KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Kansas City, Missouri, City Council committee is set to review an ordinance Tuesday that would establish a policy for the use of the name “Kansas City” by entities other than the city of Kansas City, Missouri.
The Special Committee for Legal Review is set to review the ordinance, which was introduced last month by Mayor Quinton Lucas.
The ordinance hopes to offer "clear guidance” for usage of the name “Kansas City” by other municipalities, organizations and businesses to “prevent dilution of the city’s brand,” among other purposes.
Earlier this year, officials in Lee’s Summit — citing the increase in operations at Lee’s Summit Municipal Airport — studied changing the name to better reflect its larger role in the region’s aviation sector.
Officials originally recommended the name “Greater Kansas City Regional Airport.”
That name drew the attention of Lucas, who said it could confuse travelers, noting that including the “Kansas City” name in the airport had previously only been applied to airports in Kansas City, Missouri.
Perhaps related, the same council committee is also set to review a name change at the downtown airport from the Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport to Kansas City Downtown Airport — Wheeler Field.
Following Lee’s Summit’s initial presentation, Lucas said he would work with Lee’s Summit, the Federal Aviation Administration and the courts to “ensure we avoid future confusion about Kansas City and to prevent some of the conflicts and confusion seen in other communities.”
In a memo to the Lee’s Summit City Council last month, Lee’s Summit Director of Public Works, Operations Michael Anderson said city officials met with the Kansas City, Missouri, Aviation Department in October to discuss alternatives to “Greater Kansas City Regional Airport."
In early November, the Lee’s Summit Board of Aeronautical Commissioners settled on three new final names:
- Kansas City — Lee’s Summit Regional
- Southeast Kansas City Regional
- KC — Lee’s Summit Regional
On Nov. 12, the Lee’s Summit City Council voted to officially rename the airport to Kansas City — Lee’s Summit Regional and to brand the fixed base operator at the airport as Summit Aero.
The name change requires final FAA review and approval.
Indeed, the language of the proposed ordinance in Kansas City, Missouri, appears to have served at least a partial role in guiding discussions between the two cities.
Under the proposed ordinance, the city of Kansas City, Missouri, would “disfavor” the use of “Kansas City” without appropriate qualifiers and would “view more favorably” the use of “Kansas City” with a qualifier “that identifies the particular jurisdiction or geographical part” of the region, such as Kansas City — Lee’s Summit Regional.
The proposed ordinance also acknowledges the use of “Kansas City, Kansas” by the Unified Government of Kansas City, Kansas, and Wyandotte County.
The discussion could also be useful for the city in taking a much broader review of its intellectual property rights, with city staff directed to oversee the review and apply for “proper trademark registrations and consider other protective measures as appropriate.”
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