Comprehensive Plan

Comprehensive Plan cover with images of Lenexa

Lenexa's Comprehensive Plan is the official policy guide for future growth and development in the city. It includes overall principles and values for development, taking into account the many pieces of our built environment, streets, sidewalks, parks, trails, streams, watersheds, land use, development patterns, economic and demographic trends. 

It provides policy direction related to land use changes, planning for capital improvements and directing our future growth. It is designed to preserve and enhance public health, safety and welfare through managing growth, providing adequate public services and protecting natural resources. 

The City of Lenexa completed a major update to its Comprehensive Plan in July 2024.  

Lenexa Comprehensive Plan(PDF, 40MB)

Selected maps:

Common questions

Below are answers to frequently asked questions about the Comprehensive Plan and how it impacts our community.

What is a Comprehensive Plan?

A typical comprehensive plan outlines the existing conditions of the city, describes future goals and objectives for development, and includes an action plan on how to achieve these goals and objectives. The plan also tests growth scenarios and establishes future land uses. Lenexa's Comprehensive Plan addresses: 

  • Community Vision, Goals and Objectives 
  • Land Use and Development 
  • Housing and Neighborhoods 
  • Economic Development 
  • Transportation and Mobility 
  • Community Facilities and Infrastructure 
  • Natural Areas, Parks and Open Space 
  • Implementation Strategies 

The authority to create a comprehensive plan is found in Kansas Statute Annotated 12-747. A comprehensive plan is required when a city desires to create subdivision regulations. Lenexa has utilized the highest level of land use regulations for a long time: a comprehensive plan, zoning standards and subdivision regulations.

How do the pieces of the Comprehensive Plan relate together?

Each of the topics addressed by the Comprehensive Plan are interconnected and critical to a well-rounded, livable community. By addressing them together, the Comprehensive Plan will ensure Lenexa grows as a thriving community that offers high quality of life for its citizens. The Plan is built off past planning efforts, existing policies that remain relevant, and, at its core, community input from a wide-ranging outreach process. It creates a cohesive vision that is representative of Lenexa’s residents, business community and community stakeholders. It also outlines the critical steps for making that vision come true.

What does a Comprehensive Plan not do?

The Comprehensive Plan is geared toward spatial issues and future public and private development. It’s not a regulatory document or a silver bullet for all public policy. It informs decisions about zoning and development by establishing community goals and key recommendations to guide future growth and potential code amendments. 

Some issues can be dealt with directly in the Comprehensive Plan, like housing needs or commercial development. For other issues like crime or education, the Comprehensive Plan can play an indirect role by addressing environmental contributors to the issues and raising awareness of community priorities that need to be dealt with outside of the planning process.

Who uses the Comprehensive Plan, and what is it used for?

City staff, the Planning Commission and the City Council use the Plan to analyze development proposals and plan for public investments to ensure Lenexa’s growth and redevelopment complements the community’s vision.  

Citizens use the Plan to learn about the community’s short-term and long-term priorities, potential future projects and expectations of how development should occur. 

Developers and the business community use the Plan to prepare for projects and ensure alignment with the community’s goals such as desirable land uses and built form.

Who was involved in creating the Comprehensive Plan?

The City of Lenexa committed to involving residents, businesses and workers in the process to craft a community vision for Lenexa’s future. All Lenexans were invited to give feedback through two open houses and a community questionnaire. Workshops were held with the local business community, students, Park Board, Technical Advisory Committee and elected officials. A Steering Committee also helped guide the process. Ultimately, the final plan must be recommended by the Planning Commission and adopted by the City Council.  

A consultant team from Houseal-Lavigne began working with the City in summer 2021 to lead the Comprehensive Plan update.

We already have other plans, like Vision 2040. What will happen to those?

Existing plans are an important part of the Comprehensive Plan process. They help inform the Comprehensive Plan, and oftentimes their goals and vision are further refined through the Comprehensive Plan process. Lenexa’s Comprehensive Plan update builds off previous efforts like the Complete Streets Study, A New Look at Old Town Study and Quivira Road Corridor Study. It was also developed alongside a new Parks Master Plan. 

Visioning processes are a great way to involve residents in creating big-picture goals and ideas for the City’s future. In 2018-2019, more than 3,500 people helped shape five main topic areas into Vision 2040.  

A comprehensive plan outlines the critical steps for making a community vision come true. Lenexa’s new Comprehensive Plan helps hone those ideas into a cohesive guide that puts Vision 2040 into action.

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