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City staff present framework for Lee's Summit beautification; council asks for trade-off analysis
Summary
Staff laid out a comprehensive ‘beautification’ framework covering private development standards, public infrastructure design, partnerships (including MoDOT) and maintenance; council asked for fiscal trade-offs and prioritization before further action.
Lee's Summit staff presented a framework for a citywide beautification initiative Tuesday that groups possible actions into private-property design, public-property design, partnerships and maintenance, and asked council to prioritize next steps and resource trade-offs.
Ryan Elam, assistant city manager, Amy Nassif, interim director of development, and Michael Park, director of public works, outlined private-property items such as architecture and site-layout standards, tree preservation rules and open-space definitions; public-property items such as corridor streetscaping, utility placement and gateway monuments; and partnership options including MoDOT programs and business-sponsorship of corridor maintenance.
“This is a really great topic because you may not realize just how many aspects of both our comprehensive plan and our ignite strategic plan that this topic area actually hits,” Amy Nassif, interim director of development, told council. Nassif summarized code areas staff will review, including current open-space rules and tree-preservation requirements.
Staff noted specific code baselines: planned residential currently requires 10% open space and the multifamily standard adopted last year requires 30% open space; the unified development ordinance requires a tree-preservation plan for projects but contains no minimum preservation percentage. Staff said options under consideration include active-open-space requirements, stronger landscape buffers and clearer tree-preservation minimums.
On the public side, Michael Park highlighted opportunities to reduce visual clutter by changing utility locations, upgrade streetscape materials, expand sidewalks, and pursue grant or cost-share partnerships with MoDOT for enhanced corridor landscaping and maintenance. Park said the city can pursue MoDOT’s litter-management programs, adopt-a-street work, or partner on enhanced right-of-way participation at a cost to the city when projects include “non-participating” aesthetic improvements.
Council members uniformly supported the idea of a structured plan but emphasized the need for clear trade-off analysis. “As this research is being done... I want to understand the trade offs that we're looking at in terms of increased cost, whether that will prevent development, and how density or parking requirements may be affected,” Council Member Shields said.
Staff told council they will prioritize items and return with timelines, cost estimates and a consolidated plan that aligns resources across the city’s other top goals, including stormwater and housing. Elam said the expected next step is to combine timelines for all council “big rock” goals and present a prioritized work plan for council action.
