ShawneeDispatch.com

A proposed plan for the Johnson County Library system would move the Johnson County Museum of History from Shawnee to Overland Park.

At the July 21 meeting of the Johnson County Library Board, a plan was presented to merge the museum with the library system and move it to a proposed Johnson County Family Cultural Center in Overland Park. Mona Carmack, county librarian, and Mindi Love, museum director, formulated the plan.

The board approved the concept of the plan, which would create a cultural center at an estimated cost of $26.4 million at the current Oak Park Library site, 9500 Bluejacket Road. It calls for space for a youth library, community art center, museum and 250-seat auditorium. Love said she and Carmack saw a need for this kind of center in the community and cooperation between the libraries and museum.

"We've really been talking about it for the last four to five months, but the idea for a cultural center has been around for a long time," Love said.

The proposed location for the cultural center will probably cause the most contention. The plan calls for the Oak Park Library to be razed, leaving 140,000 square feet for a 75,000-square-foot parking lot and a multi-level, 80,350-square-foot cultural center.

"We've both realized that there are things about the current location of the museum and the Oak Park Library, that both need more space or a refocus in their program," Love said.

Love said moving the museum would be good because it is not very visible or centrally located in the county. The museum and its 1950s All-Electric Home are currently located at 6305 Lackman Road, Shawnee.

"The location is one issue, but the other issue is we have about 20,000 square feet, and we're pretty much maxed out," Love said. "At this facility, there's no room to expand."

Love said the museum has attempted to purchase the empty land to the east and south of the museum several times but has not been successful. The new cultural center plans call for 39,000 square feet for the museum.

Carmack provided a tentative estimated timetable for the project, showing that after allowing for the planning and design of the center, construction could begin in May 2006 and the center could open in September or November of 2007.

No funding has been identified for the cultural center, but some funding could come from the Heritage Trust Fund, which funds the museum.

The plan was to be presented to the Johnson County Museum Advisory Council at a meeting Friday night, but the meeting was postponed until noon Thursday, Aug. 5 at the museum. It will be open to the public. The Board of County Commissioners must also approve the plan, and the Overland Park Planning Commission must approve the site.

Linda Leeper, president of the Shawnee Area Chamber of Commerce, said she was not aware of the situation until Monday, after returning from vacation, and could not fully comment. She said if the museum were to leave, it would significantly decrease visitor traffic in the city. Love said the museum had about 19,500 visitors last year.

"We would be very disappointed to lose it," Leeper said. "We obviously would prefer not to lose any of our attractions in Shawnee, because they bring in visitors from other cities."

Tracy Thomas, former Shawnee City Council member, said she plans to go to the City Council and ask them to remove Love from the Convention and Tourism Committee, of which Love is chairman.

Thomas said a committee member should not be someone who is trying to move her organization out of Shawnee.