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

The Johnson County Board of County Commissioners last week approved the expenditure of $50,000 toward the cost of a county-wide study to assess the area’s housing inventory and needs for the future. Housing affordability issues has gained prominence in Johnson County in recent years, as more and more residents have struggled to find jobs that pay enough for them to afford to live here. United Community Services of Johnson County, the non-profit organization that analyzes data on human services in the area and organizes efforts for collaboration between the county, city governments and other groups, has raised concerns about the growing [...]

Shawnee Mission residents have come through in recent days to help shore up a fund critical to helping students and their families in need. The Shawnee Mission Education Foundation’s Cares Fund was established to help provide financial assistance to district families facing financial stresses: unpaid rent after unexpected medical expenses, for example, or utility bills after a lost job. Over the fall, the foundation saw more requests than ever before come in. With disbursements of more than $30,000 over the past 12 months, the fund balance had dipped into negative territory. (Read more: Shawnee Mission Post – Community news and events [...]

On Primary Election night 2018, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach spoke twice on the phone with Johnson County Election Commissioner Ronnie Metsker. It’s not surprising that the Secretary of State was seeking an update on the status of the vote count. It was, after all, the second major election in a row in which Johnson County, the state’s most populous county, had been unable to post vote tallies in a timely manner. And as Secretary of State, Kobach was in charge of reporting the statewide vote total. The software failure that led to the long delay in vote totals being reported has [...]

Lenexa has taken the first official step with local company Integrated Roadways to embark on the country’s first and largest deployment and showcase of smart pavement technology. The Lenexa city council on Tuesday unanimously approved a memorandum of understanding with Integrated Roadways that facilitates a public-private partnership for the $8-10 million smart infrastructure installation at five intersections in and around Lenexa City Center, just west of I-435 at 87th Street Parkway and Renner Boulevard. The MOU allows Integrated Roadways to access the right-of-way for installation and operations of smart pavement at four intersections on Renner Boulevard and one on the western [...]

Motorists on U.S. Highway 69 this week got another preview of some of the visuals that might become part of the skyline if Overland Park grants developer Ken Block’s request for a special use permit on his CityPlace office project. The WellSky corporate office building at CityPlace, located just west of U.S. 69 several blocks south of the I-435 interchange, features a bank of video panels along its roofline that can be programmed to display any number of visuals. Block Real Estate Services held a demonstration of the LED boards’ capabilities this summer by featuring an animation of an abstract painting [...]

The Fairway city council on Thursday adopted a non-discrimination ordinance with legal protections for LGBTQ+ individuals, making it the 13th Johnson County municipality to put such a law on its books. Fairway has been grappling with the exploration of an ordinance for over a year now. Mayor Melanie Hepperly called a special city council meeting for last night specifically to address the issue. Hepperly said she and the council have done their due diligence over the last year to do what's best for Fairway. Hepperly said although she believes the protections offered by the NDO would have been better handled at [...]

After years of conversations about finding new ways to get students career ready after graduation, Unified School District 232 is advancing plans to build a dedicated Career & Technical Education Center to better serve the needs of students. Once complete, the new center will be connected to a new Early Childhood Center as one facility located on district-owned property on the northeast corner of 83rd Street and Mize Boulevard next to Mill Creek Middle. “We want every student in our school district, when they graduate, to be prepared to go to college, but we also recognize that not every student needs or [...]

Open mic time at Overland Park City Council meetings could end up being limited to 30 minutes at the end of the meeting with participants signing in for a maximum of three minutes apiece, under rules being discussed by a council committee. The Finance, Administration and Economic Development committee took up the issue Wednesday after hearing a report on how other city and county governing bodies handle open comments. Overland Park is a rarity among local governments in that it does not have a designated time during council meetings for people to express themselves on any issue. They can talk during [...]

City leaders took it to heart when Overland Park residents said they wanted a future city with more moderately priced housing options – ones that would be within the budgets of the janitors, fire fighters, restaurant workers and school aids who work in the city. On Thursday, residents can find out what it means to make that happen, as the non-profit Incremental Development Alliance holds a public discussion of the benefits of “small scale” development. The presentation will be at 6 p.m. at the Matt Ross Community Center Crown Room. The meeting is an attempt to explain some of the ways [...]

Lenexa has hired Scott McCullough as the city’s new community development director. McCullough replaces Beccy Yocham, who had served as community director since 2011 before the city council appointed her as city manager in April. Tim Green, deputy community development director, had been leading the department in the interim while city leaders looked for Yocham’s replacement. McCullough’s first day on the job in Lenexa was Nov. 4. Yoccham introduced him to the city council Nov. 5. (Read more: Shawnee Mission Post – Community news and events for northeast Johnson County)