The Basehor city Administration is planning for renovations and new spaces in the next four years. Innovation Academy student, sophomore Bree Morey is helping the administration plan, design and vote on companies to carry out the projects. The group is working on three main projects as of now. 

“We have multiple projects in the design phase right now. We call it the Civic Campus. This is where the Basehor Community Library, Early Learning Center, Gray Hawk Elementary are,” said city administrator Leslee Rivarola.

One of the projects Morey is working is the stormwater retention pond. The pond is currently in the last stages of the designing phase. The pond will collect water from the Gray Hawk Elementary School and the Early Learning Education Center. The pond itself will be around 1-1.5 acres, with large paving stones for people to walk across. Morey is helping by finding what animals and plants are native to that area so that they can be reintroduced in the future. Overall Morey is trying to learn more about engineering and the process of creating new spaces. 

“I’m trying to learn and grow more in that mindset,” said Morey. 

The city also received a federal grant for the fiscal year of 2024 to improve 155th Street. The city is currently in the designing process for creating a roundabout at the intersection of 155th and Parallel. The roundabout will include a ten-foot-wide walking path as well. The federal grant will also include new sidewalks from 155th Street and Parallel down to the Basehor Community Library. Construction will begin either the 3rd or 4th quarter of the 2023 school year, and will be finished by 2024.

“The goal with these projects is to make sure that we can connect all of the school’s facilities safely without pedestrians having to walk on the street anymore,” said Rivarola.

The group is also working on designing a community center. The community center is not set in stone, like the roundabout and stormwater pond. The community center, if approved by the community, would include an aquatic center, three full-size competitive soccer fields and an outside amphitheater. 

“Ultimately, the financing and how we would pay for something of that magnitude has many moving parts. We would need to get a lot more community support, [for the community to believe] that’s an amenity that they really want and fund,” said Rivarola.

Overall, the group is hopeful for the upcoming projects and improving Basehor’s transportation, for vehicles and pedestrians.