Planning commission recommends rezoning for View High sports complex amid traffic, noise and lighting concerns

The Lee's Summit Planning Commission recommended approval Jan. 23 of a rezoning and preliminary development plan to allow the proposed View High Sports Complex on about 17.18 acres east of Northwest View High Drive and north of Northwest Ashurst Drive.

The commission's recommendation moves the applicant's rezoning request from agricultural (AG) to CP-2 (planned community commercial) to City Council for final action. The proposal calls for a multi-sport indoor facility with courts and an indoor soccer field, outdoor fields and five outdoor pickleball courts, plus a conceptual 2-acre commercial parcel on the site north of the Summit Church parking lot.

Staff said the application is consistent with the Ignite comprehensive plan and noted the packet included a parking justification and a traffic-impact study. Adair Bright, Senior Planner, told commissioners staff reviewed a parking memo that suggested a peak demand calculation and compared it with the Institute of Transportation Engineers parking generation manual; staff accepted the applicant's shared-parking arrangement with Summit Church.

Applicant Matt Slish of Engineering Solutions described the project as a regional sports complex with a mix of indoor and outdoor courts, sports medicine and office space. "It's a full sports facility that can handle every one of the sports activities that we're currently needing space for in the city," Slish said, outlining a layout that the team designed to put potentially noisier uses away from the nearest homes and to preserve existing tree buffers.

Neighbors pressed commissioners and staff on traffic, noise and lighting. Brad Allen, who said he lives on Northwest…