A national group of Jewish Community Centers is urging the Royals and elected officials to consider other locations beyond a much-watched Overland Park site for a future ballpark.
In a letter addressed to Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly and Lt. Gov. David Toland, who also serves as the Secretary of Commerce and has been involved in state-level negotiations over a new stadium, the JCC Association of North America pushed state officials and the team to “pursue an alternative location for the stadium.”
The letter goes on to say a stadium so close to the Jewish Community Center in Overland Park, often referred to as The J, “would be devastating” and could “destabilize a thriving institution” that has been at that site for four decades.
Currently, the Aspiria campus — a 200-acre mixed-use campus near 119th Street and Nall Avenue — is one of at least three sites the Royals are considering for a future baseball stadium.
Aspiria directly neighbors The J. In fact, some of the parking structures for the office buildings originally built by Sprint decades ago still tower over parts of The J’s complex.
So far, officials with The J in Overland Park have declined the Post’s request for comment and haven’t spoken publicly about the issue recently.
However, the JCC Association of North America’s letter raises a new alarm about the potential impact a professional sports stadium might have on the community center and the surrounding area of Overland Park.
Opposition in Overland Park, led most vocally by residents in subdivisions near the Aspiria site, has been growing in recent weeks.
T-Mobile also confirmed last week that a Royals stadium at Aspiria would force the company, one of Overland Park’s largest, to look for a new home for its 3,500 local employees.
What does the JCC Association’s Royals stadium letter say?
The JCC Association, based in New York City, represents more than 150 Jewish Community Centers across North America, including The J in Overland Park.
The letter, signed by JCC Association Board Chair David Wax and President and CEO Barak Hermann, says the possibility of the Royals landing next door to The J “raised significant concerns” for the association.
Wax and Hermann say a new stadium there could “harm” The J, citing a variety of issues, including:
- heavy construction that would likely take years to complete,
- traffic and parking issues
- environmental disruptions
- and long-term security risks.
“The long-term impact of more than 80 home games annually would create sustained pressures on infrastructure, safety, security, and the JCC’s ability to function,” the letter reads. “The potential harm to the JCC’s Overland Park campus and the communities it serves would be profound.”
Today, the JCC in Overland Park has some 14,000 members and has thousands of unaffiliated visitors each year.
The center has grown in the four decades it’s called Overland Park home, and now includes sports fields, a childcare center, a K-12 Jewish day school, a senior center, a theater, wellness facilities and more amenities.
The JCC Association letter said The J has become “a vital hub of community life in Johnson County.”
“I don’t see how it would work”
Amanda Palan, who lives in Overland Park, has been a member of The J in Overland Park for nearly 20 years, along with her husband. Now, her whole family uses the campus.
“The facility is amazing,” she said. “Living nearby, it was sort of a no-brainer to become a member.”
Palan is Jewish, but she said she knows of several members who come from a variety of other faith traditions and enjoy membership, too. She describes it as “a convener of the community.”
She worries that a Royals stadium right next door or even nearby could ruin all of that and be “really disruptive.”
“The thought of families having to deal with not only the traffic, but the concerns about safety and disruption to programming is really concerning,” Palan said. “In my opinion, as a person who goes to the J, it would be totally unmanageable for anyone who wants to take advantage of the community center.”
At the very least, she said she doesn’t see how The J can continue to operate as it has and “provide the level of support and service to the community if there’s a stadium next door.”
“They would have to move or the facility would have to be significantly scaled back; I don’t see how it would work,” Palan said.
Keep reading: ‘Please think twice’ — Residents worry about Royals stadium in Overland Park
