A new Overland Park neighborhood pool? City to talk possibilities in master plan
Overland Park is considering building new community pools as part of its widespread parks and recreation master plan.
Dubbed Playbook OP, the 10-year plan lays out how the city hopes to maintain its current facilities and best serve its anticipated growing population.
Alongside parks and trail systems, aquatic facilities emerged as one of the top priorities for Overland Park residents, Cindy Mendoza — a consultant who helped design the plan — told the City Council back in February.
“What has shifted is a desire in the north side and areas of greater need — which are defined as areas that are more dense, tend to be racially diverse, lower income — for pools closer to home,” she said.
While supportive of the broader plan for the city, Mayor Curt Skoog requested that the council break the question of new pools off from the rest, to be discussed and voted on separately.
On Monday night, the City Council will either vote to approve the master plan as it stands or separate aquatics from the rest of the plan for future consideration.
“I don’t want to slow down the Playbook OP adoption process,” Skoog said during February’s meeting. “But I think that it’s important the council understand costs involved in constructing and maintaining pools, which are a 40 to 50 year commitment you’re making that I know will divert funds from other priorities that may come along.”
The need in the north
Overland Park operates one indoor pool, three outdoor pools and five water play areas to serve its population, according to the master plan draft.
As the city projects more than 230,000 residents by 2035, the plan says Overland Park will need at least one new outdoor pool to maintain its current levels of service.
North Overland Park, or the area north of Interstate 435, is mostly built out, with some of the oldest parks, limited trail systems and one community pool, which is a medium-sized pool that serves multiple neighborhoods within a 2-mile radius.
While the northern parts of the city are also home to the Matt Ross Community Center and Young’s Pool, Playbook OP recommends building a second community pool and renovating or moving the current one, Stonegate, to make it easier for neighbors to get there.
South Overland Park doesn’t have city-owned swimming pools, but nonprofit and private organizations like apartment complexes and homeowners associations operate pools throughout the area.
Instead, the city hopes to focus on building a mix of parks in the south to help support its growth, she said.
A push for Bluejacket
Building a new community pool and renovating Stonegate would be a step away from the city’s previous focus on bigger regional aquatic facilities, a common trend across the region because they can serve more residents with fewer tax dollars, according to The Beacon’s reporting.
Since 2013, Overland Park has closed three community pools, with Bluejacket closing in 2024 because it was leaking 1,500 gallons of water every hour. Stonegate was next on the list, with the city planning to retire the pool in less than 10 years.
Stonegate was first built in 1965 and last saw improvements in 2009, according to Playbook OP.
While it’s “not an ideal location for a pool,” it meets a “tremendous need,” Mendoza told the council in February.
“So we want to find out if the pool should be replaced there or in a new location, but to serve that general vicinity,” she said.
During the discussion in February, Ward 2 City Councilmember Melissa Cheatham asked if the former Bluejacket Pool was on the radar for the possibility for the new pool’s location.
“I represent a lot of folks immediately adjacent to the Bluejacket Park and Bluejacket Pool, and that’s the top thing on their mind,” she said.
Mendoza told Cheatham that costs to build a new Bluejacket pool would be the biggest challenge.
“Right now, there are higher priorities and things in greater priority to this community than Bluejacket Pool,” she said. “Having said that, it’s a money conversation. If the council is making the decision to increase sources, if the community votes to approve more sources of funding … certainly that project will move forward more quickly.”
Locations for Stonegate and a potential new pool will be determined by feasibility studies at later dates. No projects have been approved as of April 3.
Overland Park’s meeting on Monday starts at 6 p.m. at City Hall, 8500 Santa Fe Dr.
