The city of Westwood has filed a lawsuit seeking a judge’s ruling on whether a state law applies to the sale of Joe D. Dennis Park to make way for a much-discussed new office and park development on Rainbow Boulevard. The city last week filed the lawsuit in Johnson County District Court seeking a declaratory judgment on three items — including whether the law, K.S.A 12-1301, applies to the sale of Joe D. Dennis Park at the corner of 50th Street and Rainbow. That statute specifically deals with the sale of public park land, and a group of Westwood residents has argued the city should have followed it when going through with the sale of Joe D. Dennis Park to clear the way for the development. Mission Woods-based Karbank Real Estate Company plans to build multiple office and retail buildings where the park currently sits along Rainbow. In exchange, the company also plans to create a new, bigger park on adjacent land nearby where the current Westwood View Elementary sits. Residents, who have organized under the banner Friends of Westwood Parkland, have pushed back on the proposed development for months now. The city’s latest lawsuit comes after the Westwood City Council unanimously invalidated a resident-led protest petition. That petition called for the city to apply K.S.A. 12-1301 in proceeding with sale of the park, and also called for a public vote on the Karbank project.
Source: Prairie Village Post
