A variance request for a potential housing project in south Emporia was tabled Tuesday night.
The Board of Zoning Appeals tabled the variance for reduced lot sizes for a 60-dwelling project involving nearly 17 acres near Soden’s Road and Exchange Street. The so-called Kretsinger Tract project comes as Ignite Emporia has been working to help alleviate an ongoing housing shortage in town, but concerns were discussed about reducing the proposed lot size from 9,000 to 6,500 square feet as well as the development’s closeness to the Cottonwood River floodplain. Resident Paul Hanshew mentioned concerns about lot sizes.
Addressing the lot size concerns, Emporia Area Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Jeanine McKenna says the proposed lots fit the neighborhood and are cost-effective.
Bruce Boettcher of BG Consultants says the floodplain nearby plays into the smaller lot sizes.
Off that topic, resident Jerry Schrock brought up potential changes in setback code from 30 to 20 feet, leading to concerns about possible changes in zoning regulations.
The move to table the variance request helps Ignite Emporia and the Emporia Area Chamber of Commerce process the concerns brought up during the meeting.
The goal is to build nearly 50 single-family homes and 10 multi-family dwellings.
The Kretsinger Tract project is currently on the Emporia City Commission’s action meeting agenda for approval of Rural Housing Incentive District designation. The city has not indicated whether it plans to take that item off the agenda.
Also Tuesday, the BZA split a variance request for multi-family dwellings proposed at 721 Exchange. The board approved the new variance for the number of dwellings allowing two buildings on a 6,500 square-foot lot before approving the lot coverage of the main building at 43 percent instead of the 40 percent standard.
Once those meetings were done, the Emporia-Metropolitan Area Planning Commission was set to vote on a rezoning request from Agricultural to R-1 Low Density Residential as well as a preliminary plat for the Kretsinger Tract. Both requests were withdrawn after the BZA meeting.
The Planning Commission revoked the conditional use permit in place for Dynamic Discs’ former warehouse property at 3601 West Sixth. The permit is no longer needed with the Dynamic Discs warehouse now at 840 Overlander Road.
