Leawood, Kan. – June 2, 2026: R. Scott Beeler and Brett Randol recently defended their client Plaza Speedway Development, Inc., the owner of a large commercial shopping development in Wyandotte County, Kansas, in an important tax case at the Kansas Court of Appeals. The decision protects a developer’s right to maintain lower property taxes through agricultural use, until such time as the land is ready for development.
Plaza Speedway Development entered into a contract for multiple vacant and undeveloped parcels in the development to be used for growing and bailing hay, which allowed the property to qualify as agricultural land for tax purposes. Wyandotte County instead classified the land as vacant commercial property, which is taxed at a significantly higher rate.
After Plaza Speedway Development successfully appealed the commercial land classification to the Kansas Board of Tax Appeals, the County filed an appeal with the Kansas Court of Appeals. Scott and Brett represented Plaza Speedway Development in the appellate court and successfully argued against the County’s attempts to substantively change Kansas law and the criteria for land to be classified as agricultural for tax purposes.
The appellate court opinion is available here.
About the firm’s Litigation Practice Group: The firm’s Litigation Practice Group attorneys have more than 250 years of combined trial and appellate court experience, including business-to-business cases, individual and business cases, simple two-party disputes, and complex class action cases. The Litigation Practice Group has collective experience in more than 40 states and in eight federal circuits, including more than 500 bench and jury trials.
About the Public Law Practice Group: The firm’s Public Law Practice Group attorneys assist clients in obtaining approval of changes in zoning and development entitlements such as variances and the issuance of building permits as well as practicing before administrative bodies on matters related to regulatory compliance. They also assist clients in obtaining the approval of economic development incentives. Click to view a project map of work the firm has completed.
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