A typical Comprehensive Plan outlines the existing conditions of the City, describes future goals and objectives for development, and includes an action plan on how to achieve these goals and objectives. The plan also tests growth scenarios and establishes future land uses. The new Lenexa Comprehensive Plan will address:

• Community Vision, Goals and Objectives
• Land Use and Development
• Housing and Neighborhoods
• Economic Development
• Transportation and Mobility
• Community Facilities and Infrastructure
• Natural Areas, Parks and Open Space
• Implementation Strategies

The authority to create a comprehensive plan is found in Kansas Statute Annotated 12-747. A comprehensive plan is required when a city desires to create subdivision regulations. Lenexa has had the highest level of land use regulations for a long time – a comprehensive plan, zoning standards and subdivision regulations.

Each of the topics addressed by the Comprehensive Plan are interconnected and critical to a well-rounded, livable community. By addressing them together, the Comprehensive Plan will ensure Lenexa grows as a thriving community that offers high quality of life for its citizens. The Plan will be built off past planning efforts, existing policies that remain relevant, and at its core, community input from a wide-ranging outreach process. It creates a cohesive vision that is representative of Lenexa’s residents, business community, and community stakeholders, and outlines the critical steps for making that vision come true.

The Comprehensive Plan is geared toward spatial issues and future private and public development. It’s not a regulatory document or a silver bullet for all public policy. It informs decisions about zoning and development by establishing community goals and key recommendations to guide future growth and potential code amendments.

Some issues can be dealt with directly in the Comprehensive Plan, like housing needs or commercial development. For other issues like crime or education, the Comprehensive Plan can play an indirect role by addressing environmental contributors to the issue and raising awareness of community priorities that need to be dealt with outside of the planning process.

City staff, the Planning Commission and the City Council to analyze development proposals and plan for public investments to ensure Lenexa’s growth complements the community’s vision.

Citizens to learn about the community’s short-term and long-term priorities, potential future projects and expectations of how development should occur.

Developers and the business community to prepare for projects and ensure alignment with the community’s goals such as desirable land uses and built form.

The City of Lenexa is committed to involving residents, businesses and workers in the process to craft a community vision for Lenexa’s future. A Steering Committee will also help guide the process. Ultimately, the Comprehensive Plan will have to be accepted by the Planning Commission and City Council.

Existing plans are an important part of the Comprehensive plan process. They help inform the Comprehensive Plan and oftentimes their goals and vision are further refined through the Comprehensive Plan process.

Visioning processes are a great way to involve residents in creating big-picture goals and ideas for the City’s future. In 2018–2019, more than 3,500 people helped shape five main topic areas into Vision 2040.

A comprehensive plan outlines the critical steps for making that vision come true. Lenexa’s new Comprehensive Plan will help hone those ideas into a cohesive guide that puts Vision 2040 into action.

Changing local, regional and national trends will have an impact on how Lenexa grows. These will be taken into consideration when addressing topics like land use, economic development, transportation and natural resources.

The need for attainable and diverse housing, national demands for new senior housing for the aging baby boomer generation, the role of autonomous vehicles in future infrastructure, how COVID-19 has impacted how we live and work and the continuing shifts in retail and product distribution with e-commerce will all need to be considered when building the Plan.

The Lenexa Governing Body is expected to consider accepting the Comprehensive Plan update in early 2024.