A section of the Kill Creek Streamway Trail near 95th Street is expected to soon be closed for about three or four months to accommodate construction of the Panasonic battery plant.
Park board members recently approved a plan to close 1.25 miles of the trail beginning near the 95th Street trailhead and continuing southward. There is no definite closing date yet, but park officials will put notices on social media soon, said Bill Maasen, superintendent of parks and golf courses for the Johnson County Park and Recreation District.
The trail section might reopen in April
The trail is expected to be off limits at least until April so a sewer system serving Panasonic can be dug near it, he said. The sewer trench will be as deep as 25 feet and in some places will cut across the trail.
The park district will get $25,000 in compensation for the easement, which will ultimately be paid by Panasonic, Maasen said.
The lithium-ion battery making facility needed quick approval of the easement because of its construction schedule. Maasen said the company must be ready to test its heating, ventilation, air conditioning and fire suppression systems in April, and that involves a lot of water flowing through the sewer system.
The trail will eventually connect the Kansas River to 143d
Although the trail will need a growing season to recover, Maasen said it will eventually be improved and expanded to connect the Kansas River and De Soto at its northern end to West 143rd Street.
Currently, the trail dead ends in the south at property adjacent to the former Sunflower Army Ammunition plant. In the next couple of years, Maasen said, park district officials expect to acquire land that will allow the trail to continue to Kill Creek Park, a little more than two miles south.
Roxie Hammill is a freelance journalist who reports frequently for the Post and other Kansas City area publications. You can reach her at roxieham@gmail.com.
