For nearly two years, the city of Westwood and a group of residents have wrangled over the fate of the city’s last remaining green space at the corner of 50th Street and Rainbow Boulevard.
Should the land, known as Joe D. Dennis Park, be sold to make way for an office development and new park nearby? Or should it remain untouched?
Now, voters in the small northeastern Johnson County suburb will decide the issue through a special mail-in ballot.
How did we get here?
The vote comes after a protracted legal back-and-forth between the city and a group of residents opposed to a proposed development at Joe D. Dennis Park.
Karbank Real Estate Company, a Kansas City developer, wants to build six multi-story office buildings at the park, as well as on the former Westwood Christian Church site just to the south.
In exchange, Karbank will give the city money to buy the former Westwood View Elementary building immediately to the west to develop that site into a new 3.86-acre park.
The city wants to establish a public tax increment financing district for the office project to fund the development of the new park. Though the city has OKed the project, further development is currently on hold due to the court fight that has now resulted in the vote.
The city needs to sell the green space before the project, which the city council has already approved, can move forward.
Some residents and outside community members have strongly opposed the Karbank project since its inception in 2023, arguing that the idea jeopardizes the city’s character.
After the Westwood City Council approved the project in October 2023, the opposition group and the city began trading legal threats over whether the park is subject to a state statute (K.S.A 12-1301) that requires notice of intent to sell park land.
A protest petition submitted by residents in December of that year ultimately wound up before the Kansas Court of Appeals, which sided with residents.
A year later, in December 2024, the city council agreed to put the controversial park sale up for a public vote.
Now, residents on both sides of the issue are advocating for their fellow Westwood citizens to vote “yes” or “no” on the mail-in ballot measure between now and April 1.
What a “yes” or “no” means for the project
If residents approve the sale of the park, then Karbank can move forward with its redevelopment project, according to a frequently asked questions webpage on the city’s website.
An approval from voters also means that the city can continue its planning process for the new city park that would go on the site of the old Westwood View Elementary.
If residents reject the sale of the park in the April 1 vote, then neither the Karbank redevelopment nor the new park plan will move forward.
In turn, no renovation or alternative expansion plans at Joe D. Dennis Park are currently in the works, so the park would likely remain as it is if the “no” side prevails.
The city says on its frequently asked questions page that the Shawnee Mission School District will likely find another buyer for the old Westwood View building, and “the city would have no control over that sale.”
Westwood City Administrator Leslie Herring told the Post via email on Thursday that the city is officially unaffiliated with either side in the park sale vote.
“Westwood residents should know that the city cannot take a position on how residents should vote but is responsible for providing factual, impartial information,” Herring said.
Herring added that if residents vote “no” on the sale of the park, then neither the city nor Karbank is obligated to cover the $135,000 carrying costs as part of the closing of the sale on the former Westwood View Elementary building.
Friends of Westwood Parkland call for a “no” vote
During a Thursday afternoon gathering at Joe D. Dennis Park, the Post spoke with a few residents affiliated with the opposition group known as Friends of Westwood Parkland.
Resident Bernard Brown said he and other opponents have, at times, felt threatened by the city, specifically citing a letter sent by the city attorney in November 2023 that said the city was “prepared to take such legal action against you and/or your clients as may be necessary.”
The city’s letter was in response to a letter sent by an attorney representing opponents of the park sale that also threatened legal action against the city if it did not publish notice of intent to sell Joe D. Dennis Park.
Brown on Thursday suggested the legal threats and tense atmosphere may impact voters.
“Let’s say that there’s a vote and let’s say that it wins by 55-45,” Brown said. “Do we really know how the vote would have come out if they hadn’t threatened people?”
Kate Morris, a nearly 20-year Westwood resident, said she thinks that the city deserves a better deal than the Karbank project.
While “there are nuggets to this Karbank thing that are good,” Morris said, she hopes that something different such as single-family homes will be built on the land.
Ellen Marsee is an 89-year-old resident who has lived across the street from Joe D. Dennis Park for 60 years.
Marsee said she remembers her children — now all adults — playing at Joe D. Dennis Park.
Now, she enjoys watching people play tennis at the courts facing her home as well as children sledding at the former Westwood Christian Church site in the winter.
If residents reject the sale of the park, then Marsee said she wants nothing to change at Joe D. Dennis Park itself.
“It’s the perfect playground,” Marsee said.
Another group of residents supports sale to control land use
On the other hand, a group of park sale advocates calling themselves New Park For Westwood is supported by hundreds of residents, said Spencer Day, one of the residents leading that group’s efforts.
Day said New Park For Westwood sees the Karbank redevelopment as a way to expand the city’s tax revenue and an opportunity to “leverage a private development to pay for a new, much larger city park.”
“This is a good, reasonable, moderate opportunity for Westwood to move forward and look at the next 75 years,” Day said. “We just celebrated our 75th anniversary here, and cities do change over time.”
While he understands resident opposition to large buildings near their homes, Day said, he thinks “a lot of the ‘no’ organization” lives outside of Westwood.
Additionally, some of the options Friends of Westwood Parkland have suggested instead of the current plan on the table “all inevitably require large property tax increases for” residents or participation from other municipalities, Day said.
Day said it is unclear what might come of this piece of land if residents reject the sale of the park.
What is clear, Day said, is that if the “no” vote wins, then “Westwood won’t own (the former school) and be able to control much of it.”
“The alternatives here are that the old school gets sold, Westwood has limited say in what would get developed there, and it’s unlikely that anything that would get developed there would pay for a new expanded park — or even redeveloping the old, small Joe Dennis park,” he said.
How to return your completed ballot
- Registered voters in Westwood began receiving mail-in ballots starting March 12.
- Completed ballots must be returned to a ballot drop off box or mailed and received by the Johnson County Election Office by 12 p.m., April 1.
- There are eight secure county mail dropboxes open 24 hours a day until the April 1 deadline. See the full list of dropbox locations online here.
- The closest dropbox to Westwood is at the Johnson County Northeast Offices, 6000 Lamar Ave.
- Herring said the election office told the city that unofficial final results will be posted to the election office’s website by the end of the day, April 1.
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