KSHB 41 reporter Caroline Hogan covers development across the Kansas City area. Share your story idea with Caroline.
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It's fun when shops and restaurants start popping up around your neighborhood, but is there such a thing as too much development?
Cindy said she never sits on her front porch anymore. It's too messy.
"Just because of all of the dirt and dust and some of the noise," she said.
Cindy and her husband live next to the Lenexa City Center, behind Advent Health.
"When we moved out here, 87th Street was a dirt road," Cindy said. "There was nothing out here."
It's a different story now.
There are hundreds of apartments, numerous shops, restaurants and at least two construction sites.
"If you drive down some of the streets in Overland Park, Shawnee, Lenexa, Olathe, it's blocks of apartments, just constant," Cindy said.
And now it's getting a little too close to home for her. A town home complex with 61 units is set to be built 80 feet from her back door.
"So I will look out my window and probably look into someone's bedroom, or bathroom, or kitchen, or what have you," Cindy said.
Not everyone in the neighborhood agrees with Cindy.
"I don't think it's gonna get too crowded," said Bob Crutchfield, who lives across the street from Cindy. "As long as they build nice houses or nice apartments, or town homes, I guess, I'm fine with that."
Cindy's conflicted. She wants her area to thrive, but she is worried about too much development.
"That creates a problem for us as homeowners," she said. "I feel like it takes down our property value."
So what is the solution? We asked her what her goal was in sharing her story.
"I don't know if there's anything we can do about it, but I think just bringing attention to the issues," she said.
Cindy just wants people to see what she sees — dirt, dust and development.
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This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
