective)


CONTEXT

Context-sensitive development standards are the key to ensuring quality development across a large, diverse city.

For more context, click HERE.


MEASURES OF SUCCESS

  • Land use entropy index; mixed-use development (increase)


KEY CONCEPTS

Ensure quality development citywide

Include the Global Design Guidelines and Development Form and Context Guidelines into the development review process and explore codification of these elements. Revise the development code according to development form guidelines to implement minimum standards for development. For areas with unique context, the city will adopt special character zoning overlays and other tools, using area plans to determine where to apply these tools.

Promote mixed-use and walkable developments throughout the city
Through the area planning processes, the city will identify opportunities for new mixed-use development. Mixed-use development patterns generally offer a higher quality of life for residents, and many Kansas City communities want to see more of this type of development.

Better align zoning with adopted land use plans
Proactively change base zoning districts in accordance with area plan recommendations. Identify priority areas for these changes in area plans. Use zoning and land use planning to mitigate and limit sensitive uses.

Remove barriers and obstacles to quality development
The city will review development and building codes to identify challenges to quality development and remove or revise provisions that create unnecessary obstacles. The city will encourage infill and mixed-use developments and use brownfield clean-up tools and infrastructure improvements to better position infill lots for new development. New infill projects must not inhibit or complicate infill development on adjacent lots.


COMMUNITY SUPPORTED ACTIONS (CSAs)


Ensure quality development citywide
QD-1
Incorporate Global Design Guidelines in new development. These guidelines relate to characteristics desired everywhere, regardless of community context, and should be used in the review of development proposals.
QD-2
Create Development Context and Form Guidelines and improve their usage in development review.
  • Context and form guidelines:
    • Create citywide development form guidelines to recognize the different form typologies within the city (corridor, node, district, neighborhood)
    • Create citywide development context guidelines to recognize the different context typologies within the city (downtown, urban, suburban, rural)
    • Adopt these form and context guidelines together as development review tool that provides site-specific guidelines for quality development
  • Codify the development context and form guidelines when appropriate
  • Strengthen the role of development guidelines in the development review and decision-making processes
  • Identify development context and form typologies within area plans:
    • Designate the appropriate development context and form typology for all areas
    • Designate the existing context and future desired context (urban and suburban for example) and character of development for all areas
    • Support walkable development patterns and the conversion of auto-centric developments into a more walkable/bikeable format
    • Develop a process to update all area plans either simultaneously or phased in groups
QD-3
Adopt new development standards for all areas and establish a minimum level of design quality.
  • Explore the codification of the Development Form and Context Guidelines (see above for recommended changes to these guidelines)
  • The standards could address things like exterior building materials, building design and entrance elements, windows and transparency requirements, building placement and orientation, parking and access, etc.
QD-4
Create additional standards for areas with distinctive character and adopt overlay and special character zoning districts.
  • Adopt overlay zoning or historic districts where appropriate to ensure new development is consistent with character of area neighborhoods
  • Develop quality design standards and a "traditional neighborhood" overlay district to preserve and enhance neighborhood identities
  • Areas with a special or distinctive character should be identified during future area plan updates
  • The city should create and adopt these overlays as recommended in the area plans
  • Be consistent in the application of these overlays (to treat similar areas the same, avoid unnecessary customization) and to recognize and respond to the context of the area (suburban vs urban contexts for example)
  • Implement development standards to improve the visual appearance of development adjacent to highways and image streets identified in area plans. Standards should address building materials and design, landscaping and screening, and signage
QD-5
Adopt zoning overlays for pedestrian friendly mixed-use development. Encourage the use of zoning overlay districts to increase the walkability and development quality of urban and suburban corridors in the city.
  • In urban corridors use existing overlays on Troost, Independence Avenue, or Main Street Overlays as templates for other urban corridors with similar character and development pattern (candidates will be determined during area plan update process)
  • Develop similar overlays for suburban corridor contexts
  • Establish overlay zoning tools that can be applied with little or no customization and set criteria for what types of areas each overlay is appropriate for


Promote mixed-use and walkable developments throughout the city
QD-6
Identify areas appropriate for mixed-use development during area plan updates. Opportunities include the following:
  • Retail in areas with highest densities, pedestrian traffic, and transit service
  • Increase housing supply within commercial areas/transit corridors
  • Focus highest density uses in the Central Business Corridor
  • Explore mixed-use zoning/overlays in industrial/commercial areas
QD-7
Identify strategies within area plans to improve the walkability of areas that currently have predominantly auto-oriented development. Include strategies and guidelines and zoning tools to retrofit these areas where appropriate as new development occurs.
QD-8
Implement transit-oriented development (TOD) Zoning Overlays in transit corridors. This recommendation would encourage the expanded use of zoning overlay districts that specifically aim to create a land use and development pattern that supports and increases transit access and ridership.
  • TOD zoning overlays should incorporate the elements and guidelines provided by the transit-oriented development policy
  • Ideally these overlays should be preceded by a “station area plan” which identifies the development typology appropriate for the area; delineates the extent of the overlay and permitted uses and building scale; identifies needed public improvements to maximize pedestrian and bike access; provides strategies to ensure affordable housing in the area; and includes recommendations for managing parking and reducing parking requirements

  • Reduce parking requirements, set parking maximums to reduce/minimize the amount of parking, and allow greater densities along transit corridors



Better align zoning with adopted land use plans
QD-9
Ensure appropriate base zoning districts. Identify areas to correct during area plan update process. Candidate areas will have a mismatch between the existing or intended development pattern and existing zoning.
QD-10
Adopt development code requirements to appropriately mitigate and condition the impacts of “sensitive uses”, such as landfills, quarries, halfway houses, late night liquor permits, etc.
  • Review the development code (and other sections of the city code) to identify what areas these sensitive uses are allowed and review the development standards that apply to each.  Make amendments to the code as necessary to ensure that these uses are appropriately screened, that compatibility with adjacent properties and neighborhoods is adequately considered, to ensure that these uses are not overly concentrated in certain areas, to ensure that the operation of these uses will minimize any potential negative impacts to the surrounding area, and consider requiring that developers demonstrate their project would provide tangible benefit to the community

  • Highlight community concerns and issues related to sensitive uses during area plan updates and provide recommendations and guidelines to address



Remove barriers and obstacles to quality development and infill development
QD-11
Explore incentives for quality design. In addition to certain design and development standards, the city could also explore offering incentives to developers to adhere to higher standards voluntarily. These incentives could take the form of allowances for increased density, reduced parking requirements, etc.
QD-12
Identify the issues and challenges inherent to infill development and develop strategies to minimize or reduce these issues:
  • Identify provisions in the development code that unintentionally inhibit infill projects (or require significant exceptions or variances) and explore revisions to better accommodate infill development. Issues to be explored include (but are not limited to) the following:
    • Irregular or substandard lot size or configuration
    • Setbacks and density restrictions
    • Improved flexibility
  • Ensure that new infill projects do not inhibit or complicate infill development on adjacent lots.
    • Encourage developers to look beyond the land they currently have control of for larger development opportunities. At a minimum consider how current infill project will fit within and connect to broader context/future development (see Connected City Objective)
    • Issues to consider include:
      • Changes to roadways/access (no connection to adjacent undeveloped land)
      • Land locking
      • Transitions
  • Make infill development for smaller urban sites and larger suburban tracts more feasible for private developers through land reclamation and utility system improvements
QD-13
Periodically review the city’s development and permitting processes. Implement changes needed to make the development and regulatory process efficient and clear and to minimize confusion or delays in the development process.
QD-14
Regularly review the city’s impact fee, dedication, and fee-in-lieu of dedication requirements to ensure new development is paying its fair share of costs for new infrastructure including trails.



RELATED LINKS

  • Affordable Community
  • Desirable Place
  • History and Heritage
  • KC Uniqueness
  • Physical Beauty
  • Sustainable Growth and Resilient City
  • Walkable, Clean, and Safe
  • Addressing Disinvestment
  • Citywide Accessibility
  • Community Collaboration
  • Community Engagement
  • Complete Communities
  • Inclusive Design
  • Providing Services
  • Welcoming Spaces



Page last updated: 11 Jan 2024, 09:00 PM