Build Guide: Overland Park, Kansas
Overland Park, Kansas is a city of roughly 203,000 residents in Johnson County, the second most populous city in Kansas after Wichita and one of the largest by land area in the Kansas City metro at about 75 square miles. It is a separate municipality from Kansas City, Missouri and from Kansas City, Kansas, with its own unified development ordinance and building permits.
Faust Construction builds full-home renovations, additions, and new homes in Overland Park, and has completed projects in the city.
What defines Overland Park
Overland Park incorporated as a city of the first class in May 1960 and adopted a mayor-council-city manager form of government in 1963. It has since grown to roughly 203,000 residents across about 75 square miles, which makes it less a single neighborhood character than a sequence of them.
The city grew from north to south. The earliest neighborhoods sit in the north near the original Strang Line and Overland Turnpike, on more compact blocks laid out when people walked to a transit stop. Growth south of there took a suburban pattern and kept going, and the newest subdivisions sit well south of 135th Street.
That split matters when you build. An older lot in the north and a newer one further south sit under the same ordinance but not the same numbers, because Overland Park writes several of its residential standards around when the land was platted and what the surrounding block already looks like.
What homeowners should know
Overland Park has no design review board for houses, and much of what shapes a project here is the vintage of the plat rather than the design itself. The requirements below come from the city’s Height and Area Regulations and its Permits, Licenses and Inspections pages.
There is no design review board for houses
Overland Park publishes no architectural or design review board. Development plan approval, which the ordinance requires before a building permit for other uses, expressly does not apply to single-family residences and their accessory uses.
The bodies that do exist are the Planning Commission, which handles rezoning, plats, and development plans, and the Board of Zoning Appeals, which hears variances, nonconforming situation permits, and appeals of administrative decisions. The city’s Architectural Design Standards name the residential districts they can reach, but the building types they actually apply to are set out in a flow chart in the ordinance, so whether they touch a specific detached house is a question for Planning and Development Services.
Your setbacks depend on when the lot was platted
This is the provision most likely to catch a project out. In the R-1 and RP-1 districts the minimum front yard is 20 feet, but 30 feet if the property was preliminary platted before January 1, 2010. Side yards must total at least 20 percent of the lot width, with no side yard under 7 feet and none required to exceed 15 feet other than a street side yard on a corner lot. The street side yard on a corner lot is 20 feet, or 15 feet where the lot backs onto another corner lot. The rear yard is 25 feet.
Minimum lot area is 8,000 square feet per dwelling, minimum lot width 70 feet, and average lot depth 115 feet. Maximum height is two and a half stories and 35 feet, with accessory structures limited to one story, 20 feet, and no taller than the main structure.
Infill has to match the block
For infill and redevelopment the front yard may be no less than the average existing setback along the same and facing block faces, and no more than 15 feet back from that average. On an older lot this is the single provision most likely to reshape a design.
Detached accessory buildings may not sit in a required front or side yard or in front of any building setback line, must stand at least 3 feet from any interior property line and at least 20 feet from any street right of way line, and may not exceed 30 percent of the total land area in the rear yard setback. No more than two detached accessory buildings are permitted per residence.
No landscaping plan, and no city permit for private trees
The ordinance requires a landscaping plan signed by a registered landscape architect for plans submitted in support of a development plan, site plan, or building permit, but expressly excepts residential uses in the RE, R-1, RP-1, R-1A, RP-1A, and R-2 districts. Where a plan is required elsewhere, it must identify trees of 12 inch caliper or larger proposed for removal.
Street trees are a different matter. It is unlawful to remove any street tree without the prior written permission of the City Forester, planting a species not on the approved list requires written authorization, and unauthorized removal requires providing a replacement of a species and caliper the City Forester approves. The city publishes no tree removal permit for private trees on a single-family lot.
Stormwater rules mostly do not reach a single house
The stormwater treatment ordinance exempts land disturbances under one acre that are not part of a common plan disturbing more than an acre, expansions where the increase in impervious surface is under 5,000 square feet, and single lot residential developments that are not part of a larger common plan. Most single house projects fall outside it.
Erosion and sediment control is the part that still applies, under Chapter 16.200 of the municipal code. It reaches all land disturbance activity whether or not a permit is required, work that does not require a permit must still use the applicable best management practices from the city’s standard details, and stabilization of disturbed areas must be initiated immediately whenever clearing, grading, excavating, or other soil disturbing activity ceases.
Realistic timelines
Overland Park does not publish a city-specific building permit validity period on its permits page, and the ordinance defers permit expiration to its building code title, so the operative period is the one in the adopted International Building Code. Site development permits and land disturbance permits do have published rules: both expire if work has not commenced within 180 days, and site development permits also expire after 180 days of suspension.
Because the building permit window is not published locally, and because Title 16 has been heavily renumbered in recent revisions, a schedule and the current adopted code edition for a specific project should both be confirmed with Planning and Development Services rather than assumed.
Contractors are licensed through the county
Overland Park requires a currently valid Johnson County contractor license for anyone seeking a permit, rather than issuing its own contractor license. Johnson County’s program issues eleven license types, and Class C Residential is the one that covers most single-family work.
Permits are applied for through ePLACE, the city’s online permitting system, at opkansas.gov.
| R-1 and RP-1 standard | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Minimum lot area per dwelling | 8,000 sq. ft. |
| Minimum lot width | 70 ft. |
| Average lot depth | 115 ft. |
| Front setback, platted on or after 1 Jan 2010 | 20 ft. |
| Front setback, platted before 1 Jan 2010 | 30 ft. |
| Side setbacks | 20% of lot width combined, none under 7 ft., none required over 15 ft. |
| Corner lot street side | 20 ft., or 15 ft. backing another corner lot |
| Rear setback | 25 ft. |
| Maximum height | 35 ft., 2.5 stories |
Why Overland Park projects take local experience
Faust Construction has built in the Kansas City metro for more than 25 years and has completed full-home renovation work in Overland Park. The trap here is assuming one set of numbers applies citywide. A lot preliminary platted before January 2010 carries a 30 foot front setback where a newer one carries 20, and an infill or redevelopment project has to match the average setback already established along its own and the facing block.
The other thing worth knowing early is what Overland Park does not require. There is no design review board, no landscaping plan for single-family lots in the standard residential districts, no city tree removal permit for private trees, and single lot residential work is exempt from the stormwater treatment rules. That makes the front end simpler than Mission Hills or Prairie Village, and it puts the weight on getting the site numbers and the erosion control right.
Pre-construction
We price the design, evaluate materials and alternatives, and build a schedule that accounts for city review milestones.
Construction
We work with a consistent group of craftsmen and trade partners, with daily on-site presence throughout the build.
Management
We track cost against budget transparently and meet monthly with the architect and homeowner.
What we build in Overland Park
Overland Park covers everything from post-war blocks in the north to subdivisions built in the last twenty years, and the work follows that range.
- Full-home renovations. Reworking layout, systems, and finishes in an established house, which is the bulk of the work in the older northern neighborhoods.
- Additions. Expansions designed against the setback numbers that apply to that specific lot, which depend on when it was platted.
- Interior renovations. Kitchens, baths, and basement finishes, where design review is not part of the process and the review is against the building code.
- New construction and infill. New homes on infill lots, where the front setback must fall within 15 feet of the average already established along the block.
Faust Construction has completed full-home renovation work in Overland Park, Kansas. Overland Park sits inside our regular service area alongside Mission Hills, Prairie Village, Leawood, Fairway, Westwood, and the Kansas City, Missouri neighborhoods along Ward Parkway.
Recent work
Browse new construction, additions, and full-home renovations from across the Kansas City metro, including projects in established neighborhoods that share this area’s scale and housing stock.
Questions about building here
Answers to what homeowners ask before starting a project in this area.
Is Overland Park part of Kansas City?
No. Overland Park is an independent city in Johnson County, Kansas, incorporated as a city of the first class in May 1960, with its own unified development ordinance and building permits. It is part of the Kansas City metropolitan area but is a separate municipality from both Kansas City, Missouri and Kansas City, Kansas. At roughly 75 square miles and about 203,000 residents it is the second most populous city in Kansas and one of the largest in the metro by land area.
Does Overland Park have an architectural review board?
No. Overland Park publishes no architectural or design review board, and development plan approval, which the ordinance requires before a building permit for other uses, expressly does not apply to single-family residences and their accessory uses. The city’s Architectural Design Standards name the residential districts they can reach, but the building types they actually apply to are set out in a flow chart in the ordinance, so whether they touch a specific detached house is a question for Planning and Development Services.
What are the setbacks for a house in Overland Park, Kansas?
In the R-1 and RP-1 districts the front yard is 20 feet, or 30 feet if the property was preliminary platted before January 1, 2010. Side yards must total at least 20 percent of the lot width with no side yard under 7 feet, and none other than a corner street side yard need exceed 15 feet. The street side yard on a corner lot is 20 feet, reduced to 15 feet where the lot backs onto another corner lot. The rear yard is 25 feet, and maximum height is two and a half stories and 35 feet.
Why is my Overland Park setback different from my neighbor’s?
Because Overland Park ties some standards to the age of the plat and to the block. The front yard minimum is 30 feet on land preliminary platted before January 1, 2010 and 20 feet on newer plats. Separately, for infill and redevelopment the front yard may be no less than the average existing setback along the same and facing block faces, and no more than 15 feet back from that average. Two lots on the same street can therefore carry different numbers.
Do I need a permit to remove a tree in Overland Park?
Not for a tree on your own single-family lot. Overland Park publishes no removal permit for private trees, and the ordinance that requires a landscaping plan expressly excepts residential uses in the RE, R-1, RP-1, R-1A, RP-1A, and R-2 districts. Street trees are different: removing one requires the prior written permission of the City Forester, and unauthorized removal requires providing a replacement of a species and caliper the Forester approves.
What home projects do not need a permit in Overland Park?
Overland Park publishes an exemption list on its Permits, Licenses and Inspections pages covering minor work such as small detached accessory structures, low retaining walls, and ordinary finish work. Because that list is revised periodically and the current version is maintained by the city rather than in the ordinance, confirm a specific scope with Planning and Development Services before assuming no permit is needed. Exempt work still has to meet zoning requirements such as setbacks and height, and any work in the public right of way still needs a right of way permit.
How long is an Overland Park building permit valid?
Overland Park does not publish a city-specific validity period for a residential building permit. Its ordinance defers permit expiration to the building code title, which does not restate a duration, so the operative period is the one in the adopted International Building Code. Site development and land disturbance permits do have published rules and expire if work has not commenced within 180 days. A permit application itself is abandoned 180 days after filing unless actively pursued. Confirm the window with Planning and Development Services for a specific project.
Does Faust Construction build in Overland Park, Kansas?
Yes. Faust Construction has completed full-home renovation work in Overland Park, Kansas, and works throughout the Kansas City metro including Mission Hills, Prairie Village, Leawood, Fairway, Westwood, and the Kansas City, Missouri neighborhoods along Ward Parkway. Brian Faust founded the company more than 25 years ago.
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