Build Guide: Prairie Village, Kansas

There is no design review board, but the design standards are binding

Prairie Village has no architectural or design review board for residential work. Instead the city applies its Neighborhood Design Standards, codified in Chapters 19.06 and 19.08 of the zoning regulations effective February 1, 2019, and administered by the Codes Department as part of ordinary building permit review. They are mandatory, not advisory: existing homes that do not meet them are treated as legal nonconformances. Plans are submitted to the city and can be viewed in person at the Codes Department at City Hall, 7700 Mission Road.

The standards apply whenever a new residential home is built, when 200 square feet or more is added to an existing home’s building footprint, or when construction activity alters the structure of the front elevation or roof. Interior work that does none of those things is reviewed against the building code alone. Where a design cannot meet a standard, the deviation goes to the Planning Commission through a formal exception process rather than to staff.

Coverage, impervious surface, and front yard greenspace

Building coverage is capped at 30 percent of the lot. Impervious surface, which the city’s summary lists as driveways, patios, and sidewalks, is capped at 40 percent. At least 60 percent of the area between the front lot line and the front building line must remain greenspace, reducible to 50 percent for lots under 70 feet wide on collector or arterial streets.

Side setbacks are a minimum of 7 feet each side in R-1A and 6 feet in R-1B, with a combined minimum of 20 percent of the lot width. Front setbacks in Prairie Village are frequently governed by platted building lines on the original plat rather than by zoning alone, and altering one requires a building line modification approved by the Planning Commission.

Massing, garages, and foundation height are regulated

Wall planes over 500 square feet require projecting or recessed features across at least 20 percent of the facade, with projections at least 1.5 feet deep. Side elevation wall planes over 800 square feet require an additional 4 foot setback on at least 25 percent of the elevation. Minimum window and door openings are set at 15 percent of the front elevation, 8 percent of side elevations rising to 15 percent where a side elevation faces a street, and 15 percent of the rear.

Forward-facing garage width is limited in three tiers: no more than half the width of buildings under 48 feet wide, no more than 24 feet on buildings between 48 and 60 feet, and no more than 40 percent on buildings over 60 feet. The top of the foundation must sit between 6 and 24 inches above the finished grade along the front facade, and on a rebuild the new foundation may sit no more than 12 inches higher than the foundation of the house it replaces.

Drainage permits are applied for separately

Public Works issues a separate drainage permit, applied for separately from the building permit. One is required for new construction, additions, pools, driveway or patio expansion, and any grading beyond a landscape bed. Because the two applications run on separate tracks, the drainage side is what most often holds up a start, so it belongs at the front of the schedule.

Work under 200 square feet needs a site plan showing the work area and impervious square footage. Work over 200 square feet, and any teardown rebuild, additionally requires a drainage study performed by a Kansas licensed professional engineer. Between 200 and 500 square feet, the city’s stormwater engineer determines whether a study is needed. The zoning regulations also condition impervious coverage exceptions on an approved public works drainage study.

Trees are protected under a 2021 ordinance

A tree plan permit is required for new residential structures, teardowns of 10 percent or more of an existing structure, and residential additions of 600 square feet or more. The ordinance took effect June 1, 2021, and violations can carry a fine of 500 dollars per tree. The submittal is a landscape plan showing the location, size by diameter at breast height, and species of existing trees, which trees are to be protected or removed, and where protective fencing will go.

The design standards also require street trees: at least one per lot, and at least one per 50 feet of frontage on lots with more than 80 feet of street frontage, with existing trees within 20 feet of the front lot line counting toward the requirement.

Teardowns require notice to the neighbors

Before a building permit is issued on a vacant lot or a teardown rebuild, the applicant must send notice by certified mail, return receipt requested, to all property owners within 200 feet. The notice itself is a form provided by the city stating the action requested, that plans are on file with the city for review, the property owner’s contact information, and the main contact for the proposed construction. The plans and elevations are filed with the city rather than mailed to the neighbors. Copies of the certified mail receipts are submitted to the city.

A demolition also requires a boundary survey by a Kansas registered land surveyor, an asbestos evaluation, a designated haul route, construction fencing at least 72 inches high with opaque screening, and mud or surety bonds of 5,000 dollars each from both the demolition contractor and the builder. Once a house comes down, construction of the new structure must begin within 60 days or the site must be restored to its original condition.

Realistic timelines

The city states that plan review turnaround time averages about two weeks. Prairie Village does not publish how long a residential building permit remains valid or how extensions are handled, so a schedule should be built from the review and inspection sequence rather than from an assumed permit window, and confirmed with the Codes Department at (913) 385-4604 for a specific project.

The sequence itself is what sets the front end of a schedule: survey and drainage study, drainage permit, tree plan, certified mail notice on a teardown, then building permit. Plans for new construction must be sealed by a Kansas registered design professional and the site plan must be based on a boundary survey by a Kansas registered land surveyor.

Contractors have to be licensed in the city and the county

All contractors and subcontractors working on a project in Prairie Village must hold a city contractor license, valid for a renewable 12 month period. Most trades must also hold a current Johnson County contractor license, though the city exempts sign, fence, utility, and concrete contractors from the county requirement. Right of way work additionally requires a certificate of insurance and a two year maintenance bond.