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

The Roeland Park city council on Monday took up the future of the Roeland Park Aquatic Center as the Lenexa-based consulting firm Waters Edge Aquatic Design presented a comprehensive look at the pool’s current condition and options for keeping the pool open year round or during the summer season only. The report’s final recommendations focused on options that would keep the pool open only during the summer. The report found that community feedback showed strong support for the Roeland Park Aquatic Center with location of the pool ranking the highest in satisfaction. Desired features included 25-meter swimming, zero-depth entry, and 50-meter [...]

Every year for the past 25 years, Sar-Ko-Par Trails Park lights up for the holiday season. Jeff Carlson, parks and recreation facility maintenance supervisor, said his crew decorates 80 to 90 trees in the park with dozens and dozens of stringed lights. Some of the trees are pretty large, about 70 feet tall, so they require tall lifts to hang up the lights. And all of the lights are different: traditional C9 and C7 bulbs and modern LED, traditional Christmas colors of red and green and unique colors from all over the rainbow. “There’s a big oak tree out here in [...]

Shawnee is continuing the temporary prohibition of new vape shops in the city. The council unanimously decided in its Tuesday meeting to extend the moratorium that regulates the retail operation and conduct of new vape and inhaling shops in Shawnee. The city began the moratorium in March and is now extended until July 1, 2019. During the Tuesday meeting, councilmember Jim Neighbor said he believes the Food and Drug Administration is also in the process of creating regulation on vapes and e-cigarettes. There was no other discussion. Deputy city manager Stephen Powell said the city’s moratorium limits the number of businesses [...]

Now that Lenexa has wrapped up its first farmers market season, the city is closing the year with its first holiday farmers market. Jenny Doty, recreation supervisor who is coordinating the holiday farmers markets, said all of the vendors at the holiday farmers market are based within 250 miles of Lenexa. Many of Lenexa’s market vendors produce into the winter, so the holiday farmers market provides a space for them to continue selling, Doty added. “A lot of them will have product year-round, especially if you’re a meat vendor or a cheese vendor; pecans are just coming into the market again,” [...]

Johnson County Park and Recreation District has created a new division dedicated entirely to culture. JCPRD kicked off the launch of the new division with a celebration Oct. 30. “We don’t launch new divisions; it just doesn’t happen,” said Susan Mong, who oversees the Culture Division. “So it’s a big moment in history for our organization to step into that space and be strategic about doing that well and providing that for the community.” Mong said JCPRD staff believes that arts, culture and history are an important part of a healthy community. “I think it’s a major economic driver and just [...]

Leawood city leaders are inviting the public to provide input on the possible relocation of old city hall near 96th and Lee Boulevard. City administrator Scott Lambers said the city doesn’t have details yet on what the move would look like. Rather, the intention of the meeting is to present an overlay of the site so the public can see it and provide input before any firm plans are made. Those plans include a potential new fire station on the property. “This is really just getting a sense of people’s opinions,” Lambers said. “We don’t have any plans right now because [...]

The Shawnee council has officially hired an architect and owner’s representative for a proposed community center near 60th Terrace and Woodland Drive. Some councilmembers considered these steps to signal the city’s clear intention to move toward a public vote on the project. The council at its Monday meeting approved 6-1 both of staff’s recommendations on the project. “While the official action this evening is limited to the approval of architectural services and an owner’s representative, tonight, in my opinion, is about so much more,” said councilmember Stephanie Meyer. “Tonight, we are affirming to our residents our intention to move forward towards [...]

Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor clearly marked traffic barrier was going to keep one U.S. Postal Service worker from delivering the mail in Prairie Village yesterday. Road crews had recently completed a road microsurfacing project on 72nd Street east of Nall Ave. on Thursday when a mail carrier looking to make deliveries on the street arrived. The crews had put up barricades to keep traffic off the street while the thin layer of fresh asphalt emulsion cured. The driver apparently didn’t think those barricades were applicable to the U.S. Postal Service vehicle, though, and maneuvered around the barricade leaving [...]

The Lenexa City Council last week unanimously approved plans to hold a Nov. 6 public hearing to consider whether to approve a proposed reclamation tax-increment financing (TIF) project plan for the former Meritex strip mine in the Ridgeview Mining TIF District. The TIF project plan pertains to about 38.7 acres south of Prairie Star Parkway, west of Britton Street, east of a future addition to Ridgeview Road and north of a future addition to 99th Street, according to a Tuesday memo to the council from Assistant City Attorney Sean McLaughlin. The Meritex Co. mined limestone at the site when it [...]

The set of new home design regulations approved on an 11-2 vote by the Prairie Village City Council last week has emerged as a bright dividing line between mayoral candidates Eric Mikkelson and Serena Schermoly. And it’s gotten personal. Schermoly and Ted Odell were the dissenting votes on the new guidelines when they came before the governing body for final approval after months of deliberation last Monday. Schermoly also made an unsuccessful attempt to amend the guidelines to exempt existing homeowners from key provisions on green space and massing. Mikkelson, on the other hand, has been a strong proponent of [...]