Public Hearings
For applications that require public hearings, the overall length of time is a minimum of 3 months to go through the public hearing process. This starts from the date of submittal to a final ordinance reading, assuming everything flows smoothly and all deadlines are met (see Deadline Schedule). This review process can take longer depending on the complexity and scale of the project, the quality of the submitted plans, neighborhood concerns, advertising/public notice issues, and other factors. Two public hearings are required for most public hearing applications (e.g. rezoning, preliminary development plan, special use permit) - one at the Planning Commission and one at the City Council, followed by an ordinance reading at a subsequent City Council meeting. If you have a simple project and need a fast turnaround, you can request a shortened review time. This is highly dependent on workload and hearing schedules. Any expedited review schedule may or may not be possible.
Legal Protests
The Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) of the City of Lee's Summit provides for surrounding property owners to protest rezoning, preliminary development plan and/or special use permit applications.
If a valid legal protest is filed against a rezoning, preliminary development plan and/or special use permit application, a favorable vote of six (6) members of the City Council is required to approve the application in question. See the information packet below for more information on legal protests.
Planning Commission or City Council Approval without Public Hearings
Applications that do not require public hearings, such as preliminary and final plats, can be processed in a slightly shorter time frame. Final plats go to the Planning Commission and then on to City Council for an ordinance reading. Preliminary plats are only considered by the Planning Commission, unless there is an appeal of their action to City Council.
Administrative Applications
Applications that are handled administratively (e.g. those that can be approved by staff), such as final development plans and minor plats, do not follow this deadline schedule. For administrative applications, the initial staff review after submittal is 10 business days. Once plans are resubmitted, all subsequent reviews are completed in 5 business days.
Reference Documents