By Roxie Hammill, Johnson County Post
Plans for a proposed county homeless services center and shelter at a repurposed Lenexa hotel hit a major snag Wednesday with news that the city’s planning staff plans to recommend denial of a land use permit that would allow the center to operate.
Staff’s planned recommendation for denial — hints of which first began circulating on social media Wednesday afternoon — was confirmed separately by County Commission Chairman Mike Kelly and a Lenexa city spokesperson.
Approval of the special use permit is a key part of the plan because it would give the shelter’s proposed operator, Kansas City-based nonprofit reStart Inc., the right to use the property, currently a La Quinta Inn and Suites, for that purpose.
Lenexa Planning Commission set to vote on shelter Aug. 26
A recommendation for denial does not automatically kill the shelter plan, though it may make it more difficult for it to become reality.
The city planning commission is still expected to vote on Monday, Aug. 26, and the full city council will have the final word, scheduled for a meeting later in September.
So far, no explanation has been given for the rationale behind the city’s staff’s recommendation against the shelter plan.
A city spokesperson said the staff’s explanation will be released Aug. 22, in agenda documents published before the scheduled planning commission meeting.
Recorded homelessness has been increasing in JoCo
The shelter has been a hot topic since it was first considered for the hotel near Interstate 35 and 95th Street by county commissioners in December.
It would provide housing for single adults not involved in the justice system or fleeing domestic violence.
The county already has the property under contract for a $6 million purchase price. That money, plus additional money for due diligence and renovations, will come from federal COVID-19 relief funds.
Kelly and other supporters, including the interfaith Good Faith Network, have supported the project, saying the existing La Quinta building and its location are uniquely suited to address the needs of people who find themselves without a place to live.
In a January point-in-time count survey, Johnson County officials found that 250 people were unhoused. Although the real number is likely higher, that figure still represented a 44% increase from 2015.
“We’ve moved … boulders to get this far”
Reached Wednesday afternoon, Kelly said reStart plans to continue the application process and the county will support it.
The project addresses a known need in Johnson County, Kelly said, but “I also understand this is a bold new approach.”
“It’s taken a lot of twists and turns even to get us this close to helping the people of Johnson County,” he said, adding that “we’ve moved a lot of boulders to get this far.”
He said the county has a “good ongoing relationship” with Lenexa staff, and the city of Lenexa has already been on the front lines of the homelessness issue, coming to terms in recent years on an ordinance that allows the Project 1020 shelter, an overnight facility run out of a former elementary school that operates only during the winter.
But he said he couldn’t say more until he knows the reasons for the recommendation.
“I look forward to learning more,” he said Wednesday.
Johnson County cities asked to pitch in funds
At the same time, Johnson County’s cities have also been involved lately in shelter discussions because reStart has asked them, along with the county itself, for per capita contributions to cover operating costs for the first years of the shelter’s operation.
The nonprofit has asked for 76 cents a person from each city and the townships, as well as a contribution from the county for 2025.
Some cities, including Leawood, Fairway and Merriam have discussed it and already approved their support, saying it would be a good beginning to what is becoming a bigger problem.
Governing bodies in Mission, Olathe and Prairie Village have also discussed the matter and appeared supportive of fulfilling the financial request but have yet to take final votes.
Only one city council thus far, Edgerton, has voted to reject funding for the shelter.
Still, skeptics of the plan have said the county is moving too quickly and has not fine tuned enough details.
Some, like county commissioner Charlotte O’Hara, have also proposed rules that restrict shelter services to county residents or bar immigrants from being served. Those proposals were voted down in a recent commission meeting.
Members of the Good Faith Network have also been a presence, speaking out in favor of the project at various city and county meetings.
View the original story here.
