We found it absolutely thrilling when the city of Leawood took action against one of the scourges of suburbia: gated communities. Though Leawood City Council members didn't ban obnoxious gates altogether, they did pass a policy regulating the damn things. Ordinance 1974C called gates between residential subdivisions "not in the overall general interest of the citizens of Leawood and its neighboring communities." It went on to lay out strict rules for developers who want to block freedom of movement so that rich people with three-car garages can feel separate from everyone else. Leawood City Administrator Scott Lambers tells us that since the ordinance went into effect last December, no one has applied for a permit to put up a gate. "I'd say that we made a difference in that we provided a tangible document that if anyone was interested in putting a gate across a public street, they knew what the criteria would be," he tells us diplomatically. "The policy made it clear that placement of gates would be very critically evaluated, that gates should not be put in place, that reasons had to be very strong in their justification." After all, as Lambers points out, gated subdivisions "create barriers as opposed to connectivity." Such progressive thinking almost makes us want to move to Leawood.
Comments (0)