Juliana Garcia

All six PV United candidates lost their races for council seats. The Prairie Village group and its efforts have consumed council chambers for the past three years — notably their opposition to affordable housing and subsequent effort to "abandon" the city's form of government.

All six candidates who supported moving forward with the $30M municipal complex project were leading big on Election Night. A proposal to abandon the current mayor-city council form of government failed.

A yearslong conflict roiling Prairie Village comes to a head as voters cast ballots on whether to abandon the city’s form of government. But the question isn’t necessarily what it seems.

Prairie Village is divided on whether to construct a new municipal complex — mirroring a dramatic fight two years ago over housing and zoning. Nowhere is that conflict more apparent than in this year’s city council election.

November's vote is the culmination of a years-long debate in Prairie Village, which began as a fight over zoning and housing and wound up in a legal battle over city governance. But even if voters agree to "abandon" the current structure, there's no plan for replacing it with a different model.

The city of Prairie Village wants to move ahead with a new $30 million municipal complex, but a vocal group of residents say the public deserves more input. Signs with the message "Let Prairie Village Vote" have begun popping up in yards across town.

Prairie Village City Council voted 10-2 effectively ban short-term rentals inside the city, requiring all such properties have a minimum of a 30-day stay. Current owners will need to find a new use for their spaces by Nov. 1, 2025, or face fines of up to $500 per day.

The group leading the effort to recall Mayor Eric Mikkelson opposed the city's efforts to increase affordable housing options. On Monday, the group said they failed to get the required number of signatures to force a recall vote.

Racially restrictive deeds and exclusionary covenants are still scattered across the Kansas City metro, embedded deep in the bylaws of homes associations and subdivisions’ rules, even though they can no longer be enforced. Now, property owners have a way to remove the language from the documents.

The two Kansas Senate bills appear to be a direct response to last year’s contentious fight over zoning that played out in Prairie Village. One bill would sharply curtail a city’s ability to rezone private property, and the other would strengthen petitioners’ efforts to put a question on a local ballot.