Oct 14, 2024

SHAWNEE CITY COUNCIL MEETING

October 14, 2024

You can stream the full City Council meeting at the link below! If you don't have time to watch, here's my quick recap. 

Two members of the public spoke during Business from the Floor to complain of speeding on Ballentine behind the QuikTrip off of Shawnee Mission Parkway. They felt the city has not done enough to stop this and shared that neighbors are taking things into their own hands (by putting out signs and walking in the middle of the street.) They called on the city to take action. Mayor Sandifer shared that the city manager is looking into this. Councilmembers Walters and Gillette brought this up during Miscellaneous Council Items and said they would like to look into speeding city-wide as they feel it is increasing; Gillette recommended speed tables and more cops on the street as potential solutions.

The council also approved Engineering Services Agreements for 5 CMP/stormwater improvement projects. Generally these are pretty routine but these projects are being funded by Johnson County stormwater funds. Shawnee is the #1 recipient of these county SMAC (Stormwater Management Advisory Council) funds so the council expressed their appreciation to staff for going out and getting that funding. Following are the locations of the improvements: Shawnee Mission Parkway & Goddard and 61st & Melrose Ln, Lakecrest & 55th Ter and Brownridge, Monticello East and 51st Pl & Mill Valley, Johnson Drive & Monticello, and Quivira & Albervan.

Additionally, the Council considered the following:

• Passed consent agenda (unanimous)

• Rezoned .34 acres at 61st and Bradshaw from Single Family to Duplex (unanimous)

• Rezoned 29 acres on 59th Terrace from Commercial Highway to Agricultural (unanimous)

• Approved annual allocation of $70,000 of opioid settlement funds to United Community Services (unanimous)

• Issued $21m of IRB bonds to the Cedarhurst of Shawnee assisted living/memory care project (unanimous)

• Approved contract for the Johnson Drive & Maurer Sight Distance Improvement Project (unanimous)

• Approved change order for the 6000 Nieman Emergency Stormwater Replacement Project (unanimous)

• Ratified semimonthly claims (unanimous)

At Council Committee, they discussed the city’s Street Improvement Program, which is basically the list of older streets that need to be brought to modern standards including stormwater system (curb & gutter,) sidewalks, streetlights, and street resurfacing. The SIP prioritizes those projects and designates which of them will get done in the next 10 years using criteria including street width, traffic volume, distance from schools & parks, connections to curbed streets, etc. The city also reprioritized some projects that had already been resurfaced recently in order to get some more life out of that pavement before redoing it. The Ballentine project brought up by residents at Business from the Floor earlier was 3rd in priority and therefore slated to be completed in 2028. 

The committee also heard an update on the KDOT construction at I-435 and Midland. The northbound bridge will be complete in November 2024 and southbound bridge construction will occur from March to August 2025. The project will shut down between November and March which will get that area a little closer to normal through the winter.

City Council Meeting: 

https://cityofshawnee.civicweb.net/document/303142/?splitscreen=true&media=true 

Council Committee Meeting:

https://cityofshawnee.civicweb.net/document/303145/?splitscreen=true&media=true 

Recap by: Alex Welch Blattner