A new 305-home neighborhood called Heritage Ranch near 159th Street and Black Bob Road in southern Olathe is going ahead.
On Tuesday, the Olathe City Council unanimously voted to approve the required rezoning, preliminary site development plan and the preliminary plat for the project.
The Heritage Park area in Olathe is booming
- This particular property — at the southwest corner of the intersection of 159th and Black Bob — was annexed into the city of Olathe just last year.
- Nearby, another neighborhood is planned, albeit much smaller.
- Habitat for Humanity of Kansas City hopes to build its own 14-home affordable subdivision called Pathway at Heritage Park off of the 159th Street and Black Bob intersection.
- Johnson County’s Heritage Park is also close by, as is Arbor Creek Elementary in the Olathe school district.
Heritage Ranch has 300+ single-family homes planned
- The property planned for the future Heritage Ranch neighborhood spans nearly 130 acres.
- The homes will be built in four phases, starting on the eastern side of the property, closest to Heritage Park.
- Completed homes are expected to range in cost from $550,000 to more than $1 million, according to city planning documents.
- As part of the neighborhood plans, the developer intends to keep an existing house and standing barn in the future Heritage Ranch neighborhood.
- Heritage Ranch will also have an eight-foot-wide trail, pickleball courts, a play area for children outside and a fishing pond.
Olathe plans $46M in local road improvements
During neighborhood meetings and in previous discussions at the Olathe Planning Commission, community members have expressed concerns about the impact such a large development might have on traffic in that area of southern Olathe.
City staff assured both of those groups and the city council on Tuesday that planned improvements already budgeted in the city’s Capital Improvement Plan list should address those worries.
For starters, Olathe has earmarked about $12.6 million for Black Bob Road improvements between 153rd Terrace and 159th Street, upgrading it from a rural road to an arterial.
An additional $16 million — split between Johnson County and Olathe — is aimed at improving Black Bob the rest of the way to 167th Street, which includes adding sidewalks and streetlights.
Olathe also plans to spend about $18 million updating 159th Street between Mur-Len Road and Black Bob Road in 2027.
Keep reading: Unique affordable homes project breaks ground in Olathe
