Commission approves East Village ‘Elizabeth’ active-adult building with added stipulation on landscaping

The Leawood Planning Commission voted to recommend approval of the final plan and final plat for East Village — “The Elizabeth,” a 160-unit, 55-plus active-adult mixed-use building (case 55-25) — and added a stipulation that the applicant revise perimeter landscaping to meet the Leawood Development Ordinance (LDO) prior to governing-body consideration.

Senior planner Carrie Caniller presented the application: the proposal is a vertical mixed-use, three- to four-story building on roughly four acres in the East Village MXD district that includes about 218,173 square feet of residential area and approximately 10,000 square feet of ground-floor retail and restaurant space. Compared with the previously approved preliminary plan, building square footage for the site increased but remained under the LDO’s 5% threshold for a substantial change; the overall East Village square footage increases by about 2%. Parking increased from 232 to 265 spaces for the site, and the applicant added residential amenities including a pool, hot tub, sport court, and rooftop patio; the plan also provides for a four-story internal parking garage with rooftop solar readiness and a small number of EV charging stalls.

Caniller said the proposal meets LDO unit-size minimums and design criteria and that staff recommended approval with the stipulations listed in the staff report. Commissioners and staff discussed a narrow planting area along the north and southwest corners where sidewalks and the roadway reduce the space available for the required 10-foot foundational planting strip. Staff and the applicant agreed the planting intent should be met and that the detailed landscape plan should be finalized before governing-body review. Commissioner Block moved to approve case 55-25 with the 35 stipulations in the staff report and an added stipulation that the applicant revise the plans to meet the LDO’s 10-foot landscape buffer around the building prior to governing-body consideration; Commissioner Stevens seconded the motion. The commission approved the package and forwarded the plan to the governing body.

Staff noted some numeric corrections in the staff report (for example, a parking-count typo) that are to be corrected in the record. The decision forwards the final plan and plat to the governing body; any required amendments or deviations will be handled through the city’s standard final-plan and permitting process.