housing lawsuit

because they open up our community to more diversity,” Sena said. “How- ever, the sudden increase in people could lead to a ‘too many people, and not enough space’ situation that our small community might not be able to handle.”

Mayor Michelle Distler did not re- spond to a request for comment, but at the city council meeting on Dec. 23 she disagreed with Larson-Bunnell’s traffic concerns. Distler discussed how she drove to the intersection in Wood- sonia and watched traffic.

“THE SUDDEN INCREASE IN PEOPLE COULD LEAD TO A ‘TOO MANY PEOPLE, AND NOT ENOUGH SPACE’ SITUATION.”

freshman sophie sena

“I watched people coming and going during the peak hours in the morning and the evening. Never once did I see more than three cars exiting at a time,” Distler said at the meet- ing. “When we’re thinking 400 cars, we’re thinking about the exodus of a Chiefs game. I watched the reality… you’re not having all of these cars at one time”

Distler also addressed other con- cerns about the development’s im- pact on school size and justified the high-density development by arguing that it could attract businesses and vis- itors to Shawnee.

“The superintendent has said they

have more than enough room at the schools,” Distler said at the meeting. “I want to go back to the density... we heard the comments all through the Imagineering sessions. We want restaurants. We want retail. We keep hearing we want these things, but we don’t want the density that is required to get those things.”

Before the city council voted on the proposal, Distler shared her concern that shooting down the plan would scare developers away from Shawnee. “We are told on a regular basis.. western Shawnee is slow to grow because you don’t have the density. Businesses [aren’t coming] to a place that does not have the traffic to sup- port people going to their businesses,” Distler said. “I have been contacted by two developers [who said] if [the multi-family homes proposal] does not go through, we are not bringing our development to western Shawnee.”

Melissa Hoag Sherman, an attor- ney with Spencer Fane LLP, is repre- senting Austin Homes on the case and did not respond to request for com- ment.

In the lawsuit, which was filed in Johnson County District Court on Jan. 15, Austin Homes claims the city was both unreasonable and unlawful by denying the developer’s application. The lawsuit alleged that decision was unlawful, as one city council member had a predetermined decision on the project and assisted neighbors with the petition they created to not have the developer’s plans pass.

The developer claims that the Woodsonia West project is in com- pliance with the city’s comprehensive plan in the lawsuit and that denial of the project is unreasonable and should be overturned.

If Austin Properties wins the law- suit, their application will be reevalu- ated by the city.

POPULATION PREDICTION The estimated density of people occupying the land

source: Austin Properties

The aerial view of the proposed location where the buildings would be located. | Claire Franke KEY:

high density residential public and quasi-public

medium density residential parks and open space

Features | 08 Design by Quinn Franken March 5, 2020 PASSIONATE PRINCI Get to know new prinicpal Dr. Gail Holder and her vision for improving the school

the path to principal New principal Gail Holder’s educational and professional journey to Mill Valley

graduated from Olathe South High School 1984

graduated from University of Kansas with a bachelor’s degree in English and a master’s in curriculum and instruction 1989

taught English and was the dance team director at Olathe South 2016 1992-

worked as the assistant principal at Olathe East 2020 2018-

graduated from junior college at Texas Kilgore College with an associate’s degree 1986

taught dance at Shawnee Mission West 1992 1991-

worked in the district office in Olathe as the assistant director of teaching and learning 2018 2016-

takes over as principal of Mill Valley in July 2020

Mill Valley’s new principal has been striving for success since her own high school days. Dr. Gail Holder gwwraduated from Olathe South as a volleyball player, swimmer and dancer – all while pre- paring for her performance at the 1984 Olympic Trials in synchronized swimming. She hasn’t stopped work- ing since.

“Every day when I wake up, I liter- ally say, ‘I will be better today than I was yesterday, but I won’t be as good as I’ll be tomorrow,’” Holder said.

While Holder didn’t originally plan on going into education, she feels her high school experience and role mod- els played a pivotal role in her personal development, especially through their support once Holder realized that her dream school, the University of Arizo- na, was a financial impossibility.

“I had some incredible coaches and teachers who really were patient with me and sat down and talked with me and helped me navigate through some of those things,” Holder said.

Holder pursued her associate’s de- gree and dance at Kilgore College in Texas, and she went on to earn her bachelor’s degree in English education and master’s degree in curriculum and ANNA OWSLEY mill valley news editor-in-chief

BEN WIELAND mill valley news editor-in-chief

instruction at the University of Kan- sas. In 1990, she landed her first teach- ing job in Coffeyville, Kansas as an English teacher. A year later, she took a job at Shawnee Mission West where she taught dance.

She returned to the Olathe school district in 1992 as an English teacher and dance team coordinator at Olathe South. During this time, she earned her administration degree through Pittsburg State University in 2008 and saw her own daughter graduate from Olathe South. She took a job at the Olathe Public Schools district office in 2016 as the assistant director of teach- ing and learning.

In 2018, Holder realized she missed working directly with students and staff and accepted her current job at Olathe East as an assistant principal. Olathe East language arts teach- er Karen Bourland-Kirk appreciates Holder’s enthusiastic presence.

“She constantly circulates through- out the halls, interacting with teachers and students and visits classrooms fre- quently,” Bourland-Kirk said.

While Holder had made Olathe her home for 25 years, she pursued the opening at Mill Valley because she “wanted to start a new chapter in [her]