Unified Government Neighborhood & Community Development Committee (March 2, 2026)

By Connye Griffin, Kansas City Documenter

These notes were produced through Kansas City Documenters, which trains and pays community members to take fact-checked notes at public meetings, strengthening transparency and accountability in local government.

Summary

• The Neighborhood & Community Development Committee of the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, heard from Kay Sharp, community development director, about the use of federal dollars to deliver services to Wyandotte County residents.
• The committee approved lots for the Land Bank and mitigation for contaminated Land Bank parcels and discussed a broader review of properties in the Douglass-Sumner area.
• The committee also discussed Kansas State University’s nationally recognized program for mitigating lead contamination, which Kansas City, Missouri, is using.
• The city’s parks and recreation team provided an overview of its stewardship.

Notes

• Meeting Attendance
  • Andrew Davis, committee chair and commissioner District 8
  • Melissa Bynum, commissioner-at-large District 1  
  • Dr. Carlos Pacheco III, commissioner District 5  
  • Chuck Stites, commissioner District 7
  •  William (Bill) J. Burns Jr., commissioner District 2
  • Jermaine Howard, commissioner District 1
  • Alan Howze, assistant county administrator
  • Wendy Green, deputy chief counsel
  • Sergeant-at-arms
  • Staff managing online chat and PowerPoint slides and calling the roll
  • Kay Sharp, community development director
  • Angel Ferrara, parks and recreation director
  • Vincent Billaci, manager of parks
  • Matthew Zayas, fiscal officer
  • Shaya Lockett, recreation manager
  • Amanda Martin, Wyandotte County Historical Museum director 
  • Michael Sutton, Land Bank co-manager
  • Jud Knapp, Land Bank manager
  • Alyssa Marcy, long range planner and brownfields coordinator

Community Development (item added after agenda posted online)

Davis invited Sharp to update new committee members on Wyandotte County’s use of federal dollars to meet the community’s needs. Sharp provided documents to the committee that would not be publicly available until the committee’s minutes are posted online.

Sharp referenced Wyandotte County’s five-year and annual action plans. This is the fourth year of the five-year consolidated plan. She noted the spending limits and qualifying requirements set by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the county’s compliance with these.

However, the county’s needs exceeded HUD’s parameters for Community Based Development Grant funds, so Sharp shifted some programs to comply with HUD. For example, the Wilhelmina Gill Multi-Service Center serving the homeless was moved under the umbrella of a Community Housing Development Organization. Sharp said that by careful attention to program parameters the city has found ways to maximize money available to serve the community.

Other services provided by the Community Development Department include investments in home repair, including emergency repair for low- and moderate-income households, facade improvement for homes and businesses and support for small businesses, including child care. 

One of the newer programs is waste art, an opportunity for artists to transform discarded tires, appliances and bedsprings into art. A sum of $100,000 has been set aside for the program to include a marketing campaign to engage citizens in transforming their city.

Community Development also works with developers to provide a base subsidy for new construction of safe homes to be sold to low- and moderate-income buyers. Qualifying requirements for the subsidy include providing lawn mowers and weed-eaters because the buyers’ budgets may already be strained after buying the homes. The program has eight developers as partners.

Commissioners asked about citizen qualifications and access to the programs, definitions for low and moderate incomes, what percentage of the population qualifies as low and moderate income, how child care providers are helped, what qualifies as an emergency for home repair and how the city supports small businesses. 

Sharp said a phone call suffices to start the process for a program. Income limits that are set at 80% of the adjusted gross average income vary according to the size of the family. At least 51% of the city’s population could qualify for assistance. Broken plumbing and an inoperative heater were the most common emergencies. Child care assistance was most often for physical repairs. And the program recently bought a new, larger printer for a three-year-old T-shirt business ready to expand and equipment for a laundromat. 

Davis praised the use of federal dollars for the community. He asked Sharp to alert commissioners about these projects so they could attend ribbon-cuttings and other public events. Davis also asked committee members to refer their constituents with needs to determine their eligibility for Community Development programs.

Parks and Recreation 

Funded with grant money, transit guest tax collections, public-private partnerships and participation, use fees or both, the Parks and Recreation Department, led by Angel Ferrara, develops and maintains 54 parks, 15 cemeteries, the Sunflower Hills Golf course and 50 medians as well as landscaped beds, rain gardens and four lakes. The department maintains a pool, four splash pads, 42 shelters, more than 80 playgrounds, six community centers and three reservation halls, including the Wyandotte County Museum. 

Ferrara and her team reviewed these sites and listed the upgrades, updates and repairs needed while asserting that recreational investments spur economic growth. Howze said new amenities such as a neighborhood park enabled revenue . He said discussions included “anchoring our development efforts in neighborhoods around park improvements,” especially when developers asked for guidance about properties and projects.

Funded capital projects (Page 4 of the Parks and Recreation slides) to be completed before the World Cup 2026 include futsal (soccer) court maintenance, roadside pillar replacement, playground equipment, parking maintenance and solar light at Kaw Point. Capital improvement projects costing nearly $349,500 and planned for 2026 focus on recommended immediate improvements such as roof and access repairs and HVAC upgrades (Page 6, “Current Efforts” slide). Ferrara said improvements undertaken for the World Cup will have long-term benefits for the city.

One of the county’s recreational assets, Parkwood Pool, has served the area for 50 years. Its history and status are featured in the March 2026 issue of Parks & Recreation magazine. Lockett said the article showed the “resiliency of the pool and . . . how we’ve gathered together as a community to be able to continue to offer this vital service. . . .”. Ferrara concurred and encouraged committee members to read the article because it highlighted aquatic programs in urban environments.

Other information provided by Parks and Recreation included plans for improved asset management data collection (Page 7), park developments (Page 8), summer camp participation (Page 13) and vehicle upgrades.

Wyandotte County Museum Director Amanda Martin described park property, shared the museum’s mission and listed recent activities and initiatives undertaken by the museum. One exhibit planned for the World Cup would tell the story of Native Americans across Wyandotte County, one part of the Smithsonian’s Americans exhibit (Page 15).

Ferrara closed the presentation by drawing attention to improvements at Klamm Park and an associated case study related to adjacent economic development (Page 22). She noted new homes under construction and “parcels under review.”  

Land Bank 

Michael Sutton was approved as the Land Bank co-manager to speed the process of developers seeking deeds to properties if the manager was absent. Sutton detailed a list of commercial and residential properties as well as transfers to be approved by the Land Bank. All were approved for acquisition without public comment or objection 5-0. Only one public comment during the meeting was entered into the record, questioning the omission of one address that was not a Land Bank matter.

Alyssa Marcy with the Planning Department addressed the brownfields, land that may have been contaminated by pollutants or chemicals and therefore may need to be remediated. Marcy shared a map showing properties that have been cleared and properties that still required study. The county’s policy is to sell Land Bank lots “as is” after advising potential buyers to consider environmental evaluation. Government inspectors only assess​​ the lot, land or structure for stability. If contamination is verified, federal funds may offset some costs.

Marcy reported progress in the Douglass/Sumner Project. In 2023, residents were informed about the possibility of contamination. By 2024, 163 had been cleared and 57 had been identified as contaminated. Of those, 54 are Land Bank parcels with lead or petroleum product issues. With EPA grant funding, these will be held until remediated. Officials expect to learn in early summer whether the grant will be awarded. Davis asked whether there was a backup plan should the grant not be funded. Marcy said there was, adding the grant was the most direct path to mitigation.

Stites asked how long remediation of the properties would take. Marcy said remediation required one year unless there was soil-gas contamination requiring vapor barriers.

The committee approved the resolution and then discussed Kansas State University’s role in mitigating lead contamination. Led by Ganga Hettiarachchi, KSU has developed a nationally recognized program used in Kansas City, Missouri, Marcy said. With HUD grant funding, KSU has been studying ways to address lead contamination in KCK, including on residential lots. The research aims to reduce the impact of lead exposure on children, including homes where children have elevated blood lead levels. 

KSU is studying a method for remediating ground contaminated by lead without removing all the soil. The ground is treated with phosphorus for two years and continuously monitored before being cleared for use.

The committee approved the resolution 5-0 to work with KSU.  

Observations & Follow-Up Questions

• What evidence supports the effectiveness of phosphorus treatment in mitigating lead contamination and reducing exposure risks for children?
• Will data tracking prove the positive effects of parks and recreation in economic development? 
• How will the waste art project be received by the Board of Commissioners and the public?

Read more about this meeting and see all Kansas City Documenters notes here.