Editor’s note: Story has been updated to include County Chair Mike Kelly’s response.
A Johnson County homeless shelter at a repurposed Lenexa hotel would place an “unreasonable financial burden” on the city and negatively impact properties nearby, city staff say.
That, plus the “extremely abbreviated timeline” by which the county is seeking to get the shelter proposal approved, makes up much of the reasoning behind the staff’s recommendation that the Lenexa Planning Commission deny a key permit for the shelter at its meeting this coming Monday.
On Thursday, an agenda was released for Monday’s meeting that is set to include a discussion about a special use permit and preliminary plan/plat for the proposed shelter at the La Quinta Inn & Suites at 9461 and 9471 Lenexa Dr., near 95th Street and Interstate 35.
Though the shelter is a proposal from the county, Lenexa must approve the special use permit for the shelter’s prospective operator Kansas City-based nonprofit reStart Inc. to be able to use the property for that purpose.
“While City staff acknowledges the need for additional services for the unhoused in Johnson County and believes that the City should be a part of a comprehensive countywide approach to fully address this complicated issue,” city planning documents say, “it is staff’s opinion that the current application places an unreasonable burden on this area of the community.”
The recommendation doesn’t automatically kill the proposal. Even if the planning commission follows city staff’s suggestion and denies the permit, the final vote will still rest with the Lenexa City Council next month.
Still, the recommendation is a blow to supporters of the project, who see it as a key piece of the county’s broader response to increased rates of homelessness.
Recommendation based on four factors
In the 540-page packet for Monday’s commission meeting, city staff broke down their rationale for recommending the denial of the permit for the shelter.
A summary of staff’s position was also emailed to media Thursday night by Lenexa city spokesperson Denise Rendina.
Staff’s recommendation for denial comes down largely to four factors, Rendina’s email said:
- The shelter at I-35 and 95th Street would be “inconsistent with the character of the neighborhood,” which city staff has identified as a “key redevelopment corridor.”
- Due to the proximity of another homeless shelter — Project 1020, which operates during the winter months out of a church a few blocks west of the La Quinta — city staff argued it would “create a concentration of negative external impacts” in the area, which could “detrimentally impact” nearby properties.
- The shelter could also place an “unreasonable financial burden” on the city, particularly on Lenexa Police, which may be called to the shelter to handle law enforcement issues. Staff’s memo added that the financial strains on the city would be “exacerbated by the loss of tax revenue caused by converting the property to a tax-exempt shelter.”
- Finally, staff cited the “extremely abbreviated timeline” by which the county has tried to shepherd the shelter proposal through since first having talks about it late last year. Staff says this has led to “an unfinalized or inadequate management plan, which creates uncertainty” about the shelter and its operations.
In her email to media, Rendina said city staff would not be participating in interviews about their recommendation.
Other cities are also being asked to contribute funds
To pay for the shelter’s operating costs in its initial years, reStart is seeking $430,000 in annual commitments from city governments.
Lenexa itself is not included in that request, since the center would be located there.
The county itself has already voted its intent to pay roughly $11,000 requested of the county’s unincorporated areas. Commissioners also approved, in principle, a $50,000 base amount.
The county says, so far, 10 cities, including Leawood, Fairway, Mission and Merriam, have approved their share of funding, with a handful of others set to consider the matter in the coming weeks.
According to the county, Edgerton and Gardner have both voted to reject contributing funding for the project.
While the Board of County Commissioners was still reviewing the city document on Friday evening, County Chair Mike Kelly said he was still feeling optimistic about the project.
“We continue to support this once-in-a-generation opportunity to meet an unfilled need for unhoused adults in our community and serve one of our most vulnerable populations,” he wrote in an e-mail to the Johnson County Post.
He added: “Upon initial review, we see opportunities for reStart to work with the City of Lenexa on addressing many of the identified challenges. We will support those efforts between now and the tentatively scheduled Sept. 17 Lenexa City Council meeting.”
The Board is encouraged by the support cities have shown for the project and there’s more to come, Kelly stated.
“There is general community consensus that homelessness is a growing issue for Johnson County, and one that’s manageable if addressed now,” he wrote. “We have been encouraged by Johnson County cities’ interest in participating in a proposed city/county operational fund. We thank the 10 cities who have pledged their support and look forward to welcoming additional partners soon.”
The proposal will be discussed on Monday
The Special Use Permit application for the proposed homeless services center will be heard at the Lenexa Planning Commission at 7 p.m. on Monday at Lenexa City Hall.
Because the planning commission can only make recommendations and doesn’t have a final say, even if they vote down the proposal, it will still be heard by the Lenexa City Council.
The council is tentatively set to take up the issue at its meeting on Sept. 17.
For Monday’s planning commission meeting, the city is expecting a larger-than-normal crowd in attendance and is asking those who would like to speak at the meeting to register at Lenexa.com/SpeakerRegistration.
In-person registration will also be accepted prior to the meeting, but those must be made by 6:55 p.m.
Speakers will be called on in the order they were registered, with Lenexa residents and business representatives given top priority. Each speaker will be given a maximum of three minutes to speak.
Go deeper: Plan to repurpose Lenexa hotel into homeless shelter hits snag
