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

The former Johnson County Museum site in Shawnee is now zoned for professional office use, repurposing the 91-year-old building and putting it back on the tax rolls. The Shawnee council on Monday unanimously approved the planning commission’s recommendation to rezone the former Johnson County Museum property from single-family residential to professional office use. The new owner, Lackman Civic Center LLC, which recently bought the property from Johnson County, plans to convert the building at 6305 Lackman Road into office space. The building is now vacant because Johnson County moved the museum to the former King Louie facility — now called the [...]

Another piece of public art in Lenexa is officially underway after the City Council approved the final design and fabrication documents for “Splash” by San Francisco artist Shan Shan Sheng for the atrium near the Lenexa Recreation Center’s south entrance. “Splash” comprises 31 pieces of cold-cast glass panels suspended 16 feet to 18 feet off the floor, the largest of which is about 6 feet long and weighs about 25 pounds, Parks and Recreation Director Gary Ristow told the council at its Tuesday meeting. The council unanimously granted approval; Ward 3 Councilman Dan Roh was absent. The city had agreed to [...]

The Lenexa City Council on Tuesday approved holding a public hearing at its Aug. 21 meeting to consider establishing a community improvement district (CID) for the Sonoma Plaza retail center on one of the last substantial tracts of vacant land inside the Interstate 435 loop in Johnson County. The CID, requested by developer Sonoma Plaza Inc., would levy a 1 percent retail sales tax on all property within the roughly 29-acre area at the southeast corner of 87th Street Parkway and I-435 starting July 1, 2020, according to a Tuesday memo to the council from Assistant City Attorney Sean McLaughlin. Sonoma [...]

A new four-level parking garage won’t solve the parking crunch in downtown Overland Park during the day, city officials said. In fact, daytime weekday parking for the public will stay about even with what it is now, said City Manager Bill Ebel. But council members still agreed to a $14.4 million public financing package for the Edison office and retail development, saying the influx of office workers and entertainment will be good for business and bring more people to shop downtown. The package includes $10.6 million in tax increment financing to build the parking garage and a two percent additional sales [...]

Park-goers and their canine counterparts have new water fountains and dog bowls in Shawnee’s parks this summer. Swarner Park and Gum Springs Park each have new fountains with dog bowls and water bottle fillers. Herman Laird Park has a new fountain with a dog bowl. Joe Overstreet, manager of parks and facilities, said the four drinking fountains, which were replaced in mid-June, cost approximately $1,300 each. The drinking fountains upgrades were a planned budgeted expense in the Land Improvement Maintenance account. “The fountains being replaced have been in operation for as long as 20 years,” Overstreet said. “The new fountains allow [...]

Shawnee has renewed its commitment with Johnson County to direct funds toward low-income housing. This year’s commitment brings about $100,000 in total to homes that needs rehabilitating, according to a June 25 memo from the city. The Shawnee council approved in a 6-0 vote Monday, June 25, a three-year memorandum of understanding with Johnson County that supports Shawnee residents who own low-income housing. Through this arrangement with Johnson County for 2019 through 2021, Shawnee residents can participate in the Johnson County HOME Consortium program, which allocates funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for rehabilitating low-income housing. This [...]

Overland Park has become the first among Johnson County’s largest cities to take steps toward recovering costs associated with the overuse of opioid painkillers. The city council recently gave the go-ahead to find a lawyer to investigate suing opioid manufacturers. The suit would seek to recoup money the city spends on, for example, police and paramedic calls to handle drug overdoses. The idea is an emerging trend among local and state governments as the abuse of the pain killers increases. Opioid overdoses killed 42,000 nationwide in 2016, with 40 percent of that involving a prescription opioid, according to the National Center [...]

Merriam residents got a first look at the proposed design for the city’s new $30 million community center at an open house Thursday. The big reveal at city hall gave attendees a peek of the designers’ plans for the building as well as the site layout, which will include a spot for a new Antioch branch of the Johnson County Library and a parking structure to serve both facilities. The community center design features a large courtyard area. The center’s interior spaces of a lobby, gallery, community spaces and pool will all view the courtyard through continuous glass. Factors such as [...]

Nearly the entire Mission Police Department turned up for the council meeting Wednesday in support of their colleagues. Patrol officers Samantha Kunzler and Tony Schuberger recently completed their police training and were introduced to council members. Kunzler and her field training officer, Nathan Fleming, earned special recognition for successfully handling a dangerous situation with a violent suspect several months ago. Captain Dan Madden bestowed the honors on the officers. Fleming received a letter of commendation “for his brave and extraordinary performance, which reflects greatly upon himself, the Mission Police Department and the city of Mission.” Kunzler, in turn, received a Purple [...]

ansas Gov. Jeff Colyer was in Lenexa Thursday to celebrate the start of construction on a regional headquarters facility for Kiewit Corp., one of the largest construction and engineering firms in North America. The project will include construction of a new six-story building on the vacant lot adjacent to the current Kiewit Corp. offices at 8900 Renner Blvd. The new building will be approximately 182,000 square feet. Combined with the existing facilities, the Kiewit campus will have about 385,000 square feet of office space housing around 1,300 employees. The project is schedule to be complete in January 2020. (Read more: Shawnee [...]