Leawood residents work to preserve historic city hall as community space
LEAWOOD, Kan. (KCTV) - Sitting in a residential section on the northern part of Leawood is a small brick building, just 1,100 square feet in size, where all the city business happened during its growth spurt in the 1950s.
Now, 70 years later, residents Jaclyn & Andy Penn are pushing to save it and the neighboring fire station from demolition.
“It reminds me of all the character of the neighborhood,” said Andy.
The architectural style fits the homes built during the city’s infancy, before it stretched all the way from 81st Street to 154th Street along State Line Road.
“We by the space all the time, multiple times a day, whether it’s going to the soccer games are going back back-and-forth to the pool,” Jaclyn said. “It looks and feels like home.”
A COMMUNITY PUSH TO REPURPOSE
The old Leawood City Hall at 96th Street and Lee Boulevard opened in 1954 when the population was approximately 2,000 people. It’s now nearly 40,000.
The fire station was built at around the same time. Leawood outgrew the little building long ago. That city hall has been empty and shuttered for more than 30 years. The fire station was closed more recently after a new one was built on the other side of the old city hall.
As discussions at the new city hall, miles away near Town Center Plaza, are making the prospect of a tear-down seem more and more real, the Penns have floated an idea to city leaders to repurpose the buildings to preserve the past while creating a space for the future.
They had an architecture firm draw out their vision of green space between the two buildings and a playground behind it. City hall would become a coffee and ice cream shop — which they’d be happy to run.
They can picture people biking by then stopping for coffee, moms with strollers stopping in for ice cream, and all of them chatting, getting to know their neighbors.
“And then you’ve got people gathering and building community,” Jaclyn said.
They’ve been collecting signatures calling on the city council to save the buildings. They’re hosting an ice cream social on the property this weekend to organize a movement.
“This is a part of the history of Leawood, and we have an awesome opportunity to reuse space that we have and reuse and restore these buildings,” Andy said. “Once they’re gone, they’re gone, and we lose that forever.”
CITY HALL PLANS PICKING UP PACE
Work sessions on what to do with the space have been taking place for years, but they reached a turning point this week when the council budgeted funds for an architectural firm to research options.
Three of the four options involve keeping the fire station.
Two of them consider keeping the old city hall building, but without any public access inside.
Previous discussions cited the cost of mold and asbestos remediation as well as staffing it. City staff reported that in response to community concerns about demolition, that option was added as a sort of middle ground. But, at Monday’s meeting, multiple council scoffed at the change, saying they had come to a consensus at previous meetings that the old city hall would be razed.
The fourth option being researched is to remove both buildings.
The city ideas also involve public space like a park or walking trail.
A representative with the architectural firm hired to do the research said the report will be itemized so that council can mix and match elements if they choose to.
NEXT STEPS
The grassroots gathering will take place in front of the old city hall on Saturday, May 10 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
The next city discussion will be with the Park Advisory Board on June 12. A city-sponsored neighborhood meeting is scheduled for July 7.
The plans are on the calendar to be presented in late July through early August.
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