A Johnson County judge has sided with the city of Westwood and ruled that a resident-led petition calling for a vote on the sale of a city park is invalid.
The city says it will now move forward with the sale of Joe D. Dennis Park at the corner of West 50th Street and Rainbow Boulevard, clearing the way for Karbank Real Estate Company’s much-discussed plan for multiple office buildings and a new, bigger public park on the site.
The proposal has garnered much controversy in recent months in the small northeast Johnson County suburb, driven by a group of residents who want Joe D. Dennis Park to remain as it is.
Some of those residents started a petition aimed at forcing a public vote on the sale of the park. But last week, Judge David Hauber of Division 7 at Johnson County District Court invalidated that petition, ruling there were “glaring issues” with how it was submitted that made it substantially noncompliant with state law.
What the ruling says
In his 11-page ruling issued Friday, Judge Hauber said the resident petition failed to meet multiple state legal requirements.
Hauber’s ruling found that the protest petition did not sufficiently state the form of the question that would be asked of voters if it were to be placed on the ballot.
He also said the petition lacked a circulator recital, required statutory language that should have read: “I have personally signed this petition. I am a registered elector of the state if Kansas and of Westwood, Kansas and my residence address is correctly written after my name.”
Hauber granted the city’s request for declaratory judgment on two counts: one count dealing with the form of the question and the other count dealing with substantial compliance.
But he denied the city’s request for declaratory judgment on a third count dealing with the city’s argument that a state law, K.S.A. 12-1301, should not be applied to the sale of Joe D. Dennis Park.
That was a key sticking point in the city’s own legal analysis when denying the residents’ petition last month, before the issue made it to the district court.
The city has argued that Joe D. Dennis Park was never dedicated as public park land and, as a result, should not be subject to the rules of the state law governing the sale of public parks.
Hauber, however, ruled that the decades-long use of Joe D. Dennis Park as a park and the city’s own notice of intent in recent months to sell the land were two factors that led Hauber to deny the city’s request of inapplicability, according to the ruling.
Read the full ruling below.
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Open in new tab Westwood is moving forward with the sale of the park
The city of Westwood on Monday announced via email newsletter that Judge Hauber’s ruling clears the way to move forward with the sale of Joe D. Dennis Park.
Karbank wants to build four multi-story, mixed-use office buildings along Rainbow on the site of the current Joe D. Dennis Park and give the city 3.86 acres of adjacent land — where the old Westwood View Elementary building currently sits — for a new park.
The city of Westwood, Karbank and the Shawnee Mission School District (which still owns the old Westwood View property, which is in use through the remainder of this current school year) are anticipating the sale of the land to close on or before Aug. 1, according to the newsletter.
Mayor David Waters said in the newsletter that he is “grateful for the Court’s ruling, which allows for the City’s vision … to become a reality.”
“We understand that some residents may still have concerns with this project, but we are thankful for their engagement, which led to significant positive changes in the original proposal,” Waters continued. “We hope residents will continue to be involved as we work to bring this exciting opportunity to life for our community.”
What’s next?
- A park planning steering committee is scheduled to meet for the first time on March 4, City Administrator Leslie Herring told the Post via email.
- The committee is charged with guiding city officials on the development of the new 3.8-acre public park that is part of the project.
- Westwood is also planning to gauge what residents want and need out of city services with a citizen survey this spring, according to the email newsletter.
Keep reading: City and residents trade legal threats over Westwood office project
