Voters in tiny Westwood, Kansas, have rejected the sale of Joe D. Dennis Park to developers, ending a multi-year controversy that divided the small community.
In Tuesday’s special mail-in election, the ballot only had one question: “Shall the following be adopted? whether the Joe D. Dennis Park shall be sold, traded, or exchanged.”
Of the 835 votes cast, nearly 53% voted against the sale of the park. About 58% of Westwood's 1,432 registered voters cast a ballot.
If the vote had passed, the city would be able to move forward with its plan to sell the land to Mission Woods-based real estate company Karbank. It’s been nearly two years since the developer proposed that it turn the green space into an office park with retail shops.
Just west of Joe D. Dennis and the adjacent field is the old Westwood View Elementary School. As a condition of the sale, Karbank would have to buy that building from the Shawnee Mission School District for $2.65 million, and then use $4.5 million of funds generated from the new development to build a new park in its place.
Karbank would also have needed to pay the city’s debt it owes, about $275,000, on the land next to Joe D. Dennis Park that was once home to the Westwood Christian Church.
The future of Joe D. Dennis Park, located at 50th Street and Rainbow Boulevard, split residents in not only Westwood but also neighboring communities. Signs reading both “Save the Park” and “Build the Park” popped up all over that area of Johnson County.
Supporters of the sale formed a group called New Park for Westwood, arguing that the tiny park — less than one acre in size with just picnic tables, a playground and a tennis park — wasn’t worth saving.
“It's not ADA accessible, it has a tennis court that has drainage problems,” New Park for Westwood founder Spencer Day said last month. “And has a fountain that, as of last summer, cannot be repaired without extensive reworking.”
The proposed new park would also be four times larger than Joe D. Dennis, and initial renderings included the possibility for rain gardens, shelters, and a new tennis court.
"Obviously I'm disappointed," Day told KCUR after the vote. "The 'no' side made a lot of promises of a better deal, and I just don't think that there is a better deal on the table."
On the other side of the vote was Friends of Westwood Parkland. Those residents expressed concern about reduced greenery, increased traffic, and what office buildings would do to the community’s aesthetic.
“ If you look on this corner, you'll see homes, homes, homes, homes, homes,” said neighbor Mike Coffman in an interview last month with KCUR. “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.”
It took a legal battle to get to this point. Westwood first attempted to sell the park to Karbank in October 2023, but Friends of Westwood Parkland argued that the city needed residents’ permission first. A legal back and forth ensued, with both parties threatening legal action.
That December, 200 Westwood residents signed a petition demanding that the city put the sale to a vote. Westwood City Council initially tried to throw out the petition, but when an appellate court sided with residents, the city agreed to put the sale on the ballot.
Westwood resident Bernard Brown has been working with Friends of Westwood Parkland since it started.
"All of this was good citizenship on display," Brown said. "And I can tell you that everyone involved is really, really grateful for these votes and for the attention that people gave us in Westwood."
Westwood Mayor David Waters told KCUR last month that the city would respect 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 vote their conscience on this.”
