Councilmembers Nelson and Selders Propose Changes to Address Resident Complaints About Construction Noise

Spurred on by continuing complaints from residents, Ward 2 Prairie Village councilmembers Ron Nelson and Inga Selders last night brought forward a request for the Council to address repeated resident complaints about constant construction noise, interference with traffic, and frequent turnover of the city’s existing housing stock. The request from Selders and Nelson asked the Council to consider cracking down on those homebuilding practices, particularly noise emanating from teardown-rebuild projects.

Teardown-rebuilds — when an existing, usually smaller home is torn down and a larger, more expensive home is built in its place — have been a concern in the city for years, to the point that the city updated its neighborhood design guidelines in 2018 to address the trend.

But that hasn’t slowed down teardown-rebuild projects from happening in the city, and many residents remain upset at the daily disruptions they can cause, especially construction noise.

Nelson said that over the past 10 years, the city council’s efforts to deal with related issues like building code changes and restrictions on the size of houses “have been shot down” due to opposition. “If you have opposition and you end up not doing something, then problems pop up again and again the same ways that they have,” Nelson said, adding that Monday’s discussion was the latest attempt at finding a solution.

During Prairie Village’s years-long and often fractious debate over housing and zoning, teardown-rebuilds have remained a concern that most parties in the city agreed needs to be addressed. Monday’s discussion item came just a few months after the Prairie Village Planning Commission officially put efforts to address teardown-rebuilds via its neighborhood design guidelines to rest.

After discussion, the Prairie Village City Council voted 11-0 to direct city staff to suggest changes in city ordinances and policies to address construction-related disruptions like noise ordinance violations — particularly at teardown-rebuild construction sites — through fees, fines and other enforcement mechanisms.

https://johnsoncountypost.com/2025/07/08/prairie-village-teardown-rebuild-disruptions-263582/