Westwood resident Beth Springgate is watching her community get torn apart.
“It just makes it hard to live here. I love this city, but it's just not the city I used to know,” says Springgate, a 42-year resident. “I love my neighbors, but people don't talk to each other anymore.”
Signs and banners have popped up all over this Johnson County town of about 1,800 people, as well as neighboring Westwood Hills and Mission Woods. There have been legal threats and court battles. Protests. Heated city council meetings.
The source of controversy: A park less than one acre in size.
Located at 50th Street and Rainbow Boulevard — with just a few picnic tables, a playground, and a tennis court — Joe D. Dennis Park has become the center of tensions over city power, green space, development, and the First Amendment.
And now, Westwood residents will make their decision about its future during a special mail-in election that ends April 1.
The ballot asks residents to vote yes or no on just one question: “Shall the following be adopted? whether the Joe D. Dennis Park shall be sold, traded, or exchanged.”
If passed, Westwood can go through with a project that began almost two years ago.
The proposal
Mission Woods-based developer Karbank Real Estate Company came to the city of Westwood in spring 2023 with a plan.
It would take over Joe D. Dennis Park, along with the adjacent vacant lot where the former Westwood Christian Church once stood, and construct multiple office buildings with retail spaces on the ground floor and a parking lot.
As part of the deal, Karbank agreed to pay the city the $2.65 million required to buy the land of the old Westwood View Elementary School, just west of Joe D. Dennis, where the city would construct a new park. The company also agreed to pay off the city’s debt for the church property, about $275,000.
Karbank says it would also give the city about $4.5 million to build the new park, using funds generated from the development.
Karbank did not make anyone available for comment on this story. But the company has offered a few different plans for a new park, which would be about three acres larger than Joe D. Dennis.
Potential ideas include creating rain gardens, shelters, and a new tennis court.
The city of Westwood has not officially endorsed either side in the April 1 election.
Westwood Mayor David Waters, who said he was not speaking on behalf of the city, told KCUR he thought Karbank’s plan was a good opportunity to improve the community. He also thinks the development would be a smart move for Westwood financially.
“Westwood has a lot of tax-exempt properties especially along our commercial corridors, whether it be the KU Cancer Center or Westwood City Hall or public works,” Waters said. “That would enable us to develop some new revenue streams.”
Opposing sides get organized
Two different groups have formed in response to the potential development: New Park for Westwood, which supports Karbank’s plans, and Friends of Westwood Parkland, who oppose the sale.
Both sides employ volunteers who have knocked on doors, put up banners on fences, and spoken out at city council meetings.
“ This piece of property is our identity as a community,” Springgate said. “Because it tells the world, as you can see just driving by here, that we do have a handle on the charm and character thing.”
The land that became Joe D. Dennis Park was purchased by Westwood in the late 1960s. The park itself was built in 1973 and named in 2002 to honor a longtime mayor, who served from 1965 to 1984.
Joe D. Dennis Park is the last remaining public green space in the area, so people from neighboring Westwood Hills and Mission Woods have also gotten involved in the debate.
Mike Coffman is technically a Westwood Hills resident, but he lives right across the street from the park. He’s concerned about how an increase in traffic could make the area less safe for people trying to cross Rainbow.
He also thinks the business park would seem out of place in the residential area.
“ If you look on this corner, you'll see homes, homes, homes, homes, homes,” Coffman said. “So a huge industrial complex with 305 parking spaces, which is twice as many as are at the Walmart store up here, is what's going to be here instead.”
Spencer Day, who founded New Park for Westwood, says Joe D. Dennis Park just isn’t worth saving.
“It's not ADA accessible, it has a tennis court that has drainage problems,” Day said. “And has a fountain that, as of last summer, cannot be repaired without extensive reworking.”
Day added he doesn’t like to go to bring his kids to Joe D. Dennis Park because of its proximity to a busy street like Rainbow.
Day said the cars can be ”very loud and very distracting if you are in the park with your children.”
New Park for Westwood lists multiple reasons to support the sale on its website, including the possibility of a different developer buying the old elementary school and turning that space into apartments or a parking lot. Day says other projects could also cost the taxpayers money.
”We've already got fairly high property taxes because we are such a small city,” Day said. “We have a lot of residents that live paycheck to paycheck, and I believe we need to keep property taxes reasonable.”
If Westwood voters reject the sale, it would likely not be the last time the city tries to do something with the land. Even “vote no” residents have signs that read “We Deserve a Better Plan.”
A fight in the courts over free speech and process
From the beginning, Friends of Westwood Parkland and the city of Westwood have traded legal threats over the tiny park.
Westwood City Council approved Karbank’s proposal in October 2023. Soon after, an attorney working on behalf of some residents then sent the city a letter asking for a published public notice of intent to sell the park.
The residents also threatened legal action if the city failed to do so -- pointing to a Kansas statute that requires municipalities to publish letters of intent before selling public parkland.
Westwood published two letters of intent in early November – even while it argued that the Kansas statute does not apply to Joe D. Dennis Park, because it was never officially dedicated as parkland, even though it’s named “park” and used as such.
Waters told the Johnson County Post that the land was “not acquired with intent to commit its present use as a small park in perpetuity.”
Escalating the conflict, Westwood City Attorney Ryan Denk sent a letter to the attorney representing the unhappy residents, saying the city would take legal action against them if they don’t “cease in publishing your and their continued slandering of the City’s title.”
The letter mentions that Westwood was concerned that the residents’ protests would impact the city’s relationship with Karbank and the Shawnee Mission School District.
The city of Westwood later rescinded the letter.
In December 2023, Friends of Westwood Parkland submitted a petition with about 200 signatures demanding that the park’s sale go to a public vote.
This led to another battle in the courts: Westwood City Council threw out the petition, claiming it was submitted incorrectly and lacked information. Friends of Westwood Parkland appealed the decision, and an appellate court eventually sided with residents.
In December 2024, a year and a half after Westwood council members first heard the proposal to redevelop Joe D. Dennis Park, the city agreed to put the issue to a vote.
A ‘tainted election’ or ‘fear mongering’?
Earlier this month, about a dozen members of Friends of Westwood Parkland gathered at Joe D. Dennis Park. They stood with signs in between the park and Rainbow Boulevard, waving them at cars as they drove by and cheering when they’d honk.
The gathering was held on World Speech Day – an intentional move by the group. Member Bernard Brown said that Westwood infringed on its residents’ First Amendment rights by threatening to sue for speaking out against the park sale.
Waters said he disagrees with that interpretation, but cannot comment on “pending litigation.”
While Bernard is against the development, his greater concern is how Westwood handled this process and treated its residents.
“If the city wins this election, that would mean threatening to sue has tainted this election and won them exactly what the constitution is trying to prevent – the tainted election and win election with threats,” Brown said.
Even though Day, of New Park for Westwood, says that he’s seen factually inaccurate information about the sale, he’s still optimistic the vote will turn out in their favor.
“I believe that Westwood voters are fairly, well informed, smart people who can decide on their own,” Day said. “And not kind of play into some fear mongering that has happened unfortunately in this election.”
Waters says the city intends to abide by the outcome of the vote.
“We certainly encourage all of our residents to talk with each other, to express their opinions, to debate, enter into dialogue,” he said. “And then to exercise their vote and their rights to vote and and vote their conscience on this.”
Westwood currently has 1,338 registered voters, according to the Johnson County Election Office. They have until April 1 to return their mail-in ballots.
