Plans for a new soccer complex in far southeastern Johnson County, near Stilwell Community Park at 203rd Street and Metcalf Avenue, are advancing after months of deliberation and local community concerns.
Earlier this week, the Johnson County East Consolidated Zoning Board unanimously recommended the Metcalf Soccer Complex preliminary plat and a five-year associated conditional use permit for approval.
That greenlight comes with some key stipulations aimed at controlling the impact on neighbors in the surrounding rural community.
Looking back on the Metcalf Soccer Complex proposal
- Last fall, the zoning board initially recommended denial of the preliminary plat and conditional use permit.
- In December 2023, the Johnson County Commission, who gets the final say on county planning matters, remanded it to the zoning board.
- The unanimous vote to send the project back came with instructions to further consider site lighting, traffic concerns and the hours of operation, which were primary sticking points in past discussions.
What’s proposed in the Metcalf Soccer Complex?
- The Metcalf Soccer Complex would, as proposed, have four outdoor fields.
- There would also be a 215,000-square-foot indoor soccer facility with two fields, a practice field and a playground.
- The lot includes parking, but per the zoning board’s recommended stipulations, it cannot have site lighting unless it can get a DarkSky certification.
- Plus, operations at the outdoor fields have to cease at 8 p.m. or dusk.
Zoning board still worried about community impact
Though they have recommended the Metcalf Soccer Complex for approval at this point, members of the East Consolidated Zoning Board still had concerns about how well something like this would “fit” in with the rest of the Stilwell community.
However, a couple of commissioners suggested it was better to recommend approval now with some stipulations to minimize impact instead of sending it back to the county commission, who could approve it as proposed regardless.
Board member Rod Richardson said that if the zoning board recommends denying the project outright, only for the Johnson County commission to override that vote, then the project will move forward without stipulations.
Instead, by placing stipulations — such as prohibiting site lighting and limiting hours of operation — on the project and recommending it for approval, it would protect nearby residents who would benefit from those restrictions, he added.
“We here are much more sensitive to the folks that have to live around this,” Richardson said.
At least with this course of action that intends to restrict a portion of the proposal for the soccer complex, the dark night sky can be protected, a priority of the Stilwell Community Plan, said board member Ken Klingensmith.
Before the unanimous vote to recommend approval with stipulations, a previous motion to recommend approval that would have allowed some site lighting failed to advance.
Metcalf corridor development has roiled Stilwell
The soccer complex proposal is one of several recent development proposals in the southern Johnson County area that have put residents of the rural unincorporated community of Stilwell on the defensive.
Another recent project, covering a newly annexed Overland Park property, intends to build a new 39-home neighborhood on 37 acres called Walnut Reserve near 183rd Street and Metcalf. Stilwell residents came out in force to oppose it because, among other concerns, they believed the project failed to fit with the character of the community.
Nearby, a mixed-use proposal that includes a hotel and event space near 179th Street and U.S. Highway 69 is working its way through the Overland Park planning process, although the Overland Park Planning Commission delayed the proposal in January.
Previously, 20-year Stilwell resident Marsha Lawrence told the Post she thinks her rural community is “threatened by the growth of Overland Park” as the suburban city has “marched down Metcalf.”
County Chair Mike Kelly, in December, said he sees an opportunity “to find the right fit” with the soccer complex proposal.
“I think anytime you have development in areas that have previously been undeveloped, you’re going to have growing pains, you’re going to have trepidation about what’s to come and how it may affect the quality of life,” he said.
Next steps:
- Now, the county commission will take up the Metcalf Soccer Complex again.
- The plat and permit are scheduled for a vote during the commission’s March 7 meeting.
Keep reading: Overland Park OKs new subdivision in rural area over neighbors’ opposition
