When Doug Klein heard that the Prairie Village City Council was considering a new round of guidelines designed to restrict some aspects of residential construction, he worried how they might affect the plans he and his wife had to expand their home.
Klein, who lives on a corner lot on 71st Street, said he wants to add a master bedroom, bathroom and two-car garage to his mid-century home. He said reading about the proposed changes online, particularly those controlling the location of garages and minimum amounts of green space, raised concerns.
On Monday, he was one of more than 50 people who attended the first of three open houses held to give Prairie Village residents more information about the proposed guidelines and collect public input.
“I got a lot of answers,” he said. “I think what they’ve proposed is great as it’s going to limit the size of the houses that are going in. There’s a couple near us that don’t look like they have any green space at all.”
Prairie Village officials, like those in other northern Johnson County communities, have spent the last few years wrestling with the issue of young and growing families buying older homes and replacing them with much larger structures that longtime residents complain go against the city’s homey charm.
Two years ago, the council approved a slate of changes designed to lower maximum home heights and expand the required distance from homes to side property lines.
(Read more: KC Star Local News)