Prairie Village ends informal agreement with St. Ann to maintain sports fields

An overhead view of St. Ann and Windsor Park from the Prairie Village city council packet shows the line between the park and the church property.

A longstanding agreement between the city of Prairie Village and St. Ann Church and School came to an end last night when the city council voted to stop maintaining the sports fields adjacent to Windsor Park.

The city had maintained the soccer and baseball fields east of the school since 1996 as part of an informal agreement with the parrish that the city and its residents could reserve the fields when they weren’t being used by St. Ann. But a review of the agreement during the 2012 budgeting process revealed that the city had not received any reservation requests over the past several years on account of limited availability.

“The City has a responsibility to its taxpayers to focus its limited resources in the areas where it has defined responsibilities,” Public Works director Bruce McNabb wrote in a memo recommending the city council end the agreement.

The city council voted 9-3 to end the agreement, which will save Prairie Village approximately $4,000. St. Ann, which did not protest the ending of the agreement, according to Prairie Village city administrator Quinn Bennion, will now maintain the fields.