Lenexa ? A Lawrence city commissioner said Friday that Douglas County officials should consider jumping into a debate that is brewing over how to redevelop the 9,065-acre Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant near DeSoto.

City Commissioner David Dunfield said city and county leaders should discuss asking for a seat on a proposed board that would guide redevelopment of the plant, which is just east of the Douglas County-Johnson County line.

State legislators are debating a bill put forth by Johnson County commissioners that would create the board. As written, the board would not have any representation from Douglas County.

“I know we’re talking about property that is in Johnson County, but the Sunflower plant has in the past, and will in the future, have an impact on Lawrence,” Dunfield said. “After all, on a clear day we can see (the plant’s) water towers from parts of Lawrence.”

Dunfield made his comments after attending a K-10 Assn. meeting Friday morning in Lenexa that clearly showed growing disagreement over how the plant should be redeveloped.

DeSoto Mayor Dave Anderson told the group, which represents governments and businesses along the Kansas Highway 10 corridor, that he no longer supported the idea of the property being transferred to a single, private developer.

Johnson County commissioners have indicated support for a plan that would transfer the property to the Kansas City, Mo., development firm of Kessinger/Hunter. Kessinger/Hunter would agree to clean up environmental problems at the site in exchange for the ability to develop the land.

“I don’t think it is in the best interests of the state, the county or my city to have a single private entity control 9,000 acres of Johnson County land,” Anderson said. “I think there are some more unique opportunities that we may be missing out on.”

An aerial view of the Sunflower Army Ammunition plant, in this file photo taken in June 2002, shows large areas of vacant land that are candidates for redevelopment. Members of the K-10 Assn. Friday debated plans for redevelopment of the 9,065-acre site.

Anderson also said he didn’t fully support the development plan that Johnson County commissioners had created for the site. The plan would allow 25,000 homes to be built on the site during the next 50 years. The plan also calls for about 3,800 acres of park land and about 2,700 acres of industrial, office and commercial development.

Anderson said he’d like to see the number of homes drop and the amount of ground devoted to manufacturing and business park development rise.

Johnson County Commissioner Annabeth Surbaugh defended the commission’s work on the project to date. She said dealing with a private developer like Kessinger/Hunter would speed up both the clean-up and development processes.

She also told K-10 Assn. members that the political squabbling was threatening to chase away Kessinger/Hunter, the only developer that publicly has expressed any interest in the site since a deal to build a Wonderful World of Oz theme park fell apart.

“Kessinger/Hunter has said to me that what is going on in Topeka will make them go away,” Surbaugh said. “They don’t want to get caught up in a contentious issue.”

Kessinger/Hunter officials were invited to speak at the K-10 Assn. meeting, but declined.

The association had hoped to take an official position on the redevelopment of the Sunflower site at Friday’s meeting, but members could not agree on a resolution.

Instead, they agreed to hold a special meeting on the Sunflower issue within the next 30 days to develop a position statement.