NEIGHBORHOODS CONTINUE ORGANIZING

Topics:


Participants

Representatives from several neighborhoods in south Johnson County held another meeting to discuss how to best represent their community interests. The meeting was held at David and Mary Pennington's home in Green Meadows (Mary is Vice President of the Home Owner's Association). Besides Mary and David, others present were:

Other neighborhoods whose representatives could not make this meeting but who are involved in the organizing effort include Blue Valley Riding, River Ridge Farms, and Sylvan Lakes.

Autobody Paint Shop

The first issue discussed was the autobody paint shop being built at 162nd and Metcalf. Mary reported that Mr. Booth of the local EPA office will soon be receiving training in how to evaluate the dispersion of emissions from the autobody shop. Mr. Booth pointed out that the nearest home was over 300 yards away from the shop. Mr. Booth now agrees that the greatest source of health risk is not from particulate matter, which will be filtered, but from the solvents. Vapors from the solvent are uncontrolled and unregulated.

The greatest concern with respect to the new autobody shop is the effect of the potential toxins from the solvents on the children in the day care center next door. Shirley confirmed that the owner of that center continues to want to work with the neighborhoods to resolve the issue.

Neighbors agreed that the emissions from this shop, the existing autobody paint shop, and the asphalt factory should all be considered and might pose a greater health effect cumulatively than individually. It was also felt that the neighborhoods should continue to develop information about the pollutants being emitted before adopting a course of action. Bob reported on the attorney's advice with respect to this issue and the identification of another community (this one in Massachusetts), which is facing pollution from an autobody shop. Bob will attempt to make contact with this community. The Philadelphia community, which went from two autobody shops to over 50 in the course of 7 years was again brought up.

Membership

Another topic discussed was the membership of the neighborhood groups. It was agreed that the specific issue being addressed would determine the level of involvement of individual neighborhoods, but that it was important that neighborhoods support each other, even in cases where one neighborhood might not be immediately, directly affected. An example was the support the neighborhoods are giving to River Ridge Farms in its fight against a tower at 159th near Mission.

Tower Petition

A petition to educate and gain the support of residents is being passed which asks that a moratorium on all tower development be instituted until a master plan for the metro area is developed. It was felt that the current approach of isolating the fight to one community at a time is not in the best interest of Johnson County.

An important consideration for involving as many communities as possible is leveraging the learning experience from those who have had fights. One example mentioned was the knowledge gained by those fighting the Price Chopper on 135th street.

Zoning Notification and Meeting Location

The group addressed the topic of finding out what is being planned before it was too late to respond. Johnson County provides a list of applications for consideration by the Zoning Board a little less than one month in advance. Shirley and Bob have begun picking those up monthly. The neighborhood associations in Overland Park receive agendas 1 to 2 weeks in advance of city meetings, but it was felt that was too short a time in which to organize a response. The group will look into how to get earlier notification. It was also felt that holding Oxford Township Zoning Board meetings in Olathe was unacceptable, so the group will begin addressing this issue.

Strip Mall And Power Station On 159th East Of Nall

The possible strip mall along 159th street east of Nall was discussed. Most had not heard of it, nor of the power station which apparently is being planned. It was felt that Hampton Woods should be made aware of this. The group decided to find out more information about this development.

In general, the neighborhood representatives felt that we should seek opportunities to work closely with government and industry in trying to find win-win situations.

Next Meeting

The next meeting will be held in two weeks at David and Mary's home on Thursday, May 8 at 7pm.

Pennington's Cat

The neighborhood representatives also agreed that David and Mary have a beautiful home and a great cat: sleek, black, beautiful and friendly.


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