The Haysville Planning Commission voted to recommend rezoning a vacant lot at 6401 South Sunnyside from SF (single-family) to TF (two-family/duplex) with a protective overlay and access-control conditions after a public hearing on a proposed MF-4 (multifamily) designation. The commission's recommendation will go to the Haysville City Council for final action.

The action followed a staff presentation that described the roughly half-acre parcel at the corner of 60 Third and South Sunnyside as platted in 1951, annexed by the city, currently undeveloped, and served by city water and sewer. The staff report said the property is designated residential on the land use map and that adjacent parcels are a mix of rural residential, single-family, and, to the southeast, heavy commercial. Staff noted the lot has access only to South Sunnyside, a paved one-way local street that the public works director later described as about 15 feet wide, with insufficient right-of-way to widen without acquisition.

The applicant's agent, Josh White of Kenny Miller Engineering, told the commission he agreed with staff recommendations and with the alternative recommendation for two-family zoning. "We agree with all the staff comments including the alternative recommendation," White said.

Neighbors who spoke at the public hearing expressed concern about traffic, safety, sewer capacity and loss of open space. Joe Burns, who gave his address as 6439 South Sunnyside, told the commission, "We live on a one-way street barely wide enough for one car, and they wanna have four more buildings or four more apartments... I don't even think the road can handle what's there." Pauline Oseman (6400 Keystone) cited past problems with rental properties and called the neighborhood "a single-family community" that should remain so. Tommy Wicker (6415 South Sunnyside) said the lot has been an open space used by neighbors for years and that he had asked the city to sell it to him when it was listed previously. Joe Amos (205 E. 60 Third Street) raised the sewer and road-capacity questions, saying he believed local sanitary sewer capacity had been near its limit.

Staff advised the commissioners that site-plan details, parking and sewer adequacy would be reviewed at the later site-plan and utility-review stages and noted that Sedgwick County had denied a prior request for access from 60 Third. The staff report also said several MF-4 permitted uses (for example, some nonresidential uses) were inappropriate given the lot's only access to South Sunnyside. To address neighbors' concerns, staff recommended approval with a protective overlay limiting uses to residential types, requiring porches at main entrances built at or in front of the setback line, restricting building height to 25 feet (two stories), requiring brick or vinyl exterior, and mandating that parking be located behind principal structures or in hard-surface driveways. Staff also reported receiving a written objection earlier in the day from Deborah Holder, the owner of the property immediately south.

During discussion, several commissioners said a duplex (two-family) would better match neighborhood scale than an MF-4 classification. A motion carried to recommend approval of two-family zoning (duplex) with the protective overlays described in the staff report and to require complete access control along the north side of 60 Third Street. The motion was seconded and approved by the commission; the public hearing and deliberations are now part of the record that city council will consider. Kaitlyn (staff) told the audience the council will likely hear the commission's recommendation on Oct. 14.

The recommendation is advisory; final zoning authority rests with the Haysville City Council. If council approves the rezoning, future development proposals on the site will be subject to site-plan review, utility capacity checks and any conditions the council adds.

Votes at a glance: The Planning Commission voted to recommend TF (two-family) rezoning with protective overlay and complete access control to 60 Third; the recommendation was approved on a voice vote and will be forwarded to the City Council on Oct. 14.