With multi-billion-dollar industrial development cropping up and standing to transform Johnson County’s more rural, western end, a big question still hangs in the air: How will people get there? County and city officials are preparing for the expansive redevelopment of the former Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant in De Soto, kicked off by construction of the $4 billion Panasonic battery plant that’s expected to open in 2025. They say it will require major infrastructure work to reconfigure disconnected and nearby roads, some of which are still gravel, as well as in surrounding communities most likely to feel the development boom. “There will be tremendous change. And that will be difficult,” Public Works Director Brian Pietig told the Johnson County Commission last week. “There will be lots of development. And when I look at Panasonic, the first development in that (industrial park), and 4,000 employees, I think it’s going to come sooner rather than later.”
Source: Joco 913 News
