Leawood Park Sparks Controversy

Near Brooke Beatty Park at the corner of Meadow Lane and Lee Boulevard sits a sculpture in a small area of unused green space. Soon, this sculpture will be moved to make way for a children’s park in the existing space. Despite some controversy surrounding the plan, it has been a dream eight years in the making for one East parent. JoLynn Hobbs, mother of sophomore Mackenzie Hobbs has been a driving force behind the park plan, which is finally becoming a reality.

In 2001, Hobbs had two children under the age of five. She dreamed of a neighborhood park close enough in proximity to her house that she could walk to it with her young children on nice days. She appealed to a local Leawood City Councilwoman, Debra Filla, and the plan began to develop. Since the initial proposal for the plan in 2001, many things have changed about the original proposal, but Hobb’s dream of a children’s park is finally happening.

At the Feb. 18 Leawood City Council meeting, Hobbs, among many other proponents and opposers of the plan were gathered with their families in city hall to hear the news. City Council members announced at their meeting that they would be moving forward with the zoning and final plan for the park.

“It’s exciting to see my dream come to fruition, especially after all this time,” Hobbs said. “As many young families continue to move into Old Leawood the need for usable park space has never been more evident, and when people really become involved in their community, good things happen, Brook Beatty will definitely be a good thing for Old Leawood.”

The park is meant to be walked or biked to, and will feature many attributes. It will include playground equipment for the targeted age range of children 2-5 years old, but will not be limited to just benefits for children. Because Lee Boulevard is an area of high pedestrian and bike traffic, there will be bike racks, a water fountain featuring a watering area for dogs, picnic tables and lush greenery. The existing sculpture in the park titled Faith will be moved into the Northern area of the space to increase visibility and it will be surrounded by a sitting wall enclosure.

“Leawood Parks & Recreation’s Chris Claxton and Brian and Anderson created an impressive, well-thought out plan,” Hobbs said. “They incorporated the unique architecture of our neighborhood into the park design.”

But for some people, the decision to create the park was bittersweet. While many young families were rejoicing with the news of the new facility, another East parent, Scott Martin, and his family had a few concerns of their own. Martin lives on the corner of Meadow Lane, his backyard is right up against the boundary-less Brook Beatty Park.

The proximity to the park is not even on his list of concerns. It is the flooding from the creek that lines both his yard and the park that he worries about. According to Martin, during storms, water engulfs the property on both his yard and the park. Another concern Martin voices is the fact that there is not a plan for added parking, which will send park-goers directly onto his street. His daughter, senior Holly Martin, attended numerous city council meetings with her father and shares similar frustrations with the park proposal.

“The whole council seemed to disregard what we had to say,” senior Holly Martin said. “My family is really emotional about the whole park thing and I got to go see them speak at the meeting in February. We are just worried about the floodplain, and the people parking on our street, and our dogs in the backyard with the kids and stuff.”

Hobbs and city councilwoman Deb Filla combat these concerns with their own responses. They argue that these concerns have all been given considerable thought by city officials. Hobbs stated that the Leawood police chief and public works had agreed to address issues as they presented themselves, and she does not believe that the plan would have progressed this far after all this time if these concerns had not be addressed. Leawood City Councilwoman added that almost every Leawood park is in close proximity to a flood plain of some sort.

“All of the park space in Leawood as well as in Johnson County are in flood plains, and the particular Brook Beatty flooding that occurs is back-up flooding, happening when there is a lot of water coming from that creek that can’t get underneath that bridge on Lee Boulevard,” Councilwoman Debra Filla said. “I think that every parent who spoke to that concern said that they would not take their children to play in an area when it is raining or a flash flood warning.”

All concerns aside, the Leawood Parks and Recreation Committee is scheduled to break ground in the coming months, and have the park finished by this summer as their projected goal. The first addition to the park came on Monday April 9. A flowering Tulip Tree was planted in its permanent location at Brook Beatty Park. This marks the first piece to be installed at the area, signaling the start of construction for this plan—10 years in the making—to bring a children’s park to Northern Leawood.