Olathe is taking steps to plan for the future of its downtown, the latest of a number of recent moves to reimagine and reinvigorate the heart of the city.
Olathe has tapped a national firm, Retail Strategies, to help prepare a portion of a broader new comprehensive plan the city has dubbed Elevate Olathe.
Retail Strategies’ division focused on communities’ downtowns, Downtown Strategies, will work specifically on the portion of the new comprehensive plan focused on the future of Olathe’s downtown area.
Cody Kennedy, Olathe’s chief communications officer, said in a text message that the city hopes to get a better idea “of what types of businesses would be a good add” for the downtown area.
Retail Strategies sees opportunities in downtown Olathe
John Tiedt, with Retail Strategies’ Downtown Strategies division, said his sector of the firm works “to help communities improve upon their existing downtowns.”
In doing so, they employ a “use what you have focus” that hinges on four main areas:
- Policy (zoning, development codes, etc.)
- Design
- Tourism
- Economic vitality
For Olathe, in particular, Tiedt said a lot of communities are looking at ways to bring more people downtown. One of the best ways to do that in Olathe is to offer more dining options, he said.
“There’s not a ton of options down there to walk and grab a coffee or a sandwich or something,” he said.
After all, Olathe already has thousands of people coming in and out of its downtown area daily to go to the Johnson County Courthouse and other county government facilities.
“I feel like the community can really cash in based on what they already have with the people that are already down there,” he said.
Olathe’s downtown is also fairly walkable compared to some other downtown areas in Johnson County. It already has some mixed-use space available and is easily accessible by car given its proximity to Interstate 35 and Kansas Highway 7, Tiedt pointed out.
“[Downtown Olathe] really kind of checks almost all the boxes we’re looking for in a community that we feel like are on the up and up,” he said.
Downtown Olathe has seen big changes recently
- In the last few years, a new downtown branch of the Olathe Public Library has opened, as has a new Johnson County Courthouse.
- The city has also partnered with the county to build a new public gathering space in the Johnson County Square on Santa Fe Street.
- The Arrello Apartments also recently started leasing in the area, marking the first new major housing development in this part of Olathe in decades.
- The city, with the help of the Olathe Chamber of Commerce, has started the process of relocating the U.S. Post Office currently at 110 N. Chestnut Street.
- The city has also started acquiring storefronts on Cherry Street, including the space Vader’s Bar and Deli has occupied for years.
Olathe is writing its first new comprehensive plan in years
Local governments use comprehensive plans to identify long-term and ideal development patterns for their community. These plans also usually ponder other factors and variables, like infrastructure and resources.
Olathe finalized its current plan, called PlanOlathe, nearly 15 years ago.
In workshops at the beginning of this year, city staff indicated that the new comprehensive plan would also likely incorporate other elements, like economic development potential, sustainability and diversity.
Additionally, the city has identified a collection of key zones of the city — including the Olathe “Original Town” plat, Cedar Creek and 175th Street — for sub-plans to be tied into the larger comprehensive plan.
Ultimately, the end product from the work with Retail Strategies will be wrapped up in the finished, multipart Elevate Olathe plan.
What comes next?
- Tiedt said his firm expects to have a completed downtown subplan with action steps delivered to Olathe in the next few months.
- After that, Retail Strategies will spend at least a year helping Olathe with its implementation with an option to sign on for more time after that.
- As for the wider comprehensive plan overhaul, the city council is expected to adopt a final draft at some point next year.
- Later, Olathe may also start updating its unified development ordinance as well, depending on the outcome of the Elevate Olathe process.
- In the meantime, community engagement opportunities for the comprehensive plan are tentatively scheduled over the next several months, online and in-person. Find more information here.
Keep reading: Olathe set to build new long-range development plan for the first time in years
