The Lee's Summit Planning Commission voted unanimously Jan. 9 to recommend approval of application PL2024‑25, a rezoning and preliminary development plan for a project called Ovation at 325 Southeast M‑150 Highway.

The proposal, presented by Matt Slish, applicant representative for Engineering Solutions LLC, would rezone portions of the site from RP‑3 and CP‑2 to RP‑4 and PMIX (planned mixed use), approve a preliminary development plan for townhomes and single‑family lots, and leave a conceptual mixed‑use area along Highway 150 for later development. "We went in and took off a little more of that PMIX area to try to give us some more space," Slish said during the public hearing, describing design changes made after neighborhood meetings and prior commission direction.

Commission staff framed the revisions as responsive to parking and neighborhood concerns. Hector Soto Jr., senior planner, told commissioners the revised plan reduces the townhome count from 208 units to 192 by removing four buildings (16 units) and lowers the site densities: overall density including the conceptual northern portion drops from about 11 to about 10.5 units per acre, and the townhome area drops from about 7.7 to about 6.8 dwelling units per acre.

The developer added off‑street parking and changed unit garage mixes to address overflow parking worries raised at previous hearings. "With this mix of two‑ and single‑car garages now the number of off‑street parking spaces goes up from 8 to 12 [per building]," Soto said, and the plan provides 576 off‑street spaces on lots plus a dispersed grouping of roughly 54 head‑in spaces and about 19–20 parking spaces associated with the townhome clubhouse; staff reported a development total in the plan set of roughly 630 spaces when those and other spots are included, an average of about 3.3 spaces per dwelling when the calculation is applied across units.

The commission and applicant also discussed stormwater and downstream sanitary sewer constraints. Slish said the developer will construct a detention basin and required stormwater quality controls the city code requires and will install a storm sewer conveyance that diverts concentrated flow west into an existing creek channel to reduce discharge toward adjacent back yards. He also described an "excess flow holding basin" site on the southwest corner to help address infiltration and peak sanitary sewer flows in the 570‑acre watershed that have limited development in the area. "We are putting in a detention basin that will meet all of the comprehensive controls that your code requires," Slish told the commission; he said the basin and conveyance should be an improvement for downstream areas including Lake Winnebago.

Access and traffic along Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT)‑controlled Highway 150 were recurring topics. Slish said MoDOT has indicated it intends to keep Highway 150 east of the Sonic as a two‑lane road and that the project will taper the existing four‑lane segment appropriately and add a right‑turn lane eastbound. Commissioners pressed about the potential for a right‑in/right‑out break in access on 150; staff explained such a change requires a formal MoDOT break‑in‑access process and is granted only when traffic modeling shows the change benefits the state highway system.

Design changes noted by the commission included shifting the townhome pool amenity eastward to provide a fence and buffer from an adjacent pond, separating amenities so each housing type has its own common area, preserving and supplementing vegetation along perimeter property lines, and adding architectural articulation and two‑car garage options for roughly half the townhome units. Brian Ronn, speaking for the applicant on architecture, said siding will be cementitious products with articulation and gables on rear elevations to avoid long, blank walls.

After discussion the commission voted to recommend approval. Commissioner Terry Trafton moved "to recommend approval of application PL2024‑25, rezoning from RP‑3 and CP‑2 to RP‑4 and PMIX, preliminary development plan and conceptual development plan, Ovation, 325 Southeast M‑150 Highway, Engineering Solutions LLC applicant." The motion was seconded; the Planning Commission recorded unanimous affirmative votes and the application was "recommended for approval," per the commission announcement of the vote.

The project will return in stages if and when the conceptual PMIX portion is developed, at which time the applicant and staff said separate preliminary and final plan reviews and required traffic memoranda or updated studies would be submitted. Commissioners and staff noted the PMIX designation gives the city more control than the existing CP‑2 zoning by requiring plan review of future uses in that area.

Commissioners praised the applicant for revising the plan after neighborhood meetings and staff comments. Several commissioners said the additional parking and two‑car garage options addressed their earlier concerns. The public hearing contained no public speakers opposing the revisions; the applicant and staff noted multiple neighborhood meetings where residents raised stormwater and traffic concerns.

The Planning Commission's recommendation completes the commission vote; the transcript records the commission recommendation on Jan. 9. The record entered into the hearing included exhibits submitted by staff and the applicant; further submittals and any city council action will be reflected in subsequent meeting agendas and records.