Plans for Meadow Lane Trail, a bike/pedestrian path, advance in Olathe

The Olathe City Council is on track to begin construction of the long-planned Meadow Lane Trail later this spring.

Council members voted unanimously Tuesday night to accept an engineer’s survey for the 4.6-mile, 10-foot-wide trail and to complete negotiations with property owners along the route. The bike/pedestrian path will run from Stratton Oaks subdivision at College Boulevard and Woodsonia Drive and the Corporate Ridge Business Park off Ridgeview Road to the Gary Haller Regional Trail, as well as connect to the Kansas Bioscience Facility, Prairie Trail Middle School and Olathe Northwest High School. Six of 13 pieces of property have already been acquired.

If the city can’t reach agreements with the remaining owners, the council would pursue eminent domain through Johnson County District Court.

Assuming the city acquires the remaining land by May, the trail is scheduled to open in 2018.

The project is estimated to cost $1.8 million, using a combination of state, local and Johnson County Park & Recreation District funds.

In other business:

▪ The council voted unanimously to approve rezoning 4.7 acres at Blackfoot Drive and 151st Street for a senior care facility to be called Benton House of Olathe. The project will include a one-story building with 41 assisted-living units and 14 memory-care units. The developers, Principal Senior Living Group and Hunt Midwest Real Estate Development, have already proposed a second phase that would add 24 suites.

The site currently contains a vacant church, which would be removed, and is surrounded on two sides by single-family housing. The developers plan to plant trees and other vegetation to screen the center from the neighborhoods.

▪ The council also signed off on contracting with engineering firm Black & Veatch to review options for upgrading the city’s Water Treatment Plant 2. In particular, the city wants to improve how it disinfects water, increase on-site water storage and make it easier to expand in the future. Based on the firm’s review, the council later this year will choose an option that could cost up to almost $6 million.

The contract with Black & Veatch, on which the council is expected to take a formal vote on in May, is worth an estimated $79,500.

This story was originally published April 20, 2017 at 8:48 AM with the headline "Plans for Meadow Lane Trail, a bike/pedestrian path, advance in Olathe."