Commission approves 110 West Main site plan after public concerns about parking and ADA access

The Smithville Planning and Zoning Commission voted to approve the site plan for 110 West Main after hearing public comment and technical clarifications from staff.

Resident Doug Circeone told the commission he reviewed the packet and flagged multiple parking issues, including uncertainty over whether the plan’s parking chart showed net new spaces or existing spaces, altered interior parking geometry that reduced spaces, and the location and number of designated ADA stalls. “One thing that did catch my eye…was some of the parking stuff that I see has changed from what they’ve originally been proposed,” Doug said during public comment.

City staff answered questions about the revised layout and a pending cross-access agreement with United Fiber. Staff said the engineer pulled the plan back to avoid using United Fiber’s lot while the parties work on a recorded cross-access agreement. An engineer on the project redesigned the auto-turn template to meet the fire chief’s ladder-truck specifications, which staff said satisfies emergency-access concerns.

Staff also summarized parking counts and public-access rules: the purchased parking lot plus on-street adjustments yield roughly 46 spaces tied to the project, and further on-street changes add additional public spaces nearby. Staff noted some lots remain private at night and that several overflow lots exist within a few blocks of downtown. On the topic of ADA compliance, staff explained that sidewalks and facilities must be built to ADA standards and that installing designated accessible stalls reduces the net count because Missouri law requires a 96-inch unloading area adjacent to each accessible stall.

The commission discussed a parks fee required by local site-plan regulations when land cannot be dedicated. Staff said the regulation sets a parks fee of $625 per dwelling unit; for this project that produced a fee in the neighborhood of $50,000 to be used for nearby park or trailhead access. Staff identified a site north of the north parking lot as a future gravel trailhead parking location that the developer will fund at a minimum of $53,000 toward construction and related work, to be negotiated by public works once exact unit prices and grading needs are known.

After the public comment and staff responses, Commissioner (speaker who moved) moved to approve the site plan with the staff-recommended conditions. The commission took a roll-call vote and approved the motion; staff said the item will go to the Board of Aldermen for their review next week.

The recorded action: the commission approved the 110 West Main site plan with staff conditions and will forward the item to the Board of Aldermen. The approval included the staff condition that outstanding cross-access agreements and any required recorded instruments be resolved as specified in staff recommendations.

Next steps: the Board of Aldermen will review the item at its next meeting; staff and public works will finalize negotiations and implementation details for the gravel trailhead parking and any cross-access agreements.