Shawnee Mission Post – Community news and events for northeast Johnson County

Mission has agreed to begin contracts with five neighboring cities to provide them animal control services. In the wake of the dissolution of the Northeast Animal Control Commission earlier this year, Mission plans to provide animal control services to the cities of Fairway, Mission Woods, Roeland Park, Westwood and Westwood Hills. Those year-long contracts begin Jan. 1. City administrator Laura Smith, who presented the prepared contracts for the Mission councilmembers during their finance and administration committee meeting Dec. 12, had indicated that Westwood Hills planned to participate in a contractual agreement. That agreement came up for approval in time for the [...]

Roeland Park has asked Mission to consider redrawing its city limits to de-annex a half-acre piece of land divided by Johnson Drive. The land currently within Mission’s limits would connect the property on the north side of the street to the rest of Roeland Park. Mayor Mike Kelly and city administrator Keith Moody of Roeland Park discussed the city’s request at the Mission community development committee meeting Wednesday. City limits are often drawn along major dividing lines, such as streets and waterways. After the Kansas Department of Transportation realigned the northeast corner of Johnson Drive at Roe Boulevard, it created a [...]

Political parties were so active in this year’s county commission election that Commissioner Mike Brown says the county should drop the pretense of non-partisanship. To that end, Brown is trying to get the county commission to amend the charter and end the non-partisan aspect of elections that have been in place since the county charter was crafted in 1999. Brown said he expects to get a discussion going at next Thursday’s commission meeting, though he doesn’t know if he’ll have enough votes to get anything done. The commission can amend the charter with a supermajority of four-fifths, or 6 votes. But [...]

The Merriam city council on Monday generally agreed on the wording of a nondiscrimination ordinance which would provide legal protections for LGBTQ residents and employees. The council heard the first reading of the ordinance, which was drafted by city attorney Nicole Proulx Aiken, during its meeting Monday. The ordinance will come back to the council for consideration at a date yet to be determined. Aiken highlighted a few provisions currently included in the draft ordinance, which is designed to protect residents and employees from discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity — especially in the areas of employment and public [...]

For the eighth year in a row, Prairie Village’s Police Department and the Prairie Village Foundation have teamed up to help ease the burden on some families facing that situation. Through the Shop with a Cop program, Prairie Village police officers escorted 10 local kids on a shopping trip to the Target in Mission Thursday. With funds provided by the Prairie Village Foundation, each kid got $200 to spend on gifts for themselves as well as members of their family. (Read more: Shawnee Mission Post – Community news and events for northeast Johnson County)

A dilapidated and vacant house in the 4800 block of West 50th Street in Roeland Park was a topic of discussion this week, with the city exploring several options for how it could proceed to remedy the unfit structure—including demolishing the house or turning it over to Johnson County. A sinking front porch and peeling paint are among the code violations at the structure. Photo via the neighborhood group. A group of Roeland Park residents, organized by Eric Carson, petitioned the city to address the home commenting that it “poses an imminent threat to the health and safety of the public, [...]

The Prairie Village governing body this week denied a resident’s appeal of the city’s decision to invest heavily in accessible playground equipment at Franklin and Harmon Parks, a move he said denied kids with disabilities the chance to be incorporated in play at other neighborhood parks. James Olenick, the father of a now-adult son with disabilities, challenged the public works department’s planned investment of nearly $120,000 in new play equipment at Franklin Park in the coming months. The city also has tentative plans to invest around $575,000 in a complete revamp of the playground at Harmon Park that would feature a [...]

Lenexa will undertake an extensive review and planning process for the former city hall facility on 87th Street as leaders look to ensure the city has the space to house its public safety needs — from the police department to municipal court — for years to come. The council unanimously agreed on Tuesday to hire PGAV Architects Inc. for $204,600 to review the current and future space needs of the Lenexa Public Safety Complex and then develop a comprehensive master plan for the current facility. The proposed study would provide recommendations on facility size, location and cost to accommodate the Lenexa [...]

Shawnee has submitted its application for Community Development Block Grant funding for the next five years. Should the Kansas Department of Commerce accept Shawnee’s application as is, the city would receive $285,302 in CDBG funds. A majority of the city’s funding request is $217,602 to be dedicated toward street infrastructure improvements on 60th Street between Flint Street and Nieman Road. CDBG funds are designed to provide assistance to low- and moderate-income residents. The city’s five-year plan was updated to include housing rehabilitation, stormwater and street and sidewalk improvements, subsistence payments to low-income Shawnee residents, payments to subsidize child care, and funding [...]

Mission city leaders are considering creating a community improvement district to repair a cave-in of the Roeland Court parking lot. Community improvement districts (CIDs) in the Shawnee Mission area are normally used to create a sales tax for funding new development projects or rehabilitating old infrastructure. In this case, activating a CID would allow property owners living at Roeland Court to have a longer period of time, as much as 22 years, to repay repair costs to their parking lot. The 7- to 8-foot-deep subsidence of the parking lot at Roeland Court, at West 60th Terrace and Roeland Drive, was likely [...]