JoCo Notes: How Johnson Countians can get money for making rain gardens

It’s a chocolate bunny morning, Shawnee Mission!

? Today’s forecast: Mostly sunny with a 40% chance for rain and possibly some thunderstorms. High: 66. Low: 50.

? One thing to know today

Spring is here, and that means Johnson County homeowners can once again get partly reimbursed for doing DIY stormwater management projects.

For the 13th year in a row, Johnson County’s Contain the Rain program this spring will reimburse residents up to 50% for the cost of doing things like installing rain barrels and constructing rain gardens to capture runoff.

It’s an effort to incentivize environmentally friendly lawn practices. Rain gardens, for instance, have been shown to filter out pollutants and provide food and shelter for wildlife.

Residents in nearly all Johnson County cities — including Leawood, Lenexa, Overland Park, Prairie Village and Shawnee — as well as unincorporated parts of the county, are eligible to apply for reimbursements.

Check to see how to apply for funding in your city here.

The county will also host free workshops later this spring on installing rain barrels and building rain gardens.

? Public meetings Monday

• Overland Park Planning Commission, 1:30 p.m. [View agenda]
• Blue Valley school board, 5;30 p.m. [View agenda]
• Shawnee Mission school board, 6 p.m. [View agenda]
• Joint Mission City Council/Planning Commission workshop, 6 p.m. [View agenda]
• Shawnee City Council, 6 p.m. [View agenda]
• Fairway City Council, 6:30 p.m. [View agenda]
• Merriam City Council, 7 p.m. [View agenda]
• Overland Park Public Safety Committee, 7 p.m. [View agenda]

? Post’s top stories since Friday

1. ‘Coach Dre,’ beloved champion for students of color in Shawnee Mission, is resigning
2. New convenience store coming to growing part of Lenexa
3. ? 5 to Try: Post readers pick the best kid-friendly eateries in JoCo
4. JoCo Notes: Fairway issues coyote warning in NEJC
5. Overland Park family, including 2 young children, escape overnight house fire

? Other local news

• Neither the pilot nor a passenger suffered major injuries when a single-engine plane crashed near Gardner Municipal Airport. [Kansas City Star]
• The city of Lenexa is asking residents for feedback on the city’s current website. You can take the survey, which the city says should last about six to eight minutes, here.
• A Minnesota-based company has proposed building a nearly 90,000-square-foot data center in Olathe near the Honeywell facility at K-10 and K-7. [Kansas City Business Journal]

? A thousand words