Overland Park is one step closer to fully implementing a “permit-ready” housing pilot program, a pillar in the city’s effort to encourage more diverse housing options in the future. Earlier this month, the Overland Park City Council Community Development Committee voted 6-0 to recommend amending the city’s building codes with that effort in mind. These changes would remove some steps in the approval process for single- and two-family homes smaller than 3,500 square feet. Overland Park would still require other administrative steps before such a housing project could be constructed. “Housing, I think, is our number one community issue right now,” Council President Logan Heley said at the July 1 committee meeting. “This is going to help us have smaller housing products come onto the market that are more attainable to more folks.” Under the pilot program, Overland Park would keep a collection of roughly two dozen pre-designed homes that are “permit-ready” — that is designs that are already reviewed and able to be fast-tracked through the planning process. These designs would be available for any resident to use for free on any lot in the city that carries the corresponding residential zoning designation. They would also emphasize more “cottage court” housing developments, which tend to be a little smaller in size, sit on a smaller lot and usually are organized around a common open space.
Source: Johnson County Post
