Updated: Monday, Feb. 10 at 4 p.m.
Olathe is one step closer to opening a new animal shelter facility on a property previously owned by Sutherland Lumber Company of Kansas City.
Last week, the Olathe City Council voted 5-1 to authorize the payment to the company for the property, concluding the eminent domain process used to take possession of the site.
Councilmember Kevin Gilmore voted no, expressing discomfort with the use of eminent domain in this case.
“The horse has left the barn in terms of seizing this property,” he said. “I’m of the opinion we can put that animal shelter about anywhere, and I didn’t see the need to take private property to do that.”
Councilmember Matthew Schoonover was absent from the meeting last Tuesday.
Original story, published Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024:
Olathe has picked a home for its replacement animal shelter and animal control facility.
On Tuesday, the Olathe City Council took two votes to start the process of acquiring property near Santa Fe Street and Ridgeview Road.
Both actions passed 6-1, with Councilmember Kevin Gilmore in dissent. He did not publicly explain his “no” votes.
Currently, real estate firm Colliers Kansas City lists the six-acre property at 1120 E Santa Fe St. for sale.
According to city documents, Sutherland Lumber Company of Kansas City currently owns the site and previously had a store in the area before relocating further south.
The city council’s actions this week start the public process of acquiring the private land via eminent domain.
Existing Olathe animal shelter opened in 1988
- City documents from 2023 say the current animal shelter building, located on the Olathe Public Safety Campus off Old Highway 56 at 505 E Sunvale Dr., opened more than 35 years ago.
- Over the years, the facility hasn’t seen any “any major additions or renovations,” the 2023 staff report says, and experienced “chronic space shortages, high maintenance costs and inadequate” conditions for animals and shelter staff.
- The 2023 project sheet from the city’s capital improvement plan describes the current animal shelter space as “woefully undersized, outdated, and in need of significant repairs.”
Price tag for new shelter has gone up
In its current capital improvement plan, Olathe has budgeted just shy of $15 million for the project, which is scheduled to wrap up by 2027.
Last spring, the city council unanimously set the project in motion. However, at that time, the project was anticipated to cost about $4.6 million and to make use of space in the Ironwoods warehouse building near the city’s Robinson campus.
Since then, there have been a number of closed-door city council executive sessions pertaining to the animal shelter, and the project was discussed as part of the 2025 budget adoption process.
Now, the project will be located just off Interstate 35, and it will cost about $10 million more than initially planned for in the 2023 capital improvement plan. The new building is expected to be roughly 20,000 square feet.
Eventually, the current animal shelter building could be demolished to make way for a rebuilt Olathe Firehouse No. 1, likely on a similar timeline.
Olathe also is pondering an animal shelter charitable fund
- Though conversations appear to be speculative at this point and few details are publicly available, there does seem to be some discussion about exploring a charitable fund to help support the new animal shelter.
- Some nods to that emerged during a recent study session on the Olathe Community Fund, a different charitable fund the city is considering making adjustments to.
- What exactly that might look like and what might eventually materialize from early planning for this new philanthropic effort is unclear, though some councilmembers have signaled their support for it.
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