Mission Gateway on the ropes; developer can’t get enough votes on Mission City Council to pass a site plan

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What hope is there for Tom Valenti if he can’t even get a majority of the Mission City Council to approve something as basic as a site plan?

The Mission City Council on Wednesday dealt a blow to the New York developer’s latest idea for Mission Gateway when a narrow 4-3 majority on the council declined to give him preliminary site approval for his Walmart-anchored project. The council then unanimously voted to send the project back to the planning commission for more evaluation.

If Valenti hadn’t had such a poor track record in Mission over the last 10 years, it would be easier to feel sorry for the rail-thin man from Syracuse, New York. Valenti spoke softly and nervously as he tried to smooth over concerns from certain Mission council members on Wednesday.

It shouldn’t have taken much convincing. The council was not voting on tax breaks for his project, but merely on technical zoning aspects of his plan. The Mission Planning Commission had earlier voted unanimously to approve his project at Shawnee Mission Parkway and Johnson Drive. It includes a 155,000-square-foot Walmart, an Aloft hotel, 180 apartments and some other retail and maybe an office building if Valenti landed a tenant.

Typically when planning commissions give their blessing to a site plan, council approval follows. But Valenti seems to have lost enough goodwill among enough Mission council members that even his site plan is a major hurdle.

Dave Shepard, a Ward 4 council member who has supported some of Valenti’s previous plans, was among the more vocal critics of Valenti’s latest idea. He questioned whether Valenti’s plan, punctuated by a large, single-story Walmart store, even fit with Mission zoning requirements.

“The reality is this 155,000-square-foot discount superstore…violates our ordinances,” Shepard told Valenti. 

The Mission Planning Commission, in voting to approve Valenti’s plan, had granted an exception in Mission’s zoning code that governs the size and layout for discount stores at the Mission Gateway property.

Others on the council seemed less concerned about the technical aspects of Valenti’s plan, but signaled that they didn’t much care for the concept.

“What I don’t like is the lack of diversity,” said Arcie Rothrock, a Ward 2 council member. “The fact that the large big box retailer, their footprint is so large and I just cannot support a recommendation that has an exception for something that so many in the community have voiced they don’t want.”

Valenti had some support on the council. Ward 3 councilwoman Jennifer Cowdry described Valenti’s latest plan as “almost like a work of art.”

But even some who voted in favor of Valenti’s plan sounded less than enthusiastic about it.

“Personally, I think to grant the exception, the plan should have been more exceptional,” said Pat Quinn, a Ward 1 council member.

It’s a bad omen when Valenti can’t corral enough votes for a procedural vote. How does he expect to even get tax incentives when four council members don’t even seem to like the concept of his development?

After the meeting, Valenti seemed flabbergasted and frustrated by what had transpired. He mentioned that he had no plan B for Mission Gateway. When asked if he would reconsider his current development plan, he signaled the dire reality of his predicament.

“If it’s that or bankruptcy, of course I’m going to reconsider,” Valenti said.

He’s been continually reconsidering his plans since he tore down Mission Mall in 2005. 

Valenti on Wednesday mentioned one of his low points on Mission Gateway, a time when he thought he would land a major office tenant to anchor the project shortly after the recession. 

But that plan evaporated. A few weeks later, he got a call from a broker who explained that Walmart might be interested. He took it as a sign of “maybe God’s will, hopefully God’s will.”

At this point, even divine intervention hasn’t been enough to help Mission Gateway.

Here’s the key vote on the motion to approve the planning commission’s recommendation to approve Valenti’s site plan:
• David Shepard — No
• Debbie Kring — No
• Amy Miller — No
• Arcie Rothrock — No
• Pat Quinn — Yes
• Jennifer Cowdry — Yes
• Suzie Gibbs — Yes