Olathe ? Johnson County commissioners hope a study session early next month will bring them a step closer to determining the fate of the former Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant.

Commission chairwoman Annabeth Surbaugh told members of the K-10 Assn. Friday that the commission would have a study session about the 9,065-acre property at 1 p.m. Oct. 2 at the Johnson County Courthouse in Olathe. The former plant is adjacent to the Douglas County line, about 20 miles east of Lawrence on Kansas Highway 10.

Kansas City-based Kessinger/ Hunter and Co. is the only developer that has expressed interest in the site. Company officials have said the firm would be willing to assume the liability for environmental cleanup of the property in exchange for the ability to develop the land into a mix of commercial, technology, residential and park land uses.

Gov. Kathleen Sebelius submitted a preliminary plan to federal officials, who control the former site, that included Kessinger/Hunter’s proposal. But Surbaugh said that didn’t make the deal final.

“It gives them a head start but it doesn’t limit others from expressing an interest,” Surbaugh said.

State Rep. Rob Boyer, R-Olathe, said state and county officials needed to be more aggressive in finding other companies interested in the property.

“I’m certain if we sent out a request for proposals, we would get several responses from interested developers,” Boyer said. “But I’m not sure with the way we’re doing it now, that we’ll get any. It is kind of like saying I have a home for sale but I’m not going to market it.”

Boyer estimated that the current process would take at least a year before a developer or multiple developers for the site were chosen.

There’s also some question about whether the state or Johnson County will be selecting the developer. Boyer said he clearly believed the county should have the final say. Surbaugh said it was too early to say whether that would be the case.

“I don’t know that we’ll have the final say over who develops it, but we will have the final say on how it is developed,” Surbaugh said. “We’re not going to let go of the zoning responsibility. We’re adamant about that.”

The county commission has adopted a master plan for the property that would allow 25,000 homes to be built on the site in the next 50 years. The plan also calls for about 3,800 acres of park land and about 2,700 acres of light industrial, office and commercial development.

County and state officials also support a research park for life sciences industry. It could occupy several hundred acres that had been allocated for an amusement park with a Wizard of Oz theme. That project was discontinued in late 2001 after the Johnson County Commission refused to study the project’s feasibility, effectively blocking it.

Sebelius mentioned support for a research park when she forwarded the preliminary report to federal officials in late July. On Friday, both Boyer and Surbaugh also expressed support.

“If you think about it, the location is fabulous for that sort of use,” Surbaugh said.