Prevent Re-Purposing of Pepsi Ice Midwest

To the City of Overland Park, Kansas and to the Johnson County Board of Commissioners

Petition to prevent the re-purposing of the facility at 12140 W. 135th Street, Overland Park, Kansas 66221 commonly known as Pepsi Ice Midwest.

The owners of Pepsi Ice Midwest (PIMW) at the corner of 135th and Quivira in Overland Park have shut-down ice operations until further notice. The owners claim that they are merely performing repairs. The owners have also indicated that they are looking into alternative strategies for the facility. Although PIMW is a privately owned facility, the ice operations have become an integral facet of youth hockey development in Johnson County. More than 1,000 youngsters and their parents, coaches and instructors, who are principally Johnson County residents, participate in organized youth hockey leagues, skating and skill development classes and tournaments hosted at PIMW. Nearly 500 adult hockey players, from 18 to 60+, participate in weekly adult leagues hosted at PIMW. PIMW is host to several high school and college games that represent all of the area high schools and the University of Kansas. More than 100 ice officials, trained and sanctioned by USAHockey have trained at PIMW and officiate games there every week. PIMW is also the main training facility for Johnson County's growing population of young figure skaters. Without this facility, youth programs will disintegrate for lack of ice time. Some will migrate to the new Independence Event Center in Jackson County Missouri. Ice Sports, located in Shawnee Kansas cannot absorb the load. Many will simply give up hockey and ice skating altogether.

Without this ice facility youth hockey and figure skating development will be set back a decade or more. The city of Overland Park and Johnson County have invested heavily in youth sports development in sports like soccer, softball and baseball. At a time when the youth of our nation needs every possible reason to be active, to stay fit and to participate in wholesome, team oriented pursuits, PIMW chooses to close its ice. Some reports indicate that PIMW may be turned into a general sports training and fitness center. Although this may be a reasonable alternative use, it is not the ideal purpose for this facility as it will directly compete with a very similar facility, 68's Inside Sports, located in Lenexa. Given this direct competition, diluting the available membership for such facilities to two like-sites will only jeopardize the viability of both operations.

We hereby petition the City of Overland Park and the Johnson County Board of Commissioners to use every means available to them to keep PIMW an ice facility.