A plan to convert a Lenexa hotel into Johnson County’s first permanent, year-round homeless shelter will head to a City Council vote next month — without the support of city staff and planning commissioners. On Monday night, the Lenexa Planning Commission voted 9-0 to deny a request for a special use permit to operate a homeless shelter at the La Quinta Inn and Suites hotel off of Interstate 35 and 95th Street after a public hearing when more than 70 members of the public spoke. It’s a significant blow, though not necessarily fatal, to the county’s plan to address a growing need in Kansas’ most affluent and populous county. City Council will make the final call. The decision came after city staff recommended denying the permit, writing in a 540-page dossier that the proposed shelter was “inconsistent with the character of the neighborhood” and would draw “negative external impacts” to nearby homes and businesses. Staff also said it anticipated needing increased law enforcement to oversee the proposed shelter, which they said the city doesn’t have money for. And they wrote that the shelter was too close to Johnson County’s temporary winter shelter.
Source: Joco 913 News
