A small park the City of Westwood, Kansas, attempted to sell to developers for an office park and retail outlets will remain a park after city residents voted 441-394 to keep it.
In a special, mail-in election last week nearly 53 percent of the 835 votes cast rejected the idea of selling the Joe D. Dennis Park, according to KCUR, the Kansas City-area NPR station.
The background
The controversy began in 2023 when the city announced plans to sell the park to Karbank Real Estate and rezone it for office and retail development.
According to the plan, Karbank would have had to pay off the remaining roughly $275,000 debt the city owns on a former church the city purchased in 2013 and demolished in 2020. Additionally, Karbank would “donate” $2.65 million to the city to purchase a closed school building from the Shawnee Mission School District, demolish it, and grade the land for a new 3.8-acre park.
Joe D. Dennis Park is about an acre in area.
Westwood failed to provide cash-flow analysis of project
As the Sentinel reported at the time, Westwood had done nothing resembling an actual cash flow analysis of the project.
City documents claim they expect to realize some $6.7 million in revenue over the 20-year life of the district — considerably more than the $2 million they estimate as the cost of the new park.
However, it is difficult to determine if any of the projections are accurate because the city has declined to provide — or does not have — standard financial forecast data to support its contention.
On Oct. 23, 2023, the Sentinel sent the City of Westwood an Open Records request for “all documents pertaining to the financial analysis of the Karbank project, including a cash flow forecast for any debt to be issued.”
Rather than provide the requested records, the city directed the Sentinel to the city website and said any detailed analysis was exempt.
Westwood threatened opponents with lawsuit
In November of 2023 the city proceeded to send threatening letters to opponents.
A “cease-and-desist” letter, dated Nov. 8, 2023, from Westwood City Attorney Ryan B. Denk to Todd Hauser threatened legal action if Hauser refused to withdraw his objections, accusing him and other opponents of “tortious interference” and “slander of title.”
“This correspondence responds to your correspondence dated October 12 and 19, 2023 asserting an objection to the sale of City property located at 5000 Rainbow due to alleged non-compliance with K.S.A. 12-1301,” the letter reads. “Simply stated, your objection is without merit, and the City is prepared to take such legal action against you and/or your clients as may be necessary to protect its title and its contractual relationships.”
Kansas Justice Institute Director of Litigation Sam MacRoberts sent a letter in response on Dec. 7, 2023, demanding that the city withdraw its letter. Like the Sentinel, KJI is owned by the Kansas Policy Institute.
“In our view, the City of Westwood’s letter is heavy-handed, unacceptable, and antithetical to the First Amendment. Accordingly, as to those portions of the letter that implicate the First Amendment, they should be immediately — and publicly — withdrawn,” MacRoberts wrote. “Further, to the extent this approach is Westwood’s policy and practice, it should likewise end immediately.”
MacRoberts said Denk’s threats are a violation of the First Amendment.
In December of 2024 after losing a legal battle over a petition to hold a referendum, the City of Westwood finally capitulated to the demands of its residents and agreed to hold a special election to determine the fate of the only park in the small, land-locked town in the Kansas City Metro.
In an email sent to residents Friday, December 13, 2024, Westwood Mayor David E. Waters cried “uncle,” stating the fate of the park would be left to residents rather than city officials.
“The City has several options it could take, including appealing the Court of Appeal’s decision to the Kansas Supreme Court or relitigating the matter at the District Court level,” Waters wrote. “However, both of those options would likely take a year or more and keep the new feature park in a state of ‘limbo,’ a situation that would be unfair to Karbank and to the School District. Based on the guidance of the Kansas Court of Appeals and a desire to resolve the issue, the City Council has accepted the petitions and will seek to put the sale of Joe D. Dennis Park on an upcoming ballot.”
One of the residents who was a driving force behind the petition, Rebecca R. Brown, said at the time she was glad of the victory.
“We won. Democracy won,” Brown said. “The city is finally doing what we’ve been asking them to do for over a year: hold an election.”
Ryan Kreigshauser — of Kriegshauser-Ney, a law firm that represented Brown in the case — agreed.
“Over the past year, Westwood citizens have been bullied, threatened, and shut out of conversations regarding the sale of the Joe D. Dennis Park to developers,” Kriegshauser said. “When the City filed suit, it intentionally tried to cut its own citizens out of the process by purposefully suing the State of Kansas, who took no position on this issue. One woman’s tenacity all the way through a Court of Appeals victory finally broke the dam. Because of one ‘mere’ citizen, voters will have the final say on what happens to their park.”
