Westport

[brewcrew1000]

QT's are so overrated, the food is garbage, the prices are actually quite high and the car traffic in the lots make getting out after a Chiefs game look like a breeze.

We need to bring the other KwikTrips that are based in Minnesota/Wisconsin up here. You can get good food and bakery items and you can grab items that you need for home for very cheap like Onions, Potatoes, Milk, bags of apples, and organges and as well as other Fruits, etc. The QT's down here are overhyped crap.

False.

Its my opinion but The sandwiches there have made me sick on 2 occasions, never gonna get that again. Cigarettes and normal stuff is priced very high unless you buy 2 or large size items. The drink prices keep going up, i remember when they cost 59 cents in the summer. KwikTrips in Wis/Minnesota have really good baked items like homemade cookies, Pumpkin bars, brownies. You can also get fresh fruit like Cherries for very good prices, lots of other healthy items and I think having stuff like onions, potatoes and large bags of apples, oranges and bananas are great if you don't want to stop at the grocery store.

[brotherdarrell]

QT's have the cleanest stores and fastest lines in town. Not to mention the cheapest quality gas. stick to taquitos at gas stations.

[smh]

Its my opinion but The sandwiches there have made me sick on 2 occasions, never gonna get that again. Cigarettes and normal stuff is priced very high unless you buy 2 or large size items. The drink prices keep going up, i remember when they cost 59 cents in the summer. KwikTrips in Wis/Minnesota have really good baked items like homemade cookies, Pumpkin bars, brownies. You can also get fresh fruit like Cherries for very good prices, lots of other healthy items and I think having stuff like onions, potatoes and large bags of apples, oranges and bananas are great if you don't want to stop at the grocery store.

My relations up Wisconsin way have the same glowing things to say about KwikTrip.

[DaveKCMO]

Does this even adhere to the Plaza-Midtown Area Plan at all?

it does not, at least based on my reading. the recommended land use for the south side of westport road through there is:

MIXED USE COMMUNITY - Primarily intended to accommodate and promote a variety of community-serving retail sales or service uses generally of a higher intensity and larger scale than what is allowed in Mixed Use Neighborhood areas. This category should include a mix of business and residential uses designed to enhance the pedestrian environment of the community and generally corresponds with the “B2” zoning category within the zoning ordinance.

midtowners: protect your area plan, because the development community will not.

[warwickland]

the only thing i can stand from QT anymore is the coffee. and now they are getting rid of the old machines and the cream dispensers, at least over here.

all they really stand for is senseless demolitions and parking lot clusterfuc*ks.

[warwickland]

they bombed this stretch of chouteau of buildings that were all OCCUPIED:

[warwickland]

after:






they did the same thing in maplewood on big bend. a nice two story building that anchored the corner was flattened because they wanted to move two blocks to a probably worse location traffic-wise.

[chingon]

Yikes.

[warwickland]

i'm ill, now.

[flyingember]

Ah, Chouteau in StL. Whats said is QT also has put in very tight designs too.

Their store on Armour in NKC is very compact and has great access, it's right at a light making it stupid easy to get to. People avoid the closer gas station to the freeway to go to the QT because it's easier to get out of.

[aknowledgeableperson]

.

[aknowledgeableperson]

I wouldn't call it corruption. There are many other words that may apply. Like lack of experience for one.
Don't know in this case but with turnover and all I wouldn't be surprised that would apply here.

Why is corrupt not accurate? If I'm to believe the account above (and I have no reason not to), you have a low-level government employee making decisions beyond the scope of their understanding and refusing access to due process of escalating the matter. This forced an independent business person to waste money on an industry consultant from that very department* to rectify the issue. Chalking that up to lack of experience and turnover lets them off the hook too easy.

*Would be shocked if there's not a supervisor somewhere in that department that gets lunch every now and then with this "consultant"[/quote]

Corruption is a criminal matter. How the case was described there was an incorrect policy in place. And that policy was changed when the new director was correctly informed as to correctly rule. Things like this happens when an inexperienced person replaces a person with experience, who also made some mistakes when first on the job.[/quote]

Did you read the account? The correct policy was there, but the official refused to recognize it. Taxi was then forced to hire a consultant who just happened to be from that department. The Consultant was the only one who could make the officials recognize the correct interpretation of the law. How is refusing to provide access to a superior classified as "inexperience?" They knew exactly what they were doing, or they would have contacted a supervisor.[/quote]

My contact with Liquor (and Amusement) Control ended around 1993 when the Finance Department was reorganized. Up to that time LC was a contained Division of the Finance Department. It was headed by a high level Assistant Director of Finance. For most of my contact time the head of the Division was a retired FBI agent and he was succeeded by his well trained and equally ethical assistant.
Do not know the language of the legislation that was passed nor how it was interpreted by staff for implementation. The "policy" would be how that legislation is interpreted and implemented.
Also, I was not there when the initial contact was made but I have experienced similar situations and at times both sides in their minds have a honest different take on what happened and a misunderstanding of the words used. Maybe a supervisor wasn't available which does happen at times with meetings, vacations, sick leave, lunches, etc. And it is quite possible the city employee involved was following instructions by a supervisor, especially if the employee was clerical in nature.
Corruption is a very strong word, especially when applied to government. And that is why I say corruption is criminal, whereas incorrect implementation of policy is ignorance, inexperience or just plain misinterpretation.

Even in the initial post the word "misinterpetion" was used.
" to convince them that they were misinterpreting the ordinance"

[UrbanKC]

If this had been a parking lot in danger of getting built on, everyone in the neighborhood would have heard about its impending doom a year in advance, public meetings would have been held, and we all would have had a good cry.

Oh, well.

LOL, you are too right...

Thankfully with the new plan though, if a developer complies to the parking regulations as set in the new Plaza plan, then people don't have much to room to stand on when complaining about losing parking.

[moderne]

Vacating and dead-ending a street for a convenience store??? Where is the West Plaza Neighborhood Association on this? They fought for years and reduced the size of what eventually became the Posinelli/Sorella project.

[Eon Blue]

They are fighting it.

[DaveKCMO]

They are fighting it.

word from city hall is that QT won't get approval until they make the neighborhoods AND city planning happy.

disturbingly, city planning thinks the current proposal is actually supported by the midtown area plan. i guess there was a previous plan that moved the project closer to roanoke, which is parks territory and they said no-no.

[flyingember]

It's supported. The city never changed zoning throughout all of midtown to coordinate with the plan. And the midtown plan has no teeth without zoning changes. It's really weakly written as far as a document goes and I agree with the ideas the plan has, they're way better things to do than to close a street and expand a gas station.

The B3 zoning type doesn't ban gas stations except along parkways and boulevards.
Roanoke is a parkway which explains that no. Parks had no choice but to deny that idea.

https://data.kcmo.org/Area-Plans/Midtow ... /km2d-7ads
The map on page 30 clearly says mixed use is only "recommended." It's like me recommending the city do something specific, they can say no and that's it.

Everything they don't want is allowed under the plan, it's only discouraged. An example of how weak that term is- the plan can discourage parking but city code has parking minimums.

Street and alley closures are discouraged to maintain a connected and walkable environment and avoid the creation of
large “super blocks.” Street connections should be re-established whenever possible

Strip / linear commercial development along corridors is discouraged and should be replaced by a mixed use pattern of
development, as shown on the Recommended Land Use Map and in the Development Form Guidelines.

Be happy the city is insisting the neighborhood be happy because if this document was legally binding the plan doesn't even require that.

Future development projects should be vetted by the Midtown / Plaza Area Plan Implementation Committee and
applicable neighborhood organization (see Appendix C).

[kcjak]

Does the city or neighborhood have any power to deny the closing of the street? Seems like that would be a pretty big deal but I have no idea.

[flyingember]

Does the city or neighborhood have any power to deny the closing of the street? Seems like that would be a pretty big deal but I have no idea.

The city would need to legally vacate the street. W. 2nd St in front of Market Station is a good example. it's a street, yes, but it's not a city street.

This project can't go forward as is without this city action.

[moderne]

Since the long vacant gas station is on the corner with entrances on Westport and on Roanoke, it seems like shifting the project in that direction could be grandfathered in. Might help soften any increased traffic problems of an expanded gas station with the help of a traffic signaled intersection.