KSHB 41 reporter Elyse Schoenig covers the cities of Shawnee and Mission. She also focuses on issues surrounding the cost of health care, saving for retirement and personal debt. A KSHB 41 viewer reached out with questions about the possibility of a new Kansas City Royals stadium near 119th and Nall Avenue. Elyse talked with the residents about their concerns and also reached for comment from the Royals. Share your story idea with Elyse.
Johnson County residents are raising concerns about one of the proposed Kansas City Royals stadium sites, citing a lack of information as a key December 31 deadline approaches.
Johnson County residents voice concerns over proposed Royals stadium site
The Aspiria campus at West 119th Street and Nall Avenue in Overland Park is one of the proposed sites for a new Royals stadium.
Some Johnson County residents are taking their concerns to a community forum at Monday night at Leawood City Hall. Home owners association representatives, along with Kansas State Rep. Mari-Lynn Poskin, will be available for questions and for homeowners to share their concerns.
The project could be funded through STAR bonds, which the Kansas Legislature extended with an activation deadline of June 30, 2026. A group of legislative leaders, the Legislative Coordinating Council, agreed to extend a beefed-up STAR Bond law. The LCC added a contingency that Secretary of Commerce Dave Toland, who is leading negotiations with the teams, bring proposals back to the LCC for formal review by Dec. 31, 2025.
“We have a lot of questions, and there hasn’t been a lot of information or answers,” said Amanda Palan, a Johnson County parent.
Palan expressed concerns about traffic congestion in the area, particularly around the proposed stadium location.
“There’s lots of traffic congestion, and putting a Major League Baseball stadium right down in the middle of that is really counter intuitive to maintaining safe, walkable communities, and creates a very scary situation related to traffic, and particularly teenage drivers coming and going,” Palan said.
Marsha Friedman , who lives near the site, said Monday night’s forum is the latest, best way for their voices to be heard over the proposed stadium site.
“Tonight started because there was a swelling of people who said, ‘We have no idea of what’s gone on,”‘ Friedman said.
Friedman raised concerns about the stadium’s potential impact on nearby medical facilities.
“You’ve got hospitals. People are critically ill, you have Menorah. It’s right across the street. How are they going to like it when they’re hearing fireworks? What about Village Shalom?” Friedman said.
When asked about her preferred outcome, Friedman said the best case scenario would be for the Royals to choose a different location.
A spokesperson for the Kansas City Royals released a statement on tonight’s meeting to KSHB 41: “The Royals continue to evaluate multiple sites. As we’ve said before, safety, ingress/egress, and fan experience remain top of mind in the decision-making progress.”
A spokesperson for Kansas Democratic Senate leader, Dinah Sykes, who is part of the LCC group expecting to receive a proposal by December 31st, told KSHB 41 that the next LCC meeting will be December 22nd, and that the agenda has yet to be announced.
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