LENEXA, Kan. — Some Lenexa residents are frustrated about the plans for undeveloped land right behind their homes.
City staff is recommending that plans for 346 apartments, a gas station and convenience store and an 80-bed nursing home at the corner of K-10 and Canyon Creek Boulevard be approved. The project will be considered at the Lenexa City Council Meeting on Tuesday.
A statement from Lenexa Community Development Director Scott McCullough says:
“The project will be considered by the Lenexa City Council on February 20 at 7 p.m. at City Hall. City staff are recommending approval of the project based on a review of several criteria and their conclusions that the project will not negatively impact the surrounding uses. The City strives to support a range of housing options at appropriate locations within the City. This mixed-use project, which includes a multifamily component, could help meet the market’s demand for more housing.”
That falls short for residents of the subdivison nearby like Tracy Thomas.
“Should this proposed project come to fruition, everything that we see to the south here will go away,” Thomas said, while looking out over his neighbor’s deck.
That’s why Thomas, his neighbors and roughly 700 people who live in his subdivision and other ones nearby are signing an online petition opposing the project.
“We were fine with what was called for originally when we moved here,” Steve Bennett said. “We knew what was going to happen there and they changed it to make this development work.”
Bennett has a background in construction management and says he’s surprised by the number of variances the project is getting and is frustrated that land originally zoned for agriculture or light industrial is being used now for something else.
“If there’s a piece of land there that the developer is having a difficult time marketing, who’s problem, who’s fault is that?” Thomas asked.
FOX4 has reported before on how the Panasonic EV Battery Plant being built in De Soto, Kansas, will increase the already-high demand for places to live around Johnson County.
People around that project have told FOX4 that similar projects to this one could start popping up more often along the K-10 corridor.