Please write Overland Park City Council members to oppose plans for the newly annexed area of nearly 5 square miles, south then west, of 159th/Metcalf to Pflumm/183rd. (See an overview of Overland Park's proposal at NeighborhoodNet Task Force OKs Massive Commercial for 159th Annexed Areas).

You can reach all Overland Park City Council members at once by using this email address: citycouncilop@nbrhd.net

To join with other neighbors working against this proposal, email phillips@kcnet.com.

Area residents are working together to study and find better solutions than a massive commercial build-up for this area. You can view a map of the proposal plus a 4-page overview of goals at Overland Park's web site

This proposal is not final--and still has public hearings ahead. With your help we can all defeat this proposal and get something more reasonable.

HERE ARE REASONS TO OPPOSE THE PROPOSED PLANS.

1. The Blue Valley Study Area Task Force was dominated by developers/big land owners hand-picked by Mayor Eilert.

   (Stay tuned for upcoming story: Membership of Blue Valley Task Force Under Fire.) It's no surprise that the Task Force came up with plans that offered the most financial benefits to its members:

   • The Task Force excluded annexed residents with differing points of view.
   • The Task Force excluded surrounding residents, neighborhoods, neighborhood officials--the very people that will be most impacted by this plan.
   • The Task Force excluded experienced Oxford Township Zoning Board members, who only found out about the Task Force at the last minute after the Task Force had been meeting for months--they wrote a letter objecting to the Task Force's proposal.

   Why weren't well-publicized public hearings held for this Task Force as they were in 1985--when Overland Park annexed the Stanley area? Why the secrecy? Conversations with Task Force members have made it clear that developers dominated the Task Force.

   A new task force that actually focuses on the community as a whole and has membership drawn from that community is needed.

2. 159th Street Is a Residential Corridor and Should Remain That Way.

   Further intrusion of massive commercial will not mix with the residential character of 159th corridor. Consider this:

   • There are 8 schools along 159th street--within 1 1/2 miles east and west of 159th/Metcalf. Fall 2003 August enrollment figures for the 6 major public schools already open show 4,675 school children in attendance at Blue Valley Elementary, Blue Valley Middle, Blue Valley High School, Stanley Elementary, Blue Valley West High School and Pleasant Ridge Middle School. Another elementary is under construction near Blue Valley West and will open Fall 2004. West Minster Christian Academy is located north of Blue Valley West High School. There are two major day care centers directly north and south of 159th/Metcalf.

   • Teenage drivers are everywhere in this area and further commercial build up is dangerous. Fall 2002 figures show over 1,000 parking permits were issued for teenage drivers at nearby Blue Valley West and Blue Valley High Schools. There is constant driving along 159th as the two high schools share classes and facilities. Many students who attend Blue Valley West actually live east of Metcalf.

   • Neighborhoods with thousands of homes abut 159th street.

   • Grace Church is being built at 159th/Antioch--according to Overland Park goals of putting churches in residential areas.

   • A fire station exists just south of 159th/Metcalf. Fire stations are usually placed in residential areas throughout the area.

3. The 4 pages of "Proposed Land Use Goals" produced by the Task Force cannot be trusted.

   These goals are beneficial mainly for developers. There is no apparent basis for many of the conclusions. Overland Park's own Master Plan says that goals are developed by identifying community concerns. Consider this:

   • Most of the community membership and concerns were excluded.

   • Area neighborhoods/residents are alarmed over the amount of commercial proposed--was this taken into consideration?

   • We are drowning in commercial retail--everywhere--only minutes from anyone living in the annexed areas. Yet--no study was done to consider all the present commercial available. In fact, developers for areas only a few miles away, near Switzer/159th area, recently claimed there was not enough land for residential!

4. Why the sudden drastic changes of the Overland Park Master Plan from 2002 to 2003?

   • The 2002 Master Plan for Overland Park, which took into account all the previous studies in this area, shows just a small area of light industrial/business park near 159th street/Highway 69--on the so called "Merrill Tract."  Yet the present Task Force recommendations turn the 300-acre Merrill Tract into a potential for a major regional/super regional retail commercial center. Why?

   • No reasons were given for changing those plans based on changes since the last update. In fact, there is very little rationale for suddenly placing huge amounts of commercial within the annexed areas--except for financial benefits for a privileged few.

5. Neighborhoods like Steck Plantation will be destroyed. This is an outrage!

   • It is NOT acceptable to destroy the entire neighborhood of Steck Plantation with this shortsighted plan. Steck Plantation is a neighborhood of 13 homes south/west of 159th/Metcalf. The Task Force proposes that, in the Master Plan, all 15 acres of Steck Plantation be allowed to turn into commercial. Any Steck resident who wants to continue living there is out of luck--the proposal would also allow developers to "spot rezone" parcels of 7 acres or more. That's right--hHomeowners have no say. If developers can buy up nearby homes to equal 7 acres, then they can push for commercial rezoning.

   • The rationale for turning Steck into commercial seems to be that there are two little nearby empty commercial lots with a combined acreage of 4.4 acres--thus ignoring the Blue Valley Business Park adjacent to most of Steck Plantation.  The business park grew up with Steck Plantation and was carefully planned by Johnson County Commissioners to be compatible with nearby Steck Plantation.  In fact, although there are commercial designations in the Blue Valley Business Park--most of the present uses are at a lower intensity than would be allowed--a church, an art gallery, offices, etc.    In the future, Steck could easily be developed as a mixed residential area--as, in fact, the Wal-Mart Center across the street is directly ringed by varying intensities of residential.

   • If the west side of Metcalf near 179th goes commercial/office as proposed, why doesn't the plan turn the two cul-de-sac neighborhoods across the street that are part of Berryhill Farm Estates into commercial, just like they are doing for Steck Plantation. Or are they just going to wait until the commercial is built, like they have done at Steck?

6. The new category of "Commercial Mixed Used" for the "Merrill Tract" has NOT been defined!

   How in the world can this be used as part of the present proposal when no one knows what it means!!!!

   • Yes--strange but true. A large part of the 300 acre vacant "Merrill Tract, " just east of the Blue Valley West High School is slated for the new category of "Commercial Mixed Use." This could allow enough area for 500,000+ of commercial or a designation of Regional/Super Regional Mall. This possible use was confirmed at the last Blue Valley Task Force meeting. We are not making this up--eight of us were at the last meeting.

   • Overland Park says it envisions commercial shops with office--and maybe homes above the offices, etc in this new zoning category. Yeah right. We've seen what happens when developers present nice plans, get approval, then never build them--residents get stuck with a Super Target or a Wal-Mart Super Center right on top of their neighborhoods. Why should we trust development plans that are not enforceable

   • Residents do not trust developers to design plans for the "Merrill Tract." Without a "Sunset" provision in place, like that required by Johnson County, developers do not have to build their proposed plans, they simply get the zoning and square footage approved--then come back at a later date to introduce entirely new plans.  Nearby communities have seen this exact scenario with the Super Target on 151st and the Wal-mart Super Center on 159--when the original plans and promises to the community were ignored in favor of "big box" stores.

7. The Task Force directly contradicts itself.

   • No--it's not good to have Steck Plantation homes next to commercial--but it's okay to put homes directly next to commercial in a newly proposed zoning district of "Mixed-Use Commercial" just a little distance away.

   • Yes--it's okay to ring the present Wal-Mart Super Center at 159th/Metcalf with all types of residential but not okay to let nearby Steck Plantation sit next to a well-planned Business Park which directly adjoins it.

8. The true motives of this Task Force are to grab land for commercial.

   • How about putting true motives of this Task Force on the table? Turning Steck Plantation into commercial allows for a giant land grab. Steck Plantation is 15 acres--get rid of the homes and combine this with the empty 4.4 acres on southwest corner 159th/Metcalf. Presto. Nearly 20 acres--ready for another big box store! In fact, that's precisely what the Task Force did. This 20 acre tract is designated a "Community Center"--meaning it can hold up to 500,000 square foot of commercial (under proposed new definitions of a "community center.")

   • The 300 acre "Merrill Tract," east of Blue Valley West High School, is being set up for a major commercial center. Overland Park Planning, at the last Task Force meeting, admitted that this will have a "substantial commercial presence." What does this mean--when there are no definitions for this new category of "Mixed-Use Commercial?"

   • Eight of us were shocked as we witnessed the "careful planning" used at the last August 19, 2003, Task Force meeting: David Peel, Principal Planner for Johnson County, presented a good overview of why Steck Plantation should be considered for office use in the future. One Task Force member, a previous homeowner in Steck Plantation--who no longer resides there--objected and said that homeowners wouldn't sell for office prices, but they'd sell for commercial prices. Pete Self of City Properties, which owns nearby lots in Blue Valley Business Park, also a Task Force member, agreed and said, yes, homeowners would be more likely to sell if they got commercial prices. That was good enough planning for everyone on the task force--you can make more money by selling for commercial prices! Everyone on the Task Force voted--and Steck Plantation ended up with a "commercial" designation in the future Master Plan.

9. The full interchange at 159th/Highway 69 is NOT a sure thing.

   Developers can justify more commercial in the area with an interchange to handle increased traffic.

   Although Overland Park traffic planning deliberatelyd skirted the issue, Terry Heidner, Kansas Dept. of Transportation (KDOT), Director of Planning and Development, in an August 20 phone conversation, confirmed that a group of developers and landowners near the interchange came with Overland Park officials to Topeka during midsummer 2003 to lobby for the interchange.

   Mr. Heidner made these points about any proposed interchange for 159th/Highway 69:

   • KDOT does not like to build interchanges closer than two miles apart near busy highways like Highway 69. There is already an interchange at 151st street and 167th - a two-mile separation. However, KDOT would consider a project if well designed and financing was in place.

   • KDOT will NOT fund such a project. (Note: In a same-day phone conversation, Mark Stuecheli, Overland Park Traffic Planning, said that even if the state would not fund, Overland Park might consider funding with a possible combination of funding--city, federal, and "transportation district" funds allowed under a new State law.)

   • This interchange would be massive-- similar to the Iinterstate 495 interchange for Roe/Nall, with extra lanes--possibly six.   It could cost $10 to $25 million. 

   • The proposed commercial can definitely drive the need for the interchange.

   • Land prices near an interchange can go "sky high the minute an interchange comes in."

   • The new state law which creates "Transportation District" funding is so new it has only rarely been used throughout Kansas. (Note: The Attorney General of Kansas issued a recent, March 2003, on whether parts of this law, under question, can be severed from enforcement.)

10. Additional Commercial Centers at 167/Switzer and 179th/Metcalf will only encourage commercial creep throughout nearby areas.

    • A "Neighborhood Center" with a potential of up to 150,000 commercial square feet is proposed for the northeast corner of 167th/Switzer.

    • Two "Community Centers" (each newly defined as up to 500,000 square feet of commercial retail) are planned directly north and south of 179th/Metcalf.

    This report compiled by:
    Citizens' Response Group to the Blue Valley Plan
    September 11, 2003
    Reported by Shirley Phillips
    for NeighborhoodNet www.nbrhd.net
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