Overland Park, KS 
Community Vision and Strategic Plan

As a leading community in the Kansas City region, Overland Park is known for a commitment to planning. The dynamic community has many assets—nationally ranked schools, thriving businesses, a strong transportation system, diverse neighborhoods, and more. But OP has never been one to rest on its laurels. The city, together with Visit OP and the Overland Park Chamber of Commerce, understood they’d need to update their plans. Their goal: to include a new, inclusive and broad-based community vision and strategic plan to set the city on a solid path in the decades to come.

Strategic planning as a foundation.

The Forward OP process was initiated to chart a path for Overland Park’s success over the next 20-25 years,
considering all aspects of community life. A 27-member volunteer steering committee, representing diverse community interests, guided the process. This community-driven effort resulted in a unified vision, five overarching goals, and eight initiative areas, addressing priorities such as more community gathering spaces, housing affordability, and educational
opportunities. This strategic groundwork laid the foundation for the subsequent comprehensive planning process.

Envisioning the future.

A scenario planning process was utilized to model potential redevelopment alternatives, providing a dynamic tool for
understanding the potential outcomes of different planning decisions. This process enabled the community to visualize and evaluate various growth and development scenarios, considering factors such as land use, transportation, environmental impact, and economic development. By simulating these scenarios, stakeholders could see how different approaches would affect the city’s future, helping them make informed decisions. This method fostered a deeper engagement by translating complex data into accessible, visual formats, empowering residents and decision-makers to weigh the pros and cons of each scenario.

Planning NEXT has since been hired to build upon this vision and strategic plan to produce a new comprehensive plan for Overland Park.

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Tags

Project Type: community visioning and strategic plan
Community Type: city
Client: Overland Park, KS
Services: public engagement, social media and online engagement, visioning