The Overland Park, KS city staff is still in the process of crafting an alternative recommendation to the City Council, which would replace an earlier regulatory program recommendation calling for rental unit registration and certification. Sam Alpert and Larry Winn of Polsinelli, White, Vardeman & Shalton have been asked to meet with the city staff on Friday morning, February 25^th. It is believed that the staff will discuss its recommendations to the City Council at this time.

In Kansas City, Missouri, a proposed ordinance currently under review would enact an arterial street impact fee imposition on all new development in the city. Under the proposal, the “Multi-Family” land use type development would require payment of $678.00 per unit to facilitate construction of the project. To the extent that Kansas City, MO already struggles to compete within the region, this fee, combined  with other land use type impact fees, threatens  the city’s growth, unless other creative methods of paying for arterial streets can be identified.

In Johnson County, Kansas, property owners will be required to file a declaration of personal property, which has always been a legal requirement, but not enforced by the county until now. The implication of this requirement with regard to the county’s new methodology is that while an averaging of  personal property  value as a percentage to be deducted from real estate valuation may generally result in some tax savings to owners, the allowable reduction may not be enough relative to the actual value of the respective personal property.

In Kansas, SB 54 is an attempt by the cable industry to enact legislation that will provide unrestricted access to any consumer wishing to subscribe to a licensed provider’s diverse cable services. The proposed legislation would also place restrictions on revenue-sharing agreements with owners. The cable lobby  appears to have convinced legislators that unrestricted consumer access to these services outweighs any claim of basic property rights. As is the case with FCC rulings, some significant litigation will need to occur in order to test the owner’s private property rights.

In Missouri, SB 822 (sponsored by Sen. Clay) would require all buildings of more than 75 feet in height in the state without automatic fire sprinklers to retro-fit with fire sprinklers over a phase-in period not to exceed twelve (12) years. While the measure has a great deal of public support, especially on the east side of the state, the bill is generally opposed by the state’s business and real estate interests.

Amended February Legislative Activity Update

As reported earlier, on February 25^th Sam Alpert and Larry Winn met with John Rod and Skip Moon of the Overland Park staff to discuss an alternative recommendation to the Community Development Committee of the City Council for  better codes enforcement with regard to residential rental properties. Alpert and Winn were encouraged to learn that the proposed alternative to mandatory registration and certification of all rental units within the city limits had been set aside in favor of targeting repeat chronic codes offenders, who constitute the majority of  non-compliance complaints received by the city. This is the approach HAA has consistently advocated over the course of the last year. On March 1^st the staff presented its recommendation to the Community Development Committee, who unanimously embraced the concept and scheduled a public hearing  before the committee to be held on Wednesday, April 5^th.

In Kansas the forced access bill , SB 54, was tabled in the House Utilities Committee on a 9-8 vote February 23^rd .  The issue remains extemely contentious, while generating a great deal of confusion in weighing consumer rights against private property rights. The bill could resurface at any time, and we encourage you to write your state representatives expressing your personal concerns. 

In Missouri SJR #’s 45 & 41 propose putting a constitutional amendment on a fall ballot, which would effectively reduce the current requirement for a four sevenths (4/7ths) or two thirds (2/3rds) “super majority” to a simple majority vote in any school bond election. This would suggest serious long-term financial implications for apartment owners and other commercial property owners. Please write your state senators and representatives voicing your concerns in this regard.