OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — A debate over what to do what Stanley Nature Park in Johnson County is getting some people who use the park riled up. The say it’s a unique spot where you feel like you’re lost in nature even though you’re basically in a city so they don’t want to lose it.
Julie Dierickx goes to Stanley Nature Park for the quiet.
“It’s pretty, there’s some streams with water running,” Dierickx. “I often run into deer. I’ve seen a fox running through.”
Mark Hanson says it’s his daily get away also. He often visits the park with his dog Sophie.
“It’s just a great place to come and run or bring your dog,” Hanson said.
The park could soon turn into a sports fields for Blue Valley High School which is next door.
“Currently softball players all have to go offsite in order to go have practice,” said Al Hanna, Blue Valley Deputy Superintendent. “Our parking continues to be a problem for the building.”
Blue Valley Deputy Superintendent Al Hanna says the district’s first high school was built before there were girl’s high school sports or soccer so the school doesn’t have enough fields. He says it’s the perfect 40 acre space near the school and it’s one the Parks Department might not miss.
In exchange the district is offering to give 60 acres of land to Johnson County Parks and Rec in the southern part of the county. That land could become stream way parks or trails along creeks.
Deputy Superintendent Hanna says if the district takes control of the nature park, a portion of it will remain just a nature space for students to learn.
