All agree that over the next 20 years, Olathe will continue to grow in population and land area. How it will grow should be the result of a thoughtful analysis of the choices and consequences. The decisions made on where and how growth occurs, and what the growth looks like, will affect the long-term quality of life and prosperity of our City.
A great deal of thorough, thoughtful work went into creating the community’s strategic long-term vision to help guide the city’s long-term growth, known as the “Comprehensive Plan”, which was originally adopted in 1997. Through this careful planning, Olathe has successfully accomplished several goals outlined in the existing comprehensive plan:
Attract high quality growth, becoming more economically diverse, and achieve a balance of all types of land uses;
Set forth a process to keep present and future citizens informed of the trends in this ever-changing City;
Obtain sufficient revenues to support important community services;
Support the City’s efforts to obtain an efficient transportation network, excellent educational and
recreational facilities, quality shopping and employment opportunities, and a variety of housing options;
Encourage aesthetically pleasing development and redevelopment throughout the community; and
Set forth a vision for a future that is progressive, aggressive, and upscale.
The next step is to update the vision for Olathe through a methodical Comprehensive Plan amendment process called PlanOlathe based on new needs, insights gained from the past 11 years, the ongoing challenges of effectively managing growth, and citizen concerns. Olathe is a community that continues to be interested in supporting good urban form, and balancing the wishes of individual citizens with the realities of maintaining and enhancing the living environment of the community. Many elements of the existing plan are still relevant today, so the update will build on these strengths.
Amendments to the existing plan will focus on the following attributes:
Carefully create an updated and visionary planning document;
Review existing policies and tools to analyze their effectiveness towards achieving an updated vision for the community;
Look ahead for new opportunities;
Revisit the past to identify areas that need improvement;
Create a refined future land use plan that identifies the short- and long-term desires of the community;
Identify market demand for the City and the region, and establish an understanding of how these forces influence land use decisions and housing; and
Create an implementation plan that includes both physical and policy recommendations to support the update.
The Comprehensive Plan amendment will build upon recent planning efforts, such as the:
2003 Downtown Plan
2003 Strategic Plan
2006 Transportation Master Plan
2006 Parks & Recreation Master Plan
2008 Buildout Study
Recent corridor and area plans (K-7 Corridor, Woodland Road Corridor, Coffee Creek, Lone Elm Vicinity)