Editor’s Note: This is the staff editorial published in the October print issue of The Tiger Print. The opinions expressed in this column were voted on by the staff, with 13 members agreeing and 10 members disagreeing.

Loud sounds. Pollution. Bright lights on sleeping households. Congested streets. Loss in home value. All of these things are possible
side effects of a new amphitheater in Ironwoods Park.
The amphitheater would include a 200-space parking lot, concessions, a truck road, bathrooms, offices and other amenities for Leawood Stage Company to use for performances.
Unfortunately, the negatives of this renovation plan far outweigh any pos- sible positives.
Already, residents of Leawood have shown their disapproval of the plan by forming a Save Ironwoods Park group.
The amphitheater will face the Steeplechase and Camden Woods neighborhoods, with very few sound barriers.
Let’s be honest, a few trees aren’t going to keep the noisy amphitheater from disrupting the residents of the surrounding neighborhoods.
Nor are they going to be able to silence the honking horns from the huge amount of traffic generated by the amphitheater.
And the trees definitely aren’t going to block the lighting from the 200-space parking lot and amphitheater.
But the noise and light aren’t the only concerns the Leawood residents have.
Yes, the Leawood Stage Company deserves a place to perform their plays. However, Ironwoods Park is not the
place to do it. Especially when there are other places to perform.
The Barn Players Community Theatre.
Theater in the Park.
Or even private property that the company could buy for their own performances, instead of placing the monetary burden on the unhappy Leawood residents.
Leawood is already a small enough city, and if the city overdevelops its land, there will be no turning back.
Once nature is gone, it is gone forever.
According to leawood.org, the city only has six parks for its residents to use.
With this proposed amphitheater, you can cross off one of those parks.
That leaves only five places to find solace in the peace and quiet of nature.
Only five places for Leawood residents to camp, hike and picnic.
If the city council approves this plan in the name of art, it will destroy what little nature Leawood has left — without the consent of the people it governs.