Topeka ? Gov. Kathleen Sebelius has taken a step toward getting land from the former Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant transferred to Johnson County from the military.

Sebelius sent a preliminary plan for cleaning up and transferring the land Thursday to the office of the secretary of the Army. The document is known as a Finding of Suitability for Early Transfer.

The Army is cleaning up the 9,065-acre site near De Soto that was declared surplus in 1997. The Army has previously said those efforts would take until 2011 and cost $40 million.

At the urging of Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., Congress approved legislation last year allowing the Army to transfer up to 2,000 acres to Johnson County’s Park and Recreation District. The Army would transfer the land to the state, which could then transfer it to the district or a private developer.

Developers had proposed the former ammunition plant site for an amusement park with a theme based on the “Wizard of Oz” books and movie. But in October 2001, the Johnson County Commission refused to study the project’s feasibility, effectively blocking it.

Sebelius acknowledged in a statement that much cleanup work remains before the site can be used, but she said it had enormous potential. Like Roberts, she supports using at least part of the Sunflower site for a research park.

“It is important that we keep this process moving, so this land can be cleaned up and put to good use,” Sebelius said. “Sitting idle, it does us no good.”