Overland Park staff propose minor mapping and text edits in first-year Framework OP review

April Snae, senior long-range planner for Overland Park, told the Community Development Committee the annual update to the city's comprehensive plan is largely housekeeping as the city completes its first year under Framework OP. "This is a little exciting because it's our first year with our new framework OP plan," Snae said, describing minor map corrections and a short list of text edits set to go to the planning commission and city council this fall.

The packet to committee identifies 30 proposed changes to the future development character framework map, Snae said, noting most are "mapping error corrections" to better align parcel boundaries and uses. Staff said 22 of the 30 are corrections; about 13 of those corrected parcels were schools or churches that should have been categorized as public or semi-public, four address infill around downtown transitions, and several others reflect better alignment with adjacent neighborhoods.

Snae summarized edits to the plan document itself as minor: "There are only 11 changes to the plan document," she said, largely typographical fixes and clarifications to definitions such as the Housing 5 character type (revised to read "mid-rise apartments including condominiums" with multi-level or surface parking and rooftop or interior amenities).

Staff emphasized implementation work alongside the document review: the Unified Development Ordinance update is under way to align zoning with the new character types, and planning staff said they have begun integrating framework analysis into development review and staff reports since July. Snae told the committee that, as of the July check-in, departments had started work on roughly two-thirds of the plan's actions: "We've started on nearly two thirds of our actions within this first year," she said.

Council members asked staff how the plan will apply to developments approved under prior rules, about building-height references in character types and whether the presentation of framework ties directly to agendas and staff reports. Staff answered that framework will be applied when public hearings or significant changes prompt reexamination, and that the UDO update (scheduled as part of the implementation work) will help reduce ambiguity about when a proposed project should be re-assessed against the character framework.

Next steps: staff said the annual update will go to the planning commission for public hearing on Oct. 13 and to the City Council on Nov. 3 for consideration. The committee did not take an action on the plan tonight.

Why it matters: Framework OP sets the city's character-based expectations for development and links planning priorities to capital and departmental decisions. The annual review is the city's statutory mechanism to check the plan's accuracy and to track implementation progress.