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Belvedere Park has been at the center of discussion as a site for potential development for years. Now that the city has announced plans to open a state-run mental health facility, community members say it is not exactly the dream they were sold.
The section of land along Independence Avenue, known as Belvedere Park, is where a new $300 million, state-run psychiatric hospital will sit.
Plans for the new institution are underway in the historic Northeast neighborhood, but residents say they were caught off guard by the announcement.
“When it came to the hospital, we had five days notice,” said Kate Barsotti, a board member of the Northeast Neighborhood Coalition. “This is kind of a forgotten part of town. I think a lot of neighborhoods east of Paseo are neglected and have fallen out of the imagination of Kansas City, and it’s too bad."
Community members say the hospital replaces a previous vision for the area.
“They completely disregarded a plan that already existed,” resident Sarah Sommerkamp said.
That plan, known as the Paseo Gateway, displayed a vision to transform the site into a mixed-use space for housing, small businesses and restaurants, making that intersection more welcoming versus fenced off to one facility.
“You can’t isolate the people who live, work and play in an area,” Sommerkamp said. “So that you maintain community trust, and you develop the way that the people who live there want to see the place develop."
In addition to plans to revitalize the area, there were hopes to address safety concerns and the homeless community. Residents hope the city will consider other ways to invest in the area.
“It’s not that the hospital is bad, it’s that we thought we had momentum to do something else,” Barsotti said.
The facility is set to open in 2028.
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.
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