OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — Early Tuesday morning the Overland Park City Council voted 11-1 to approve a proposal to enhance the city’s arboretum, but changes to the proposal could come down the road.
The no vote came from Dr. Faris Farassati.
Neighbors of the Overland Park Arboretum and Botanical Gardens hired a law firm to represent them at Monday night's council meeting that lasted for more than five hours, four hours of which focused on the Arboretum. The group wanted the council to send the enhancement plans back to city staff in order for staff to work with neighbors to scale back the plans.
The group presented two letters to the city council at Monday night's meeting. One from the Absentee Shawnee Tribe and one from the archeologist for the state of Kansas. Both said it is possible there are Native American artifacts on the Arboretum property and the city should do a survey or audit to reduce the risk of potentially damaging artifacts.
"If you look at the absentee Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma, how can you sit on the city council and vote knowing you may possibly violate this antiquities act," neighbor Chengny Thao asked.
The city said a survey is not required for this part of the plan.
The proposal included plans to build a new visitors center with a 256-stall parking lot, a sculpture park, chapel, gardens, tropical conservatory and amphitheater at the facility located near West 179th Street and Antioch Road.
Councilman Curt Skoog addressed concerns about traffic along 179th street, saying development will drive improvements to the area over the next few years. None of the current plans include widening or expanding 179th street.
Nearby resident Gail Radke said she would like the visitors center to be expanded, but is "not for" the amphitheater.
"I love rock concerts. You know, if I can go, I go. But not in a pristine, rustic, peaceful setting," Radke said.
The council's vote moves the plan forward, but there could still be amendments made concerning the amphitheater.
There were talks about limiting the number of people allowed in the amphitheater to 850. Plans already say capacity of the amphitheater is 850 people. That amendment would be decided at a later time.
The city of Overland Park still needs to conduct an on-location sound test with the proposed amphitheater.
Supporters of the plan argued the Arboretum is more than a park and a certain amount of commercialization is necessary.
"We were totally surprised at the opposition that flared up a couple months ago and never had we had any thoughts about using that amphitheater for big events, nighttime events. It was never in the thought process," explained Irene Parsons, the chairperson of the Luminary Walk, an annual event at the Arboretum.
The city said it will host more events at the Arboretum with these additions and limit the number of attendees to 6,000 per event. According to the city, most events would be held on weekends and/or outside of normal rush-hour times.
The city's planning commission approved the plan in December. The neighbors who opposed the project successfully filed a protest petition to get the proposal in front of city council for approval.
Next, the city's parks department needs to bring a final plan to the city council for final approval. Then, construction on the site can begin.
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