KSHB 41 reporter Olivia Acree covers portions of Johnson County, Kansas. Share your story idea with Olivia.
—
For the past several months, Johnson County leaders have been working to develop plans to turn the old La Quinta Inn hotel off of 95th Street and Interstate 35 in Lenexa into the Johnson County homeless services center.
Part of that effort includes getting Lenexa city leaders to sign off on the plan, but KSHB 41's Olivia Acree learned Thursday about a new roadblock in the effort.
Ahead of the Lenexa Planning Commission's review of the proposal on Aug. 26, city staff completed its report, in which they will recommend denial for a special use permit sought by reStart Inc. of the plan. The full staff report is set to be released on Thursday, Aug. 22.
RELATED | Lenexa to vote on next step for Johnson County homeless services center
A statement on the city’s website read, in part, “... the City of Lenexa verbally informed representatives for the proposed homeless service center in Lenexa of staff’s intention to recommend denial of the pending application to the Planning Commission.”
The county has plans to purchase the Lenexa La Quinta Inn hotel and had made an agreement with Kansas-City based nonprofit, reStart, to run a homeless services center out of it.
In a statement Thursday to KSHB 41, a Johnson County spokesperson said they recently became aware of the recommendation of denial. They also explained that they will receive the staff report explaining the recommendation on Aug. 22.
“The City of Lenexa is on the front line of meeting this community need, and we are thankful for the consideration of Lenexa’s governing body in filling this known gap in the continuum of housing services in Johnson County," the Johnson County spokesperson said in the statement.
Johnson County went on to say that reStart is committed to present their plan to the Lenexa Planning Commission on Aug. 26.
In a statement, reStart said, "reStart, Inc. is committed to continuing to move the process forward with a presentation to the Lenexa Planning Commission on Aug. 26 and remain steadfast in our commitment to ending homelessness in Johnson County."
The nonprofit also urged Lenexa residents to attend the Aug. 26 planning commission meeting.
The item is also slated for review by the full Lenexa City Council on Sept. 17.
—