The South

Doug Kinsinger of the Greater Topeka Chamber is accompanied by Tom Weigand (left), Bruce Hahl, Doug Spangler and Greg Baker (right).

Eric Danielson of Lenexa EDC affirmed that a "major population shift" in the city has seen a great growth in the city's western flank. Lenexa is now planning to link its eastern base to its western side, which is naturally split by a streamway and railroad, with a major parkway along 95th street. This parkway will eventually connect all the way from K-10 to Bannister Road in Missouri when finished. Work on the 87th street interchange will also help Lenexa and Overland Park with its east-west traffic.

Closer in, as Kate Michaelis of the Northeast Johnson County Chamber/EDC noted, most of the action in northeast Johnson County centers around retail development and the management of the Rock Creek flood plain. The latter effort, when complete, will reclaim a good deal of real estate. As to retail, two major new centers, the Roeland Park Fountains and Merriam Pointe at 67th Street & I-35, are in the works.

County Commission Chairman Charles Jones outlines development projects and infrastructure improvements occurring in Douglas County.

With the growth in Johnson County continuing to move south and west, the city of Gardner, which is southwest of booming Olathe, has been doubling its population every five years. One reason for the growth, according to Greg Kindle of the Southwest Johnson County EDC, is that home prices are lower than in the more settled portions of Johnson County. To accommodate that growth, Gardner will double its retail space in the next three years. As to Edgerton, which is southwest of Gardner, the speed of its future development hinges on the possible opening of a northwest corridor from I-35 to K-10.

Continuing southwest on I-35 one comes to Franklin County. Its county seat is Ottawa, home of Ottawa University. The dramatic renovation of U.S. Highway 59 north to Lawrence holds great possibility for the county. In that it will route traffic around the city of Ottawa and into I-35 might very well, said Tom Weigand of the Franklin/Ottawa County EDC, "change our culture." To attract traffic into town, the city and county will have to be creative. As a step in that direction, for the first time in its history, the county is establishing a TIF district.

Due east of Franklin County is Miami County, whose ample green space, contended Sandy Allison, serves as something of a tourist attraction and residential safety valve for Johnson County, directly to the north. Several major transportation projects, most notably the widening of U.S. Highway 169 north to Olathe, have strengthened the link to Johnson County.