Juniper Gardens neighbors in KCK have ideas for what comes next
KANSAS CITY, Kan. –Richard Price says the empty streets and deserted housing blocks inside and around the former public housing development called Juniper Gardens used to be teaming with activity.
“You had different organizations that were pulling together trying to keep the people together down here,” said Price, who now lives a few blocks away. “All the community knew everybody.”
But, the KCK Housing Authority shut down Juniper Gardens and starting moving people out in 2021, kicking off a long process of selling the land and finding new homes for the people who were still there.
That process drastically reduced the number of people the New Seasons Christian Church could help.
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“We’re so used to people being here and now people are gone,” said Maurice Saunders, who helps maintain the same church building his grandfather initially ran the electrical wires through. “I’m hoping out of this, whoever it is that’s going to be doing the development, builds houses that are affordable.”
Juniper Gardens sold at the end of last year to a group associated with Iron Door Development.
A spokesperson told FOX4 it’s still early in their process, but they plan to renovate the roughly 250 apartments that are still there to rent them out and revitalize the community center on the land. They also plan to allow Cultivate KC to keep its community garden where it is.
“Now that the farming season has started to ramp up and we have more activity onsite, we’ve had more conversations about getting a long-term lease in place,” said Cultivate KC Executive Director Brien Darby. “We’ve kicked around five years so that’s what we’ll be advocating for to start.”
Darby says her organization also is in the process of getting a grant from USDA that would allow them to shop for land elsewhere in Wyandotte County, trying to get more space in more convenient places for farmers who have gone through its New Roots for Refugees program.
Developers plan to have a firmer plan and timeline for the rest of the 30-acre property this summer.
Lynette Jones has been going to New Seasons Christian Church since 1999 and says back then it would host so many community events and movie nights that children who lived in Juniper Gardens would be around the building all the time. Now, she says the plans for what comes next need to draw from the community that’s still there.
“I think that a lot of the community has had things happen to them all the time so they’re told, ‘Move here, go there, this is where you can get food,” Jones said. “Because they were low-income, they had no say in it. I think it’s top importance that the new owners get it right. Ask the community.”
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She says some community conversations have already started about what should come next. At the top of Jones’ and Nicole Douglas-Price’s lists were better access to grocery stores, community gathering spots, parks and walking trails for people nearby, and housing at the right price.
“When I think about livable neighborhoods, I think about something people can afford and I’m not sure what that looks like,” Douglas-Price said.
You can seen the ULI Kansas City report about Juniper Gardens here.
