Planning commission recommends approval for Small Sliders drive‑through with condition to review entrance

The Lee's Summit Planning Commission on Aug. 28 recommended approval of a preliminary development plan for Small Sliders, a 930‑square‑foot walk‑up and drive‑through restaurant at 101 Southwest Oldham Parkway, with a condition that city staff and the applicant review additional entrance and circulation options before the application moves to City Council.

The recommendation followed a public hearing and extended discussion focused on vehicle access, queuing and refuse collection for the site within the larger Oldham Village development. The commission voted unanimously to recommend approval after adding the review condition.

Hector Sotto Jr., senior planner for the city, described the proposal as a 930‑square‑foot building with a single‑lane entrance that splits into a double‑lane order/delivery configuration and 19 on‑site parking spaces. The applicant requests a modification to allow a 100% metal exterior on all four sides of the building, which exceeds the Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) thresholds that permit 40% metal by right and require higher‑level approvals for greater metal coverage. Staff said the application also asks to permit four primary identification wall signs; staff presented sign‑area calculations showing the north and south facades would be about 8.4% and 7.7% of facade area, respectively, and the narrower sides about 10% and 4.5%.

Mark Pereta, the local franchisee and applicant, said Small Sliders operates as a franchise with a standardized brand palette and that his group opened the Blue Springs location in April. He said the Kansas City‑area franchise group initially staffed about 55 employees and currently operates with roughly 42 employees. On hours, Pereta said the restaurant would open at 10 a.m. and close at 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and at 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. "Lunch and dinner only. We open at 10AM," Pereta told commissioners.

Traffic and access were the central concerns among commissioners. Commissioner Benbrook said he generally liked the design but was "very concerned about the entrance to this facility," predicting it could cause conflicts during evening peak periods when nearby uses are busy. Commissioners Janet Ford, Fraser and others echoed concerns about potential stacking and left‑turn conflicts where the site driveway interrelates with a private north–south street (Jefferson Crossing) and adjacent driveways in the Oldham Village plan.

Susan Berry, the city's traffic engineer, said staff reviewed the configuration and identified throat length and stacking capacity; she noted there is room for a small number of vehicles to queue and that the traffic study did not flag the entrance arrangement as a staff concern at the time of review. Civil engineer Randy Perdue of Kaw Valley Engineering said the developer was provided the existing access configuration and that consolidating entrances generally is standard practice; he suggested a small modification to create a T intersection could provide stacking on each lot to reduce conflict.

Commissioners also asked about operational details. Pereta said the Blue Springs location arranges trash collection before 10 a.m. to avoid pickups during customer peak times, and he said the applicant expects to use similar pickup timing at this site. Battalion Chief Craig Hill of the Lee's Summit Fire Department said the department frequently encounters tight sites and would use backing protocols and personnel to exit the site when necessary; he said the site measurements are sufficient for departmental operations based on initial review.

The commission discussed aesthetics and materials as well. Staff showed elevations with corrugated metal paneling and a shipping‑container accent element; staff noted comparable approvals in the area where other recent facilities used higher metal percentages. Commissioners voiced no unified objection to the metal facade or the franchise color palette, though Commissioner Benbrook recommended a thicker gauge of metal for hail resistance as a maintenance suggestion.

After the public hearing, the commission made a motion to recommend approval of application PL2025‑1166, with the recorded condition that city staff and the applicant review additional options for entrance improvement prior to the City Council hearing. The roll call vote recorded the motion as passing unanimously among the commissioners present.

Next steps: the Planning Commission recommendation and the record of the access‑related discussion will be forwarded to the City Council, which will consider the preliminary development plan and the staff/applicant follow‑up on entrance options.