Despite objections, Johnson County city approves office park to replace city park

In a 5 to 1 vote Thursday night, the Westwood City Council approved turning what currently is its only city park into an office park.

The issue had been debated fiercely in recent months not only in Westwood, a town of 1,800 residents in northern Johnson County, but also among some residents in the bordering communities of Westwood Hills and Mission Woods who live close to Joe D. Dennis Park, a green space with a jungle gym and tennis courts at Rainbow Boulevard and 50th Street.

The park effectively is Westwood’s only city park, at least for now.

During Thursday’s meeting, which lasted almost 2 1/2 hours, 11 residents rose to speak before the vote, with most talking passionately against it.

“Please don’t take an irreversible step tonight without the utmost diligence,” said Westwood resident Lou Wetzel. “Are we going to be guided by our ideals … or are we going to be guided by deals and take the best one that happens to be on the table?”

John Ye, a former mayor and resident for 30 years, spoke in favor, offering a litany of projects that were once opposed, but later turned out to benefit the community.

“In 2011, Woodside Village was proposed. Of course, people were opposed to it,” Ye said. “We did not lose our identity. In 2012, the new Walmart Market was moving in. People were opposed to it. We did not lose our identity. In 2014, the proposed purchase of the 5050 Rainbow church property was opposed. We did not lose our identity.”

His list continued.

”The sky isn’t falling” he said. “There are some things about this project that concern me. But I support this project. Although it’s not perfect, it does lead the city to new green space, new services, new revenue and new opportunities.”

Before their vote, each council member spoke, some at great length, about the difficulty of their decision.

“This is the most complicated decision we’ll ever make,” Councilman Jeff Harris said. “It is not a decision for one year. It is a decision for 20, 30, 40 years.”

Councilwoman Holly Wimer, who would be the only member to vote against the development, said, “It is a weighty thing to be charged with the stewardship of a community. … It is a hard thing. I’m someone who always likes a win-win situation. Councilman Hannaman said we’re finding ourselves in a situation that is not win-win. And people are going to be disappointed.”

The six-member council’s decision allows for 7.6 acres of land made up of three adjoining parcels to be rezoned so the Karbank Real Estate Co. can build an office and retail development on part of the land. The parcels include the 1-acre Joe D. Dennis Park, 1.8 acres of vacant city property once occupied by the Westwood Christian Church at 5050 Rainbow Blvd., and part of the 4.8 acres of property at 2511 W. 50th St., the location of the former Westwood View Elementary School.

Karbank’s plan is to use 4 acres to erect four buildings at three- to four stories each in this northeast Johnson County city. In return, Karbank, based in Mission Woods, agrees to pay off the $275,000 debt the city still owes on the church property. More significantly, it will donate $2.65 million to the city to purchase the Westwood View school property from the Shawnee Mission School District, pay for the building’s demolition and grade the land for a new 3.8-acre park. (The district built a new Westwood View school nearby last year.)

In voting for the development, council members noted that not only would Joe. D. Dennis Park be replaced, but also that the new park would be three times its size.

By Kansas law, residents who live within 200 feet of a proposed rezoning, and residents of other towns who live within 1,000 feet, have the right to file a protest petition. A group fighting the development organized in August, going door to door, gathering signatures.

Opponents filed their protest petition. When such a petition is deemed valid, rezoning requires 75% of the vote of the City Council and mayor as opposed to a simple council majority. Five votes were needed for the development to be approved

For months, opponents made multiple arguments against the development, including that the buildings were too tall, traffic would worsen, the city was not getting just financial value from Karbank. Residents complained that the city never considered put the projects up for competitive bid. Some said that residents should have had the option to vote on it.

Perhaps most notably, Karen I. Johnson, a Westwood resident for 57 years and Westwood mayor from 2006 to 2008, argued that city’s 2017 comprehensive plan made no mention of a retail or office park as a future use for the Joe. D. Dennis Park and the former church grounds. Should it be developed, she said, the plan called for a new school, park, civic uses or single-family homes.

But others interpret the master plan differently, saying it allowed for commercial development in that area.

About 35 residents attended Thursday’s council vote compared to more than 100, many of them angry, who packed a Sept. 11 meeting of the city’s planning commission.

Some two dozen people rose to speak against the development at that meeting that lasted more than four hours. The nine-member commission nonetheless voted 7 to 2 to recommended rezoning, noting that many residents, while not at the meeting, had expressed support for the development.

From the time Karbank first proposed the development, the company tweaked its design in response to public concerns. It changed the buildings’ colors and materials, reduced their height and amount of parking, and increased the distance of the buildings from the street to increase green space and save mature trees.

Even up to Thursday’s vote, some questioned whether the involvement of Westwood’s mayor, David E. Waters, presented a possible conflict of interest with Karbank. Waters, a partner in the law firm Spencer Fane, is a real estate attorney and also the city attorney for nearby Prairie Village, where issues over proposals to attract more affordable housing have become a concern.

Questioned by The Star this week, Waters in an email said that neither he nor his firm have any connection to Karbank — a point which he reiterated Thursday evening. He wrote:

“My law firm does not and has not represented the Karbank family of businesses, whether in regard to matters in Westwood or any other matters. I am not employed by Karbank, nor have I received any compensation or gifts from Karbank, nor do I have any financial interests in Karbank.

“At all times in considering Karbank’s proposal, the City of Westwood has been represented by its own city attorney. To my knowledge, during all such times, Karbank has been represented by its own in-house attorneys.”

A Karbank representative said the former Westwood View school would be demolished in September 2024, with construction on the project to be begin in the spring of 2025 and completed in the fall of 2026.

Members of the Westwood City Council include Andrew Buckman, Jason Hannaman, Jeff Harris, Laura Steele, Holly Wimer and Mayor David Waters.