Plans for bike park near Shawnee sports complexes move forward

Plans to develop a park in Shawnee aimed at cyclists received unanimous approval from the city council.

On May 12, the Shawnee City Council approved a roughly $329,000 contract with a local design firm to create a master plan and market analysis study for the proposed 170-acre Rail Creek Park project. The vote was 8-0.

The city council approved the contract with the Kansas City-based Vireo LLC to start work on the nine-month project. It was previously budgeted at $500,000 as part of the city’s 2025 Capital Improvement Program.

The park, which would be located at 6103 Woodland Dr., has been on the city’s radar for the past five years. Plans for it have been included in both the 2020 Parks and Recreation Master Plan and the 2021 Achieve Shawnee Comprehensive Plan. The area on Woodland Drive is currently used by bike riders and groups like Donderdag Youth Cycle Clinics.

“(It’s) a park that will not only serve our residents in the Kansas City Metro Area, (but will also) create a destination park for cyclists and adventure-loving travelers in the Midwest and even nationally,” said Tonya Lecuru, Shawnee’s parks and recreation director.

The city is seeking public input for the park

As part of its agreement with the city, Vireo will conduct market analysis, including site evaluation, workshops and focus groups with community stakeholders, and public listening sessions, as well as conducting an economic impact analysis and feasibility study.

Vireo will also create a master plan for the park, including a site plan, two architectural concepts, phasing diagram, revenue projections and a funding master plan.

During public comments at the city council meeting earlier this month, Melissa Sabin, a parent of a child with disabilities, said she was grateful residents will be involved to give their input.

“I think that is needed, and if you guys could just publicize (community engagement events) and really, just get people involved, I know I have a whole community of people who would love to share some best practices or some inputs, at the very least,” she said.

Final plan could be approved early next year

With the city council’s contract with Vireo, a timeline is set for the park process, including:

• May — June: Background phase, including the start of the project, site tour for Vireo and review of previous documents
• June — August: Site studies phase, including Vireo analyzing the site and data, conducting visioning workshops and market analysis
• September — October:  Master Plan refinement, with 60% of the master plan documents reviewed
• November — December: Draft Master Plan, with 90% of the master plan document reviewed
• January — February 2026: Final Master Plan for Council Approval, with 100% master plan documents for review and a presentation made to the city council.

City council showed support

Before voting, several city councilmembers had questions about funding.

Councilmember Kurt Knappen wanted to be sure that what the city council was approving was only for the first phase of the plan, which City Manager Paul Kramer affirmed.

“I just wanted to confirm that we’ll have the ability to discuss (the project) and decide as we go along,” Knappen said.

Agreeing with Knappen’s clarifying question, Councilmember Mike Kemmling wanted to be sure he wasn’t committing to multiple phases of the project.

“I kind of had some similar reservations just because of how large this was. But I think just this step here, taking a look, seeing what we’re going to be in for (is good), as long as this doesn’t commit us to the larger scope,” he said.

Other councilmembers, like Jacklynn Walters, praised the first phase of the project for coming in under budget.

“I know there’s some excitement around this project and even the potential of what it could draw to our city,” she said. “I appreciate that it’s coming in a little under proposed $500,000 budget, so I’m thankful for that, and thank you (Tonya) for your hard work.”

Residents expressed excitement for project

During the comment section of the discussion, several Shawnee residents, including those involved with the Donderdag youth cycling group, said they were excited to see it move forward.

Already training kids at the site of the proposed park, Donald Jonas, Jr., executive director of Donderdag, said it’s been a good piece of land for kids to bike on.

“It’s got humans thriving and living and growing on it, having a great time,” he said.

A father of a child that went through the Donderdag program, Randy Braley said he was excited for the potential the park has.

“This will be a canvas for cyclocross and cyclers to use, but it will also be a green space for the rest of the community to use, engage and interact,” Braley said.

Ultimately, Jonas said the park should get more people outside to enjoy nature.

“When you put up bike trails and bike spaces and bike areas for your citizens, you end up with a lot of people that get outdoors more,” he said. “If you do it right, like the city and the chamber of commerce and the parks department is here in Shawnee … It’s really a beautiful and wonderful thing.”

More Shawnee news: Work to make downtown Shawnee more walkable set to wrap up soon. What can pedestrians expect?