Council sets Oct. 6 hearing after inspectors find unpermitted structural work at 8500 W. 150th St.

The Overland Park City Council on June 21 adopted Resolution No. 5053 to set a public hearing for Oct. 6, 2025, to ensure repairs are completed at an unsafe structure at 8500 West 150th Street.

City code administrator Jim Brown told the council inspectors found unpermitted structural modifications in the center of the building: crews had cut roughly 27 feet from the ends of 130-foot steel trusses, spliced narrower trusses together with field welds, and installed a site-manufactured beam and columns that sit directly on the floor slab without column pads. Brown said the work created a potentially unsafe condition and that staff asked the owner to engage a licensed structural engineer and a special inspector to design and verify repairs. Brown said a repair application from a licensed engineer had been entered into the city’s system the morning of the council meeting but had not been reviewed or permitted.

Brown said the building has been posted so the affected section cannot be occupied and that the permit for an unrelated tenant finish (a bocce ball center) is on hold pending completion of the structural repair. He said the Fire Department and mutual-aid firefighting partners have been notified and advised to avoid operating in the center of the building until repairs are made. Brown described the city’s immediate enforcement steps and said staff have begun abatement and code-enforcement actions on related exterior and site issues, including stored materials, erosion controls, dead trees, damaged curbs, sidewalks, parking-lot striping and signage, and the trash enclosure.

Council members pressed staff on next steps. Council Member Mosher asked whether the city can recover staff time and enforcement costs; Brown said state and local rules allow doubling a permit fee for unpermitted work and permit-fee recovery or abatement-cost recovery where the city performs corrective work, but there is no mechanism to bill for routine staff time spent on enforcement. Council Member Eunice asked what will happen before the Oct. 6 hearing; Brown said the building is posted and only workers doing the engineered repair are permitted inside the affected area. At the Oct. 6 hearing the council could find the structure repaired and take no further action, order the city to hire a contractor to make repairs and recover costs, or direct demolition if necessary.

Council Member Cheatham offered a friendly amendment to remove a provision in the draft resolution that would allow the code official to cancel the hearing if the owner completed repairs; members said they preferred the hearing go forward so the council would receive a status report regardless. The council also asked staff to request that the building owner attend the Oct. 6 hearing. The motion as amended passed on a roll-call vote recorded as unanimous.

The council’s resolution directs staff to proceed with statutory notice and sets October 6, 2025, for the hearing. Staff said they will continue civil enforcement and court-abatement steps as needed and will report back at the hearing or sooner if the owner completes the required engineered repairs.