Lawsuit over rural Parker subdivision dismissed

This two-story home is the only house built by developer Mike Page in the Sunshine Meadows subdivision. A lawsuit filed against the county zoning appeals board was dismissed after Page withdrew building permits for additional houses. (Roger Sims / Linn County Journal)

By Charlene Sims, Journal staff

lcjeditor@icloud.com

MOUND CITY – The lawsuit by a group of rural Parker residents against the Linn County Board of Zoning Appeals was dismissed in district court on Tuesday, Feb. 3. The lawsuit was dismissed after the issue of the building permits became moot when the applicant for the building permits did not start any construction and returned the building permits to the county.

The applicant, Mike Page, who was the developer of Sunshine Meadow subdivision, was refunded his money for the permits.

Four lots of the land that Page had subdivided into five lots known as Sunshine Meadow were purchased from Page by Justin and Kristin Deer. The land will remain registered as a subdivision with five lots. Lot one was sold to Dakota and Connela Kimzey shortly after the subdivision was formed.

Jan Longenecker and 27 other people filed a lawsuit on Sept. 24, 2025, against the Linn County, Kansas, Board of Zoning Appeals to seek an order finding the issuance and validation of the three building permits issued for the Sunshine Meadow subdivision was unlawful and unreasonable. The lawsuit asked for the court to reverse the decision of the board of zoning appeals and vacate the three building permits.

During Nov. 2025, a motion was filed to dismiss the lawsuit and it was denied. The hearing was scheduled for Dec. 17 but then rescheduled for Feb. 3.

The Stipulation of Dismissal that brought about the end to the lawsuit noted:

1. The building permits, the issuance of which is the subject matter of this

action, have been returned to Linn County by the applicant prior to any construction and the application fees have been refunded by Linn County;

2. By virtue of their return, the building permits are no longer effective; and

3. The issues raised in this action are consequently moot.

In a phone conversation with Page, he said that he had sold the land with the house to Deer and Deer had wanted to buy the other lots because he did not want close neighbors. Page said that, in his opinion, Deer handled the issue of not wanting houses built on the other lots appropriately – by purchasing the lots.

In an email received by the Journal on Wednesday, Feb. 4, Page wrote:

“We have developed several pieces of property over several years and are heavily involved and supportive of our community. The Sunshine Meadow project seems straightforward and simple. Typically, you would go to the authority, jurisdiction /Linn County for options and regulations.

“We were advised a subdivision was our only possibility. It was then inappropriately denied by not following the golden rules and having two hearings for testimony. The county then decided we could do a minor subdivision and helped us create the minor subdivision. There have been many other minor subdivisions in the county that have been uncontested.

“The not in my backyard (NIMBY) group protested by clouding all title works/financing, subsequently stopping and delaying all proposed projects, to pursue a lawsuit with the county.

“The frustrating part of that is the county just went through the process of revising and renewing a comprehensive plan and subsequent planning and zoning rules and approvals.

“The community survey for the comprehensive plan was very poorly attended. I’m curious how many people involved in this lawsuit bothered to respond/reply to the surveys/meetings?

“If we continue to reject and deny all development in the county, I’m not sure who’s going to be able to afford to live here after the power plant closes as announced. It provides approximately 2/3 of the tax revenues for the county services and many others. I, for one, could not afford my taxes tripling to create the same revenues.

“Hence the reason is that we have a comprehensive plan and subsequent zoning rules to develop the county in a progressive/healthy manner. It doesn’t seem anybody wants to get greatly involved unless it’s in their backyard and then shut it down. What is the true answer besides ignoring it?”

In a phone conversation with Longenecker, he said it turned out good for the neighboring landowners but didn’t turn out the way he and the other people on the lawsuit wanted. They wanted Linn County to understand the error of approving that kind of housing on land zoned agriculture.

He said that the Linn County regulations say that single family dwelling in the Agricultural District may not be placed on tracts less than 10 acres in size. The plaintiffs in the case also contended that the land for which the building permits were issued had not been subdivided in compliance with the Linn County Subdivision Regulations because it had been subdivided into lots smaller than 10 acres using the minor plat process.                                                                                                                                                                                                       

Longenecker said that their attorney wrote a letter telling the county they would sue if they could not appeal the building permit decision so they were given the opportunity to make a presentation to the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA). And then, Linn County Counselor Jacklyn Paletta told them that they did not have a right to be at the appeal board because the regulations did not give them the right to appeal building permits. Longenecker disagreed with that interpretation of the regulations.

Longenecker said that it was a sham hearing and the BZA voted to maintain the issuance of the building permits. He said that he and the neighbors in that area spent a lot of money to go to court.

Longenecker expressed concerns that, once this was approved, it opened it up for this to happen all over the county.

Another minor plat subdivision was approved one mile north of of Sunshine Meadow subdivision in 2025 by former planning and zoning director Ben Souza that divided a 40 acre plat into three lots for Morris Emry. Longenecker said that was so Emry’s children could each have a piece of the land and they were bigger lots. At Emry’s subdivision, Sunset Farms, one lot is 2.98 acres, another lot is 3.54 acres and the third is 31.86 acres. At Sunshine Meadow subdivision, the lots ranged in sized from 3.3 to 4.1 acres.

Longenecker said that if it was possible he hoped that the Deers would have their subdivision dissolved because they were paying taxes on land zoned Countryside rather than Agricultural.

Rural Parker resident Larry Kinder, who joined the lawsuit against Page, said he was glad that all of the neighbors had stuck together on this. He said that Longenecker did a lot of the work.

Kinder said that the subdivision was turned down twice by the planning and zoning board and then it was approved as a minor plat by the planning and zoning director without having to go in front of the planning commission. Because of this, the neighbors were surprised when they learned it was approved.

Kinder said that he would like the county to fix this in the regulations so that it couldn’t happen again.