City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening. Welcome to the regular meeting of the Olathe City Council for Tuesday, September 1, 2026. The first item on our agenda is the Pledge of Allegiance. Would you please stand with me for the pledge? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. We'll now go to special business. Item A is a proclamation recognizing September as Deaf Awareness Month. One of the great things about Olathe is our unique role as the home of the Kansas School for the Deaf. This allows us a great opportunity to get to know our deaf and hard of hearing neighbors to create a city where they can thrive and to celebrate everything they bring to and do for our community. So joining us tonight to accept this proclamation are the Kansas City or the Kansas School for the Deaf co-superintendents Joan Macy and Joel Allen. So would you both please join me up front?

So

I'll take a minute and read the proclamation, and then you can tell us what's going on at the School for the Deaf. So the proclamation reads, perspectives, backgrounds and cultures that make up our vibrant and diverse city, including the deaf community. And whereas we are better because of our deaf and hard of hearing neighbors, individuals with an alternative sensory and social experience who harness the power of visual language and who come from wide-ranging variations in onset of deafness, level of hearing, educational background, communication method, and cultural affiliations. And whereas Olathe has been named one of America's most deaf-friendly cities in recognition of the opportunities and programs we offer, as well as a culture that embraces our deaf and hard-of-hearing residents, and whereas we are proud to be home of the Kansas School for the Deaf, the Museum of Deaf History, Arts and Culture, and the Olathe Club of the Deaf. And whereas the lives of all Olatheans are enriched by the contributions of our Deaf neighbors, as well as this opportunity to recognize their achievements within our great city. Now, therefore, I, John Bacon, Mayor of the City of Olathe, do hereby proclaim September 2026 as Deaf Awareness Month in Olathe, encouraging all citizens to learn about and celebrate the values, culture, heritage, and language unique in the deaf community. And language is unique in the deaf community.

I just want to say thank you for recognizing Deaf Awareness Month and really Kansas School for the Deaf is very blessed to have Olathe, the Olathe community here established. Olathe has been a wonderful support for our School for the Deaf and for many generations and throughout the area. So we want to thank you for your investment in what we do. Thank you.

We also want to thank the mayor for all the collaboration that the city of Olathe has given to the school for the deaf, and we look forward to a lot more partnerships in the upcoming years. So thank you to the council and to mayor for everything that you've done for us.

Thank you. Thank you.

So over the weekend, my five-year-old granddaughter was showing me her ability to do the alphabet in ASL. And so someone was asking me, what am I going to do for Deaf Awareness September? And I said, well, I'll probably learn some letters of the alphabet. So, you know, we do have some artwork at Calamity Line Park that spells out Olathe right there with the alphabet hand signal. So... Yeah, do something in September for deaf awareness. And actually, my granddaughter learned that at preschool here in Olathe. So something that's probably a little unique to our community. So thank you all for being here and what you do for Olathe. We'll now move to the consent agenda. The items listed below are considered to be routine by the city council, may be approved in one motion. These may include items that have been reviewed by the city council in a prior planning session. There will be no separate discussion unless a council member requests that an item be removed from the consent agenda and considered separately. Are there any such items? Council Member Creighton. Yes, I'd like to pull item G, please.

Council Member Schoonover. Thank you, Mayor. Along with item G, I'd like to pull item H, please. Item H. Council Member Felter.

Item F. Any others? F? Okay.

All right.

So we have a motion to be in order to approve the consent agenda with the exception of items F, G, and H. Thank you.

I move that we approve the consent agenda as presented, less items F, G, and H. Second.

We have a second. Will the city clerk please call the roll?

Mr. Dinnall?

Yes.

Ms. Esselstyn? Yes. Dr. Felter? Yes. Mr. Bacon?

Yes.

Mr. Schoonover?

Yes.

Mr. Baucus?

Yes.

Mr. Creighton?

Yes.

Motion passes 7-0.

Item F is consideration of the consent calendar. I believe that was Council Member Felter.

Thank you. Nate, I just appreciate you jumping right up. The Black Bob water tower number two, it looks amazing and it came in under budget. Do you want to talk a little bit about that?

So, yes, on the consent agenda tonight was the final pay estimate and final change order for Black Bob, and the good news, the Black Bob number two water tower painting in Black Bob Park, the good news is it did come in under budget, $27,500, so it's a negative change order. We always like to see those, so that's always great news, and we're just really happy that it's done, and it matches the other water tower now.

Yeah, we've had a lot of compliments about it. The main thing I'd like to say is thank you, and Viking did a wonderful job. Great, thank you. Thank you.

Any other questions or comments on Item F? Seeing none, a motion be in order on Item F. I'll move to approve Item F on the consent agenda.

Second.

We have a motion and a second with the city clerk. Please call the roll.

Ms. Essex? Yes. Mr. Bacchus?

Yes.

Mr. Denault?

Yes.

Mr. Creighton?

Yes.

Dr. Felter? Yes. Mr. Schoonover?

Yes.

Mr. Bacon?

Yes.

Motion passes 7-0.

Item G is consideration of agreement number 636-25 with the Kansas Department of Transportation for funding the K-10 and Lone Elm Bypass Project PN3-C-096-26. I believe that was Councilmember Creighton.

Yes. And Mr. Baldwin, you could have gotten some extra steps in if you wanted to come back and forth on this. Really what I would like is a 30,000-foot overview of this project for two reasons. Number one, This is a project that we as a city were concerned about for safety. Our friends from Lenexa along with KDOT pushed forward with the interchange. So would you please do two things. One, talk about how this will enhance safety and that's number one. And then second, a little bit about the funding of it. We're going through the budget process. Our staff is telling us that we're going to be going on a diet. And we're going to be cutting the CIP. We're going to be looking at a number of things related to saving money. I'd like to talk about the funding mechanism on this as well and its impact. Thank you.

Absolutely. So, again, Nate Baldwin, city engineer. So... As you know, we've had conversations with KDOT for numerous years about the project as a whole. And a lot of our concerns, and it's the concerns of many of you up here as well, is the safety along Lone Elm in front of all the schools, right? So as we're in discussions with KDOT, and as this looked like it was moving forward, there was thought of, putting a truck bypass route in that would safely get trucks from K-10 down to College Boulevard or from College Boulevard up to the interchange at K-10 without going through the school zones. And what this does, this agreement accomplishes that. And to the funding, KDOT has agreed to fund the full amount of that project, which we're estimating at $18.7 million right now. So no city funds are going to this project. Very good. Thank you.

Councilmember Schoonover.

Thank you, Mayor, and thank you, Councilmember Creighton, for pulling this item. Nate, I want to just kind of set what we're actually voting on here. We're not voting on does the City Council think that this interchange is necessarily a good idea, right?

That is correct. The interchange is going forward no matter how we vote or what opinions we cast on it. This is simply a vote on accepting funding from KDOT to build this bypass road, which we believe will make the city of Olathe safer for when the interchange does open.

Excellent. So we can think that this interchange is a dumb idea, is a waste of money, and still vote yes to get KDOT's money to mitigate the risks that we perceive from this dumb idea. Two things can absolutely be true, and that's both of those. Thank you very much for that clarification.

Any other comments or questions on item G? Seeing none, a motion be in order.

I move to approve item G on the consent agenda. Second.

We have a motion and a second with the city clerk. Please call the roll.

Ms. Essex? Yes. Dr. Felter? Yes. Mr. Bacon?

Yes.

Mr. Schoonover?

Yes.

Mr. Vacas?

Yes.

Mr. Creighton?

Yes.

Mr. Dinnall?

Yes.

Motion passes 7-0.

Item H is related. It's consideration of a professional services agreement with H&TB Corporation for Design of the K-10 and Lone Elm Bypass Project, CPN 3-C-096-26. Councilmember, scoot over.

I don't. Yeah, I'm fine with this. Would you like to make a motion to approve this item? Oh, I'd be honored. Mayor, I move to approve item eight from the consent agenda as presented. Item H, exclusion. Excuse me.

I second that motion.

Okay, we have a motion and a second. Will the city clerk please call the roll?

Mr. Creighton?

Yes.

Mr. Creighton? Yes. Mr. Bacchus?

Yes.

Mr. Schoonover?

Yes.

Dr. Felter? Yes. Ms. Essex? Yes. Mr. Bacon?

Yes.

Mr. Denault.

Yes.

Motion passes 7-0.

Okay. We are now on general issues and concerns of citizens. So we have several folks that have signed up to speak tonight. So at this time, I'd like the city clerk to read the guidelines and then call up our first speaker.

The council has established the policy to provide time during its meetings for people who live and work in Olathe to address concerns to the city council. Speakers should only address the council. Council members are not required to respond. Please treat others with kindness and respect. The council has allocated no more than three minutes per speaker and up to 30 minutes total for this portion of the meeting. Tonight we have five speakers. Each speaker will be given three minutes. Our first speaker is Forrest Miles. Please come to the podium and state your name and address for the record.

Welcome.

Thanks, sir. Okay, my name is Forrest Miles, and I reside in Gatewood Villas at 11283 South Montclair Drive, Olathe. I've currently lived here for 45 years and all on the west side. And our subdivision backs up to the requested R3 zoning to the east for nine apartments and six villas. In our area, there's just nothing like this. Everything is R1 or R2. If you go to the south, you have Covent Creek, Covent Court, R1, R2. If you go to the east, you have... the, let's see, the Stratton Oaks and, you know, these are all just R1, R2s, okay? I'm not against the... developments, but I would hope the departments and the council sees that apartments like the one that's on Ridgeview and College, which is good, and I hope the one that already has been approved for Woodsonia and for College and then the one on the other side of 7th Highway. There is to be 550 parking stalls with probably around 1,000 people and about 333 apartment units. The major part of this traffic that is going to come out of this apartment complex is going to head straight at Meadow Lane Grade School down Sunnybrook Drive. There is the Meadow Lane School there. There is a Latham Northwest. And it is already, at school time, it's very dense with cars in this situation. Also, if you go east, you have St. Paul grade school off 113th, and then you have numerous daycares that are in that area, as everything to the north and to the east is C1 or C2. I'm not opposed to development, but I am opposed to overdevelopment, which just doesn't fit our neighborhood at all. Okay. Anyway, thank you. Thank you.

Brian Perkins, can you please come to the podium and state your name and address for the record?

Good evening, Brian Perkins here. I reside in North Kansas and I experience homelessness. I've walked, I've struggled, I've slept, been hungry and thirsty during my time of living on the streets. My church graciously opened their doors to me as I continued to get back on my feet. I've started advocating for my brothers and sisters that are experiencing homelessness on May 8, 2025. I've submitted over 40 public comments in 16 months to the Board of County Commissioners, but it's not about me. It's about the people that are living on our streets that continue to make me a better person every single day. Homelessness was brought up a lot and highlighted a lot during our special use permit that came before you guys for the Starfish Project, and I truly wish it didn't have to be. I also want to thank our chief of police that was very meaningful and intentional with his presentation. I appreciate the breaking down and the explanation of the point in time count. I'm a part of the point in time count committee. I'm a part of the coordinated entry committee and the lived experience advisory board with UCS. The unhoused community are human beings. Human beings that life happened to, whether it's because of their own choices, things happening to them that they didn't deserve, or even and oftentimes a combination of both. At the end of the day, the homeless community and the unhoused community are still human beings. I really wish the several of you that spoke up and advocated for the Starfish Project didn't have to the way you did. I wish there was more unity and compassion within our community, our county, and our nation. And it's way too often that we all try to over-explain homelessness and the unhoused community and break it down to a human level. We walk, talk, drink, eat, breathe, and put our pants on the same way everyone else does. then the cost of housing in our cities, county, and nation continues to rise. With less stipulations, shorter conversations, and more direct, meaningful, and intentional planning discussions that produce positive outcomes, we can show true leadership in our city. We just need to start something. Everything isn't possible until it's done. And we have a great opportunity to show true leadership. And I'm asking to be a part of it. Thank you.

Casey Gwynn, please come to the podium and state your name and address for the record.

Hi, Mayor Bacon and members of the Council. I'm Casey Gwynn. I'm not from Olathe, Kansas. I'm actually from Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. But I'm honored to be the co-founder of Alliance for Hope International, which is one of the leading anti-domestic violence, anti-sexual assault organizations in the United States. We are the umbrella for what are called family justice centers across the United States and around the world. We've formed about 300 of these centers so far, where we bring together services for victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse, elder abuse, human trafficking, all under one roof to make it easy for survivors, adults, and kids to go one place to get all the help they need. We have centers in 45 states and 25 countries. But this week, we are beginning the planning for the first center in the state of Kansas here in Olathe and Johnson County. So I just wanted to say hello. I wanted to say a special thanks to Dr. Felter. I know you're joining us tomorrow for our two days of strategic planning. Oh, you are? Thank you so much, Ms. Essex. We appreciate it. We are so honored to have the support of such a committed group of leaders in Olathe and in Johnson County. Public safety. This is about public safety. It's about how you intervene and break generational cycles of violence and abuse. I grew up in a home impacted by violence and abuse, but I believe in divine appointments in life. And we created the first center in San Diego almost 30 years ago. And now this basic approach is moving all around the world. and we reduce homicides, we break generational cycles. I'm joined tonight by a number of people who are part of this. Katherine Johnson is our president and CEO at Alliance for Hope. She ran Family Justice Centers for 10 years in Greensboro, North Carolina. Sarah Shank is next to her as part of our Family Justice Center team. And many of you know Megan Ossins, who's a former Johnson County prosecutor and now a Douglas County prosecutor, and is really leading this effort with an amazing group of business leaders and other leaders. Steve Howe, the DA, is obviously very involved. Your police chief, Chief Butad, is very involved in this. And we have people coming together, more than 100 tomorrow, to create a vision for this center. So I just wanted to say thank you for your commitment to public safety here. We are going to create the first Family Justice Center in Kansas here, and I believe it'll be a model for the rest of the state in how we bring services together to break generational cycles of violence and abuse. Oprah Winfrey, when she endorsed this, said to me when I was on Oprah 20 years ago, I just changed the rest of your life, and I laughed at her. I thought, I have a life. I have a wife. I have kids. But she was right. Oprah's profile led George Bush to create a federal initiative that I ran for the Bush Justice Department for two years that launched this movement, not just in the United States, but around the world. And now we have bipartisan support for this approach everywhere we go. So thank you for your commitments to support public safety and to help us in this journey as we go forward. Thank you very much.

Craig Millard, please come to the podium and state your name and address for the record.

Good evening. My name is Greg Millard. I live at 11307 South Montclair Drive. I've been an Olathe resident since 1979. I'm actually on my third home here. We moved here when Olathe had a population of about 26,000. Merlin was paved only as far south as Sheridan and 151st Street was a dirt road. I've watched Citi grow over the years for nearly 50 years, and it's important that growth has to be smart. After my wife passed a few years ago, I downsized and chose my home on Montclair Drive very carefully. I chose it because it was quiet, stable, single-family neighborhood with green space and well-established residential character. Our neighborhood is zoned R1. These are all single-family, owner-occupied homes. I want you to understand that I don't oppose the development of the Sunnybrook property. I'm actually looking forward to the new Dillon's and the benefits that it will bring Olathe and our neighborhood. But I strongly oppose RZ260006 and the proposed 336-unit, three-story apartment complex that's going to sit directly adjacent to our R1 neighborhood. Let me be very clear. This is not simply a development. This is a major change in density, intensity, traffic, and character, and it's being placed directly next to established single-family neighborhoods. The three-story apartment buildings have their place but are fundamentally different from the homes that sit around and surround this property. The question before you is, can this property be rezoned? Well the question should be, Is it right to develop this density in this location? I believe the answer is no. And then there's the traffic. We're being asked to accept a traffic study that says the impact will not be significant enough to require additional lanes and redesigned intersections, but the full-service Dillon store isn't there. The 336 apartments are not there. An additional retail and office development is planned, but it's not there yet. How can you accurately judge the impact that the traffic will be looking at this project separately? With all of the additional traffic in and around that area, with the surrounding schools and churches, the city should evaluate the cumulative impact before approving this rezoning. I respectfully ask the council to deny that project as proposed and require complete evaluation before you make your decision. Please don't let one rezoning decision compromise an established neighborhood that's already been a great value as a part of Olathe for many years. Growth should strengthen our neighborhoods, not overwhelm them. Thank you very much.

Peter Marsh, please come to the podium and state your name and address for the record.

Don't start? Oh, nuts. Mayor, members of council, my name is Pete Marsh. I live at 11271 South Montclair Drive in Gatewood. Thank you for your time this evening. My comments are in regards to the zoning in the Sunnybrook development, which you will be voting on on September 15th. We have been Olathe residents for 26 years. Nine years ago, we bought our lot, built our home, knowing the land next door was zoned business park. We reasonably expected offices, commercial, and other BP-style uses already built or under development to be continued. We did not buy next to a three-story apartment complex. The staff report and planning commission presentation that you will be looking at on September 15th do not accurately describe the neighborhood you are being asked to change. Gatewood is a single-family neighborhood. It is not mixed residential. Listing under the umbrella mixed residential or R1, RP3 with duplexes misstates what is actually on the ground west of this site. That error is not a small labeling issue. Staff treated the south edge of this project as needing transition. Page 8 of the staff report cites six townhomes as a complementary buffer from the apartments to the single-family homes to the south. There is no comparable treatment in the report of Gatewood to the west. Staff has already conceded that townhomes are an appropriate buffer to single-family housing. Gatewood is single-family housing. If this project is approved, we should receive the same treatment. Elevation issues makes the whole proposal worse. At the Planning Commission meeting, staff could not give specifics to line of sight concerns. I have walked the site with an elevation app and a measuring wheel. My driveway is 1,005 feet. My backyard ground level patio is 995 feet. 60 feet east of the creek is 1,000 feet. 140 feet east into the development zone is 1,010. Halfway to the proposed site, moving towards the ridge, is about 1,019 feet. That is 14 to 24 foot rise from our homes. This is supposed to be a three-story development. Three stories on that ridge will read as a four or five-story structure. From our homes, that is not a minor visual detail. That is massing against an existing single-family neighborhood. You should not be asked to rezone on a recommendation that, one, mischaracterizes the west neighborhood, two, omits a west side buffer the city already treats as appropriate elsewhere on the project, and three, leaves the elevation concerns unanswered. We have emailed each of you with photos of what that looks like from our backyard. Don't be deceived because the trees are there with the leaves. Those go away, you know, in the wintertime and when you can see what we'll be looking at. We would welcome development in a way that fits with what is already working in the area and still advances Elevate Olathe objectives. Owner-occupied townhomes, attached villas, or similar products under a strong HOA accomplish these objectives with the added benefit of ownership because ownership is what builds long-term residency and long-term residency is what builds a neighborhood. Please do not approve the apartments as proposed. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. That's all I had. Is that correct? Thanks for all our speakers tonight. We'll now move to a planning session, to convene a planning session. We have two reports. Report one is a report of the 2025 External Financial Audit and Annual Comprehensive Financial Report. Is there any questions on that or need for presentation? We'll then move to report number two, which is a report regarding proposed amendments to the Title VI of the Olathe Municipal Code adopting the 2025 Johnson County Environmental Sanitary and Aquatic Health Codes. So just a little brief explanation of this. I did read in the report that this is necessary for us to, or for the county, to... I GUESS INSPECT OR INSIDE THE CITY. SO IF WE DON'T ADOPT THESE CODES, THEN THE COUNTY'S HEALTH AND WHOEVER ENFORCES THOSE RULES WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO DO IT INSIDE CITY LIMITS. IS THAT CORRECT, BOB?

GOOD EVENING, MAYOR, CITY COUNCIL, BOB GALLAMORE, ASSISTANT CITY ATTORNEY. THAT'S CORRECT, MAYOR. WE HAVE THESE CODES CURRENTLY ADOPTED. I THINK WE LAST ADOPTED THEM IN 2004. THEY WERE A SINGLE CODE AT THAT POINT. Johnson County updated them a couple of years ago. They went into effect in 2025 for the county, but now for us to keep current with their latest version, we have to readopt their updated version so that we continue to use the current version of the county code.

What do you suspect would be the largest impact on Olathe residents from this? Is it stuff we already do? for the most part?

Yes. I think that Ryan Otter told me that the sanitary part of the code, which governs private sewage, is essentially unchanged. The major changes occur in the aquatic code, which apply to public and semi-public swimming pools, aquatic facilities. And he said that the changes there mainly allow the city to implement greater regulations on its part. So it gives the city a little more room to regulate. But that's just for our facilities. It really isn't for HOA or private pools, correct? They would apply to HOA pools as semi-public pools.

Okay.

But they would not apply to a backyard pool. That would be a purely private pool. Okay.

That's all the questions I had, Bob. Thank you. Any other questions? Okay. Then we'll move to discussion items. We have one item under discussion. It's a discussion on the Santa Fe Ridge Vita Merlin Improvements Project PN3-C-025-18. Teresa Bink, Assistant City Engineer, joins us for a presentation. Welcome, Teresa. Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor and City Council. My name is Teresa Vink, and I'm the Assistant City Engineer. I am here tonight to talk to you about the I-35 Santa Fe Forward Project and the aesthetic aspects that we have included in the scope of that project. In July, I came and presented to you all about kind of a little bit of a debrief on the scope and the schedule and the phasing of that project, and I'm happy to answer any follow-up questions if you all have any of those tonight as well. But today I wanted to bring you an overview of the aesthetics that we do have included in this project to date. So we're going to be talking tonight about the interchange aesthetics, the median layouts, median landscaping, and lighting. And while this interchange is not a gateway into Olathe, like 119th and I-35 or 159th Street and I-35 are, this interchange is a focal point for Olathe and a transition into the downtown area. So as we move through this presentation, you will see key pieces that tie into those gateway interchanges and also to the downtown area as it stands today. The aesthetics of this project are really focusing on the experience of the driver and the pedestrian as they move along Santa Fe. So we really want them, we really want the focal point of this to be on Santa Fe itself and not on the experience of I-35 as you drive underneath Santa Fe. So as a reminder, this is being constructed as a single point urban interchange, which is similar to 87th and I-35. And the big, the focal point of an interchange like that really is the truss structure and the signal that is in the middle as all of the traffic unites at that signal. So really the truss structure is the focal point and the large decorative wave that you can see on that truss structure continues down on the truss supports on either side. And those truss supports bring that element down into the pedestrian aspect of the design here. You can see that there is the double helix fencing on the bridge barriers. That matches the fencing that is on 119th Street over the railroad at the interchange and also that will be installed on the 119th Street bridges over BNSF, the new portion of 119th Street. The brick portions of the medians, the pattern that you see on those brick portions, that mimics the pattern of the downtown streetscape, and so it really ties this bridge into those elements that are present here in the downtown as well. So heavy landscaping also provides an added experience for both vehicles and pedestrians as they move through this space.

Looking a little bit closer,

at the decorative truss supports. It's kind of hard to depict on this visual here, but if you look at the figure of the person walking underneath the truss structure, you can kind of see and feel the scale of just how large that's going to be. So it really will be a very large and impactful element that people will be walking through as they pass over this bridge. The truss supports house the perforated metal panels on either side that provide an additional artistic element to this space. And again, as you can see with the double helix fencing and the decorative brick patterns on the pavers, it really ties in those elements to other areas throughout Olathe. This is a view from the interstate. As I mentioned before, we really want the experience to be up on Santa Fe, but we wanted to tie those elements into what you're seeing on the interstate as well. So that wave pattern is continued on these retaining walls and these bridge abutments. As you continue along the interstate, you get that same feel with the decorative brick facade and the wave pattern throughout these retaining walls. Moving on to the median landscaping, this is just kind of an overview of where our medians will be located throughout this project. Everything that is the heavy dash black line will be medians along Santa Fe and along the side streets. So again, with kind of creating the interchange itself as the focal point, we really wanted to... focus on the medians that are on the interchange bridge itself and adjacent to the interchange. So everything that is shown outlined in red is where we will really be focusing our heavy landscaping and our full decorative medians. And then the remainder of the medians that are shown will be more towards the Olathe standard of trees if they're wide enough, grass, and small plantings. This is giving you an idea of what those heavy landscaped medians will look like. So any medians that are 18 feet wide, we will be able to plant trees. Anything that is more narrow than that, we will not. So you kind of get both aspects here that you can see. And the wave pattern continues through the planting beds, and then the decorative brick pattern continues along these medians as well. Moving on to give you a little glimpse of what the interchange can look like at night. The flood lighting inside the truss supports will create a real focal point for the pedestrians. And then the rope lighting underneath the barrier caps will kind of guide them through, guide them along the route as they move across the bridge. Looking at the interchange from the perspective of the interstate, we really are highlighting the column lighting and then the flood lighting within that trust support will kind of be a little focal point as well. But again, as a reminder, we really wanted the experience to be up on top of the Santa Fe Bridge within Olathe as opposed to the experience on the interchange itself. So as a summary of what we've discussed this evening, we will have the large decorative signal truss and the truss supports, and those really will provide the focal point on the bridge itself. We have the double helix wave fencing that matches 119th Street. We have the decorative brick patterns on the median islands that tie this interchange into the downtown streetscape. The heavy landscaping and the decorative brick adjacent to the interchange. And then the lighting that's focused on the experience along Santa Fe with the heavy pedestrian experience accentuating the columns and the brickwork. And then the lighting from I-35 with the downlighting under the column caps and also the floodlights inside of the truss supports. With that, I'll leave you with the overview of the proposed interchange and answer any questions that you have.

Thank you, Teresa. Council Member Bacchus. Thank you, Mayor. Thanks, Teresa. This is a super presentation. And in my opinion, it looks great. Thank you. And the single point urban interchange sure makes sense. I like it. You know, as I envision I-35 and A-7, that's overwhelming. And this is too. You know, I mean, it will be. It looks great here on paper on a small screen, but in reality, it's going to be pretty overwhelming. Do we envision... bicycle traffic on the sidewalks?

So bicycles will be accommodated. There will be the 10-foot sidewalk on the north side of the bridge, and then there will be the 5-foot sidewalk on the south side of the bridge.

Okay. So bicyclists could be on the streets themselves, but at their own risk, realistically, this will really want them to be on the sidewalk.

It will.

Okay. Are the beautiful landscape, is it irrigated?

Yes and no. Some of it will be irrigated and some of it will be standard drip line.

Okay. So a drip line. So there will be water.

There will be water in the medians, yes. Okay.

Because, I mean, what we know is this is full sun. And this beautiful landscape plant will look great if it's got adequate water. But if it doesn't, you know, in nine months it's going to look shabby.

Correct.

And what we don't want to do is pay all this money and not really maintain it to be lush.

Mm-hmm.

Okay, and you are assuring me that we have enough water planned to handle that?

Yes, these islands will be irrigated.

Okay, so you mentioned that this was not a gateway to Olathe. Explain to me, what makes 119th a gateway and this not a gateway?

119th Street and then on the north and then 159th Street on the south are really the first interchanges that get you into Olathe.

Okay. So we're in the city here, so I got you. Okay. Okay. Good. Thanks very much. I appreciate that. Absolutely. Thank you.

Council Member Schoonover.

Thank you very much, and great presentation. I was going to pull on a thread very similar to what Council Member Vakas was asking about, and that's the heavy pedestrian element associated with that, with this project. Can you walk us through, because I'm this looks great, I wanna accommodate those folks that do need to walk and obviously we need to, or be on their bike and have a safe way to do that. But I'm also not certain that we need to encourage folks walking along Santa Fe and I-35 in that area. If I'm thinking of what it exists now and then also like 87th Street, I just, I can't imagine that that's going to be, I mean, I know we'll make it as safe as we can, but certainly the safer option would be to not walk there.

Sure. So currently there is pedestrian accommodations across Santa Fe, and that is what we are ultimately and simply, that's what we are providing with this design as well. We are just providing a safer way for them to do that and a more beautiful way for them to do it.

We're not trying to increase.

We are not trying to increase pedestrian traffic. We are simply providing a safe method for them to get across that happens to be a lot prettier than it is today.

Excellent. Excellent. I notice in this slide, it says the decorative brick paving to match downtown Olathe. How far will this brick paving go? We're not going to redo all of the sidewalks to downtown, right?

No. So with this project, it will continue to Ridgeview. Currently, the downtown streetscape took the decorative brick paving to Kansas City Road, and this project will take it to Santa Fe and Ridgeview.

Okay. And eventually, one day in the future, maybe if there's money sometime, we could connect the two. Okay. My final question has to do with, I guess, left turn access. Okay. It looks like we're going to end up restricting some of that access with some of these new medians, perhaps now where you can try, I guess, if you're going west on Santa Fe, we have more left turn access to those buildings or those businesses, I guess, that are on the south side and on the north side. We're getting rid of some of that.

We are. So a big portion of this project is safety. And one way to accommodate a safer corridor is to control the access points. So that's really what we're doing with kind of closing off that median, as well as closing off and cul-de-sacking some of those side streets with the proximity to the interchange. We really need to pull those access points as far away as we can. And so that's what we're trying to accomplish with closing off that median and getting those folks down to the signalized intersection where they can more safely move through there at Ridgeview Road.

So they, I guess they would, would they do it? You mentioned cul-de-sac and would they do a U-turn at Ridgeview or are we going to push them on park and have them go?

They'll have the option to do both.

They'll have, okay. Mm-hmm. Is there any plan to, I guess if we're pushing more traffic on Ridgeview and Park right there, which already can back up, is there any plan to do any type of stop or anything there? Not as part of this project, there is not.

Okay.

Thank you very much. Yes.

Council Member Denault. Thank you, Mayor. Along the same lines, thinking about pedestrians, I was actually thinking, you know, with Santa Fe being kind of in the middle, and we do have a lot of east-west traffic, including people who do want to walk and bike, we might... How long is... This bridge structure meant, how long is it going to last? When would we then replace it again? 50 years?

The life cycle of a typical bridge is about 50 years before you have to do major maintenance on it. We do design this for a, what did we design it out to the year? 2040 with the traffic counts. When we originally started in 2018, we modeled it for 2040 traffic counts.

Okay. So with it being that long, I'm wondering if we have more people right now who are wanting to walk and bike, may need to walk and bike, that are going to want to walk across Santa Fe, that maybe we should make sure, make it more inviting, make it have better buffers, make it... safer. So those are where my questions are. One of them I had was, are we talking about increasing the width of the sidewalks all the way Merlin, all the way to Ridgeview?

Yes. So we will have a 10-foot sidewalk from Ridgeview to Merlin on the north side and then a five-foot sidewalk on the south side.

Fantastic. I love the design. I think it looks really, really great. It's not final by any means, right? Right. So I would be very curious to see what additional measures could be done to make it calm traffic more, make it feel more safe to pedestrians and things like that. Because I do think there are a lot of people who are going to want to walk and bike across. Sure. I'm not sure I would want to encourage them not to, but maybe we can make it to where the people who, kids with bikes and trailers and strollers might feel more comfortable doing so.

Yeah, so one of the things that we did take into consideration with this design, and you can see up on the exhibit here, we pulled the sidewalks as far away from those driving lanes as we could. So you do have a fair amount of separation with that brick ribbon, and then also some landscaping between the pedestrian and the driver as well. So as much as we could through the corridor, we did offset that sidewalk as far as we could to provide that separation and that distance and that feeling of safety.

Sounds good. I do have a question that Nate might be able to answer. And this is, you know, we know how busy it is. With this finally done, it's going to be way more appealing. It's, I think, going to give everyone a much better feel driving through it. But I noticed the speed limit is, what, 35kmph? I believe, on Santa Fe?

I believe it's 35 between downtown and the interstate. I think it increases to the east. And I don't know that we have any intention of changing the speed limit with this project.

Yeah, I remember driving through and it's 35, but I see many people often driving faster. And so my question was going to be, what part of the aesthetics or landscaping or something could naturally create calming that helps people to slow down? And is that something you're thinking about incorporating to encourage more following the speed limit, for example?

Sure. Good question. I don't know that any of the landscaping or medians are going to act as a speed reducer. I just think that the traffic itself and that it is going to be safer will provide people to get through there on a more reliable basis. So a lot of people kind of get... upset or agitated in traffic, so they tend to speed up and go faster. So I think if we give them a better experience, that may actually help calm the traffic a little bit through the corridor.

Okay. Well, thank you. Look forward to future conversations and where we go with this. Thank you. Council Member Creighton.

Thank you. Pretty much everything I was thinking of has already been said, but I do want to compliment that I do like the way that we're incorporating useful elements into aesthetics. I don't want to sound anti-artwork, but I would much rather have these very nice RATHER THAN CHAIN LINK FENCES FOR PEDESTRIAN SAFETY, THAT WE DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT. THEN A SCULPTURE, AND THAT'S MAYBE A CONVERSATION FOR ANOTHER DAY OF HOW MUCH WE SPEND ON, YOU KNOW, PUBLIC PROJECT FOR ART. AGAIN, I'M NOT OPPOSED TO IT, BUT, YOU KNOW, AT A TIME WHEN BUDGET IS on our mind. Just kind of wanted to get that out there. So thank you for making the elements useful. And as long as we're on aesthetics, I'm going to beat the same drum because I keep hearing it from residents. Over the next four years, there's going to be a lot of work. Let's do everything we can to mitigate the I'm going to try to say it very not so bluntly. Let's just say let's not make it look like a truck stop. We've got box trucks and semis parked. And as I was driving here tonight, there was a lot of velvetweed coming up. And I spent a lot of time as a kid walking beans before herbicides were used. And I spent hours chopping those out. And I could hear my grandpa rolling over in his grave saying, Jeff, you better do something about those. So I just, my comment that, we need to, while in the meantime, let's do what we can to make this look as nice as possible until we're done.

Absolutely.

So anyway, thank you for letting me harp on that again. Council Member Felder.

Thank you, Mayor. Teresa, this is great. I love seeing the pretty stuff, the zhuzhing up of the project. The metal components, the railing, it's going to be different than what we have on 127th overpass that's chipping off in college where we're seeing the paint chip off, right?

Yes. I mean, it is a different design element. These are going to be the dipped galvanized steel. Sorry, these are aluminum fencing, but I'm not sure what the material is on 127th Street.

So 127th Street, I think it's painted on. These will be powder coated, so the paint on it should last a lot longer and weather better than what you're seeing on 127th Street.

Okay. And College also has, right before Woodland, over the train tracks, it's chipping. It looks terrible. Is that the same scenario there as well?

This should last longer than that does as well. Okay.

Yeah. If we could eventually fix those, I'd love to see that done because they're nice rails. It's just they're wearing out. I love the plantings. It's beautiful. I like the incorporation of pedestrian and biking traffic because... even though we're Olathe and it's hot or cold and kind of extreme, we do have people walking. I mean, we had Brian talk today about experiencing homelessness. And so I'm sensitive to that as well. And I like seeing the barriers and, making it safer as well. So, Teresa, you mentioned the last presentation that we could harken back to that. If you don't mind me taking us back to the 119th exit ramps. I missed that presentation. It's the one meeting I've missed in a long time. I was surprised to hear that component added on, and I didn't hear any dialogue about it. Is that a new piece for KDOT, adding on 119th and closing some lanes there?

So, yes, the southbound, the work on the southbound exit ramp at 119th is a piece that was added after the fact. What they're trying to do is fix that turning movement, that left turning movement on the inside lane to be able to accommodate semi trucks. They're just going to widen out that barrier. And it's only going to be the closure of that. I guess you would consider it the inside left turn lane.

Okay, and northbound 119th, it has a closure also, right?

Northbound 119th, they're reconstructing some of that pavement to tie into the new auxiliary lane.

Yeah, I don't think a lot of people realize that. So the more we can communicate about that, the better, because it's heavily trafficked.

The state of Kansas is going to have another public meeting closer to when they start construction, so we will be able to get that information out another time as well.

Very good. Thank you so much. Absolutely. Council Member Schoonover.

Thank you, and I'm sorry for the follow-up. But I think earlier you mentioned that we've designed this for 2040. Yes.

That was what we did our traffic study for back when we started the project.

Does that mean, I just want to make sure, does that mean that in 2040 we think this will be a capacity? No.

It's going to last us at least through 2040. That was our minimum design standard.

Okay. Good deal. Sorry. Council Member Essex.

Thank you, Mayor. This is beautiful. I am so excited to see it. Now, it looks so simple to do such an important task of directing traffic. 119th, I mean, I was expecting to see all these, you know, turn in front here and left over here. And that looks like we won't be confusing as many drivers, which I love the design. And as much as I love the topic of 119th Street lighted bridge... on next door, good or bad or ugly. Is there going to be any lighting on this bridge that is going to match 119th or we're just going to leave it simple with the floodlights?

The plan right now is to just leave it simple and not to match those elements of 119th Street to really make a separation between the two.

Okay. Nice. Thanks.

Thank you, Teresa. I would say it looks very nicely done, not overly done. So I think it's very tasteful. I echo some of the comments of trying to make maybe some more barriers for pedestrians if we can and give them a little more safer space. I don't know, maybe you could just extend out some of that underneath the columns, some of that barrier to maybe make a little more space. It's appear to be a little more safe for pedestrians. And then at night, I'm okay with not fancy, you know, dancing lights and things like that. But as much as you can light up the pedestrian walkways, I think would be helpful. Just so it's not dark. You know, the one of the current... crossing that we have now over I-35. It's pretty dark at night. We did put one light, which helps a lot. So I just, as much as we can put electricity to things, so if we want to add lights, we can later on. We don't have to have...

So what's really difficult to kind of show on this exhibit is we do also have all of the street lighting and the lighting on that truss. It's very difficult to show on an exhibit like this since we really wanted to kind of

But there will be more downlights. But there will be more downlights, yep.

You can kind of see all the streetlights kind of in the background there. They've just been muted in this exhibit. But there will be a standard lit street as well.

Great. And with LEDs, you can do so much more nowadays than we could 30 years ago.

And I misspoke earlier. The design year was 2050. Our design engineer texted me. He's apparently watching.

Yeah.

So the brick veneer, you know, I just don't want to have things start popping off because of our freeze-throw off. We have water that might creep in behind some of it. What kind of safeguards are we having so the brick veneer is not going to pop off in five years?

So it's actually a brick form liner. Okay. And it will be constructed like we construct all of our retaining walls.

And then stained?

And then stained. Oh, perfect. Yes.

Yeah, that eliminates that issue. All right. Well, it looks great. I think you're coming back with some more vinyl designs at some point. Oh, let's talk about the big thing here that we haven't talked about. And this is the first time I think I've seen it. We're saving the state $75 million. they pledged $140 million to this project, and now the state's contribution is $65 million. How did we do that?

Where did that information?

That is in the accounts agenda item. It talks about the state of Kansas, $65 million. It's on page, our page 770.

Okay, so.

That's a major, major savings to the state of Kansas.

the budget that's outlined right here is the original budget when we authorized this project only included the I-35 interchange work and the auxiliary lanes. When we applied for the grant, we added scope to the project and KDOT increased their funding. So what you can see here with the KDOT state and the KDOT federal, both of those are KDOT money and the grant funding is not shown on this

So the grant, the $100 million from the federal is not included?

It's an addition to this money right here.

Okay. Yes. All right. Well, that's okay. I missed that. All right. Thank you. Absolutely. All right. Thank you. I don't see any other questions. Good presentation. Thank you very much for your time. We'll now move to additional items. I'll start on my right. Council Member Dinnall. Thank you, Mayor.

You know, what is it? It's now September. Construction, road construction has been going a little bit. I wanted to thank infrastructure because now we're starting to see some of those projects this summer wrap up and it's been really great to get to drive on some new pavement. So appreciate it. Keep doing all the good work.

Council Member Essex.

Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to make a comment that I'm sure many have already seen on our social media sites. All of you BNSF fans who have been talking about issues with trains, we have a grant from the Federal Rail Administration. Super excited. We want your opinion on what you think this should look like or how this grant money should be used. And if you go to OlatheKansas.gov backslash railroad, you can see when the in-person engagement events are and give us your opinion on that. We've been waiting for many years for this. So I'm excited to see us inch forward just a little bit more. And I would be remiss if I didn't talk about how proud I am of Kevin Joles, who was actually recently promoted to international, trying to find my notes on this, IAFM. Chief. What is it called? The International Association of Fire Chiefs. I knew it. I knew it. He's going to represent Olathe at the international level now for EMS section. And I'm super excited to have him represent us at the international level for EMS. So congratulations. Please pass that on to Kevin for me. Thank you.

Council Member Vakis. Thank you, Mayor. First of all, I wanted to thank Mr. Perkins for speaking tonight. Appreciate your comments. And second, I look forward to cooler weather. Thank you.

Council Member Felter. Council Member Schoonover.

Thank you, Mayor. Just a couple of quick items. First is I want to thank all of our city staff that's out working in the heat on the infrastructure projects, on our public works, everything doing outside during these hot days to help keep the city running. So certainly thanks to the staff that does not get to enjoy air conditioning during the day. The second thing I wanted to say is September is National Suicide Awareness and Prevention Month. So just a reminder for everybody to check in with their friends and loved ones and just see how things are going.

Council Member Creighton.

Nothing this evening, Mayor. Thank you.

City Manager Susan Sherman. Anything? I've got one quick reminder that we're holding the public hearing for the city's 2027 budget next week, 5.30 p.m. right here in the council chambers at City Hall. You can email or call the city clerk's office to sign up to speak, or you can just show up if you'd like to address the council on our budget. The council will then vote on the budget at our regular meeting September the 15th. You can read all of the budget documents if you need something to do. and see the calendar on our website at olathekiss.gov forward slash budget. And I would just like to thank everyone who's taken the time to give us input on this important, one of the most important things we do every year, and your input's very important. It's a very important part of the process. So just a reminder about that upcoming activity. And so at this time, I want to thank everyone for being here tonight. We are adjourned.