Prairie Village asks judge to throw out groups’ petitions to remake city government

Prairie Village is asking a judge to declare that three petitions to restructure the city government are legally insufficient to go on the November ballot.

The city filed the suit in Johnson County District Court on Thursday, asking for a judgment on whether the petitions comply with state law, and naming the groups PV United and Stop PV Rezoning as defendants. The petitions seek to limit mayoral powers and cut the City Council in half.

The groups behind the petitions are made up of homeowners, former council members and candidates who organized to oppose the city’s attempt to amend zoning laws to allow for more affordable housing.

The housing debate has turned into a fierce political battle in the northeast Johnson County city, with the groups wanting voters to decide on remaking the council. One of the petitions would limit rezoning, and the others would change the form of government and halve the 12-member council. The six members elected in 2021 would automatically be ejected from their seats.

While Prairie Village does have a large council for a city of 23,000 — the same number of members as Kansas City and Overland Park — many on the council and others have called the effort to remove council members from their seats midterm “unconstitutional.”

This week, Johnson County Election Commissioner Fred Sherman completed a review of the petitions, determining that they each had enough valid signatures. But Sherman did not rule whether the initiatives met other legal requirements to be brought to voters this fall. He previously told The Star that ballot language must be approved by Sept. 1 for the November election.

During a crowded special meeting Wednesday evening, the City Council discussed the issue in closed session for a half-hour before voting to authorize staff to ask the court to decide whether the petitions are legal. That came after both county and city legal counsel listed several reasons the petitions fail to comply with state law.

Dan Schoepf, with the PV United group pushing for the ballot initiatives, in a statement called the city’s move a “breakdown in representative government — and the very reason citizens’ initiatives are legal. Let democracy work. Let the people vote.“

He said, “The election office’s review confirmed there is a groundswell of support to preserve our community’s unique quality of life and maintain much-needed citizen input on rezoning decisions that impact our families’ neighborhoods.”

Last week, Councilman Greg Shelton, elected in 2021, argued that the group has “co-opted the housing initiative as a political ploy to sow discord and discontent in our community as a means of trying to regain some political power after their preferred candidates were defeated in the past two elections.”

He added that, “so many of the leaders of the ‘Stop Prairie Village’ group actually served on this council and never felt compelled to pursue similar measures while they sat in these seats.”

The “Stop” group organized over the past year to oppose the city’s efforts to amend zoning laws to allow for more duplexes, apartments and other affordable housing options. They argue that the city is already too dense and built out to add such multi-family housing that they worry will change the character of their neighborhoods.

Another faction of residents, Prairie Village for All, has formed to support the city’s plans and push for more affordable housing in the city where average home prices topped $536,000 last year.

For several months, the “Stop” group has been collecting signatures so that voters can have a say in November on the government’s structure.

Johnson County’s legal counsel determined this spring that the group’s petitions failed to meet several requirements. But after collecting enough signatures, the group — through attorney Rex Sharp, husband of council candidate Lori Sharp — submitted them to the city and county election office earlier this month.

One petition would change the city’s definition of rezoning and restrict ordinances that would allow for accessory dwelling units, or “granny flats,” as well as other dwellings with more than one family living on a single-family lot. City code currently allows for those “granny flats” but only if they are attached to the main house and follow other strict regulations. Officials have debated amending those restrictions.

Sherman said that 3,213 signatures were valid on that petition, which needed 3,130 per state law. More than 3,700 signatures were initially submitted.

Joseph Hatley, attorney representing the city, argued in the lawsuit that the group’s proposal is an administrative ordinance, which cannot be adopted through a petition process under state law.

He said the ordinance “intrudes into areas of the city’s government that require specialized training and experience” and adopts a new definition of “rezoning” that would impact many other city matters and place other city regulations in “conflicts with federal and Kansas law.”

Hatley also argued, “the ordinance proposed by the Rezoning Petition is riddled with drafting errors that render it vague and susceptible to litigation over its meaning or enforcement.”

Problems with the proposed ordinance, Hatley said, are exacerbated because the petition says the “narrow definition” of rezoning could not be changed for 10 years by the council unless there is an election so voters have a say.

The second petition would abandon the city’s mayor-council form of government, including cutting the number of council seats in half and removing all of the members elected in 2021. And the third would establish a mayor-council-city manager form of government that would limit the mayor’s powers and have only one council member per ward.

Those petitions both had more than 2,000 valid signatures, according to the election office.

Both city and county legal counsel disagreed with having two petitions, one abandoning the form of government and another establishing a new one.

“For instance, if the Abandonment Petition is approved by voters and the Adoption Petition is not approved, the City may have no form of government in place at all,” Hatley wrote. “If the Adoption Petition is approved and the Abandonment Petition is not approved, the City would have two forms of government in place.”

The city said another issue is that state law requires the petitions to include the language, “Shall the following be adopted?” But the group failed to add that sentence to the two petitions.

Hatley said such ballot initiatives also require instructions allowing voters to check “Yes” or “No.” But the petitions “already had the ‘Yes’ box checked in violation of Kansas law,” he said.

State law also requires that if a new form of government were to pass, the governing body would be elected under that structure at the next regular city election, which would be in 2025, the city said. But the group’s petitions call for half of the council to immediately be removed. Only the six who win in November would be in office.

Hatley wrote that the petition, “would have the City’s voters change the form of government and elect the members of the governing body for that form of government simultaneously. This is prohibited under Kansas law.”

The petition also should establish terms of office. But the initiative only states that the “currently elected at large Mayor shall serve two year terms.” Hatley said the petition does not establish the terms of office for future mayors.

During last week’s meeting, Councilman Chad Herring, who was elected in 2019, called efforts to “undermine” the 2021 election, “unreasonable, unconstitutional and probably illegal.”

And he questioned why the group would submit the petitions despite the county raising several legal issues with them.

“Why would people bring before us petitions that they expect are going to be illegal, or at least considered to be so, if not to try to raise ire against this council? When we … have an obligation to follow the constitution of the state of Kansas and follow the law,” Herring said. “We’re not permitted to advance illegal matters. I think the answer is there’s a desire to increase anger at the elected officials of the city.”

Councilman Ron Nelson said last week, “If you want to run against somebody, then you run against them. You don’t do it the chicken way and then file a petition after somebody’s been elected to either remove them from office or just take out six of us.”

Mayor Eric Mikkelson ran unopposed last year. This summer, Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe has rejected several requests to recall Mikkelson, partly because the mayor sits on the board of United Community Services, which promotes affordable housing solutions. Howe determined the requests had no legal grounds.

Some city officials said that if residents are interested in changing Prairie Village’s form of government, there are more productive ways to have that discussion. Waters pointed to Lawrence, where the city formed a task force to study the form of government and is putting the matter on the ballot.