Olathe Strategic Planning

[StL_Dan]

I was invited to attend a Strategic Planning Committee (SPC) session last night at the Olathe City Hall.

The City of Olathe, with the help of the SPC, has developed an introductory list of items important to the future of Olathe. This list of items are being prioritized and goals are being set to help shape what the City wants to be by the year 2020.

With some general and specific issues in mind as a result of bantering with other posters on this board, I walked into this meeting with a few things on my mind.

The strategic plan for Olathe is created and developed entirely by citizens of Olathe who then finalize, through a series of edits throughout the year, a draft to be presented to a steering committee who then make suggestions to the city council for implementation, budgeting, planning, etc. to accomplish the strategic plan.

All five or six members of the SPC, invitees such as myself that have expressed interest in participating in local government and four or five facilitators were in attendance at this meeting. In total, there were probably 40 people there.

We were asked to review the current draft of items as prepared by the SPC. Then we were to write down and verbalize what items we thought were not on the list that were important to us, indicate what items were on the right track, incomplete and/or downright stupid.

Some of the main topics were:

Transportation - i.e. railroad infrastructure, 127th St overpass of I-35, etc
Services (including Administration) - waste water, snow removal, city council, etc
Economic Stability - budgeting, financing of projects, generating revenue, etc.
Public Safety - self explanatory
Community Active Life - P&R, trails, community center proposals, etc.
Downtown Olathe - redevlopment, emminent domain, etc.

The meeting lasted two hours. At the end of that time, much discussion was heard and many more edits to the initial plans were suggested and posted to the lists with handwritten post it notes.

One of the things I've heard on this board, as it relates to the amazing population growth of Olathe (and JoCo) is this - does either entity have a master plan for growth or a way of knowing how the city will grow and how the city will plan for this growth over the next 5, 10, 15 and 20 years.

I asked this specific question after the meeting. Apparently, an in depth study answering these questions has been completed and is available to whoever asks. I asked and should receive that information within a week or two. I'll be sure to share that info here with you.

Additionally, I asked and suggested Olathe increase it's public awareness in the area of becoming more of a dyamic member of the KC Metro and less of an isolationistic community that does not readily identify with the Greater KC area.

I'm interested to see how this comment will be incorporated into the next edit.

Well, needless to say, I'm in over my head, but am satisified that there is an organized, well thought out process in place to "grow" Olathe with a specific goal in mind.

I plan to be involved in this process during the remainder of the year and will provide updates as they become available.

Type to you soon,
Dan