Posted on February 18, 2026
The watercraft rumbling away recently on quiet Legacy Lake in Lee’s Summit is slowly restoring a key piece of operations at the bustling Legacy Park.
As the area around the park has developed since it’s 2001 opening , sediment has filtered back into Legacy Lake and built up on its bottom. In all, it’s estimated the lake has lost around a third of its volume.
Gradually, a dredging craft that began work on the 28-acre lake recently is working to restore that volume.
Lee’s Summit Parks and Recreation expects its contractor for the $1.8 million project will suck up and remove up to 50,000 cubic yards of sediment as it brings the lake back to its original depth.
Preparation for the project began in November, and work on the lake began in January. The effort is expected to wrap up by the end of May.
The lake sits in the sprawling 700-acre Legacy Park, which was formerly farmland and is now home to the J. Thomas Lovell Jr. Community Center, a large amphitheater, trails and a swath of sports fields. Around 70% of the park is maintained as natural habitat.
Rainwater from the park filters back to the lake, which is then used as a water source to irrigate the sports fields and the amphitheater. The lake also serves as a water source for the fire suppression systems for the community center and the amphitheater.
A heron swoops down over Legacy Lake in Lee’s Summit on Thursday, Feb. 12.
In warmer months, community members paddle kayaks, canoes and paddleboards and fish on the lake. Just up the road, the park is home to baseball, softball, football and soccer fields that buzz with activity.
The parks department uses around 44 million gallons of lake water annually to irrigate the park, and it estimates it saves as much as $450,000 a year by not having to purchase that water. With less available water, the department has had to cut back on irrigating fields at times to ensure it has enough water for fire suppression needs, said Lee’s Summit Parks and Recreation Administrator Joe Snook.
“It’s a great lake,” he said. “A lot of people just see blue water, see people fishing and maybe see people on kayaks, but a lot of people don’t realize (its value).”
In recent years, the lake has been plagued by a build-up of algae, and the hope is that the dredging will also help with that growth and clear up the lake, Snook said.
The sediment pulled from the lake will be pumped out to a nearby sludge pond, where it will dry as water seeps back to the lake. Eventually, the removed sediment will be covered and restored as natural prairie land.
It’s likely that the majority of the sediment that has built up in the lake was generated during upstream development, according to an engineering report for the project. Most of the lake’s watershed of a little less than 3 square miles was undeveloped when the lake was built, but as of 2023, about 80% of that area had reached full development, the report said.
The park, situated just south of Lake Jacomo, is surrounded by neighborhoods and rows of homes.
“The planning was great, the execution has been great, development has happened,” Snook said. “It’s caused a bit of a problem for us. We’re going to take care of it, and we’re going to get it back to its original depth and its original capacity, and we should be in pretty good shape after that.”
