KC Star reports parts of Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant ready for development by 2020. Thoughts? (Kansas City: apartment complex)

[dom1_4802]

Leaders want faster progress at Sunflower ammunition cleanup | The Kansas City Star

What are your thoughts on this?
Is the timing accurate?
What city will all that land go to: Olathe, Gardner or De Soto?

Interested to hear your thoughts!

[MoNative34]

News and rumors pop up every so often on Sunflower, but nothing ever comes to fruition.

Who would want to live on a site that needed a massive cleanup?

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by dom1_4802

Leaders want faster progress at Sunflower ammunition cleanup | The Kansas City Star

What are your thoughts on this?
Is the timing accurate?
What city will all that land go to: Olathe, Gardner or De Soto?

Interested to hear your thoughts!

De Soto, and I wouldn't predict much in the way of development outside of possibly the northeast portion mentioned. Follow the money trail, those representatives and development interests just want to see more dollars flowing into their pockets. Johnson County master zoning plan should not emphasize low density residential in far flung rural areas like this, but target very long-range mixed use purposes that should not lead to inefficient development between western KC metro area and Lawrence. Park lands and conservation lands should be bought early and often as Johnson County has a shortage of very large parcels of park acreage in general.

[dom1_4802]

Originally Posted by GraniteStater

De Soto, and I wouldn't predict much in the way of development outside of possibly the northeast portion mentioned. Follow the money trail, those representatives and development interests just want to see more dollars flowing into their pockets. Johnson County master zoning plan should not emphasize low density residential in far flung rural areas like this, but target very long-range mixed use purposes that should not lead to inefficient development between western KC metro area and Lawrence. Park lands and conservation lands should be bought early and often as Johnson County has a shortage of very large parcels of park acreage in general.

I personally couldn't agree more. I think areas of JoCo need high density developments. Even if they are the OKC and Houston-like houses that are narrow but plentiful, with 91 houses per street mile instead of the 45 per street mile that are common here in Kansas.

[Weaubleau]

I guess if you want to live over 30 miles from downtown in a metro that is barely over 2 million in population, go for it, People do still surprise me about how far they are wiling to commute in order to live out in the sticks, but if gas prices spike again, that could affect the value of any houses built there.

[kcmo]

Originally Posted by Weaubleau

I guess if you want to live over 30 miles from downtown in a metro that is barely over 2 million in population, go for it, People do still surprise me about how far they are wiling to commute in order to live out in the sticks, but if gas prices spike again, that could affect the value of any houses built there.

If the feds cleaned it up, the SAAP would develop rapidly. It's a HUGE piece of land that is under the control of a single organization and it's relatively flat and would be easy to develop. I'm not sure many would live there and commute to downtown, but the location between Lawrence and Overland Park will make it highly attractive to a lot of people.

It could be a good spot for a master planned suburb of about 50-75k people. The KC area with Lawrence is closer to 2.5 million and by the time they really start to redevelop the SAAP, the region will be closer to 3 million, so the K-10 corridor is going to eventually develop.

[empires228]

Originally Posted by kcmo

If the feds cleaned it up, the SAAP would develop rapidly. It's a HUGE piece of land that is under the control of a single organization and it's relatively flat and would be easy to develop. I'm not sure many would live there and commute to downtown, but the location between Lawrence and Overland Park will make it highly attractive to a lot of people.

It could be a good spot for a master planned suburb of about 50-75k people. The KC area with Lawrence is closer to 2.5 million and by the time they really start to redevelop the SAAP, the region will be closer to 3 million, so the K-10 corridor is going to eventually develop.

We can only hope that whatever happens there incorporates a large park into the design. It's such a pretty area full of natural beauty.

[GraniteStater]

Also, changing demographics of increasing elderly and fewer younger people over time would make the Sunflower site more attractive for mixed-use purposes, not more of the same low density residential. Downtown Overland Park has finally got the message that mixed-use works, however they are late to the game. Suburban areas have to evolve with time if they want to capture larger percentages of varying demographics.

[empires228]

Originally Posted by GraniteStater

Also, changing demographics of increasing elderly and fewer younger people over time would make the Sunflower site more attractive for mixed-use purposes, not more of the same low density residential. Downtown Overland Park has finally got the message that mixed-use works, however they are late to the game. Suburban areas have to evolve with time if they want to capture larger percentages of varying demographics.

Late to the game compared to some other cities, but early to the game in the metro when it comes to the suburban downtowns. Olathe still seems set on imploding what little they have left in their downtown, Shawnee and Merriam don't seem to care, and it's not like any big projects are going on in downtown KCK or Independence. Downtown OP is really the only one besides downtown KCMO with anything significant happening at the moment, unless you count Lawrence. It's just sad that some of the completed projects that had people excited have already ran into issues due to poor construction like the UMKC student housing, that upscale apartment complex in Westwood, and there have already been issues with some of the complexes near Corbin Park and in downtown OP.