Month: March 2018

Residents tell UG how to spend money

Several community residents came forward with ideas on how to spend public funding during a public budget hearing Thursday night, March 1, at the Unified Government Commission meeting.

The Unified Government held its first public budget hearing on March 1, and a second public budget hearing is scheduled for July 30.

Make sure funds are getting to youth programs

Kerry Ross, a resident of Kansas City, Kansas, said she would like the UG to make sure that the funds that are given to the Fair Foundation or the Fair Association filter down to the 4-H youth.

She said there were currently difficulties in 4-H youth being allowed to use the Wyandotte County Fairgrounds for 4-H activities, particularly for programs involving animals. The 4-H events were not allowed on the same days the shooting range is operating, she said. She added they were allowed to use the fairgrounds only one day a month, for six hours.

Daniel Harris, Bonner Springs, asked the commission to put some checks and balances in place to make sure the funds to the Fair Foundation or Fair Association actually were going to the kids of Wyandotte County. The 4-H horse and dog program here do not have a home, he said.

“We need to not give up on these kids,” he said.

Hold the line on property taxes

Murrel Bland, executive director of Business West, asked the UG and other governments to hold the line on property taxes.

“Property taxes are a major consideration when it comes to residential development,” he said. “Although last year saw an improvement in housing development numbers, Wyandotte County still lags when compared to other areas. High taxes are to blame.”

Do some repairs on Parallel Parkway

Marcia Rupp, a Kansas City, Kansas, resident, asked for more road repairs on Parallel Parkway, and had a list of locations where repairs were needed. She also said she wanted the Fire Department and Police Department to get what they want, plus she also mentioned the Sheriff’s Department as important. She recommended that the code enforcement staff have meetings with neighborhood groups to find out where problems are. She also asked the commission not to pave a street and then tear it up again to do more work.

Consider working together with Piper schools on green space

Piper Superintendent Tim Conrad asked the UG Commission to consider working together on green space for youth. He said a soccer club in Piper now has 40 teams, and the Optimists there are sponsoring 10 to 25 teams, and there is a need for playing fields.

The Piper school district is using 40 acres of its 75-acre property at 131st and Leavenworth Road for a new third through fifth grade building. He said there is an opportunity for the UG to consider joining in a partnership with Piper and developing land into green space for practice fields for soccer and football playing fields. The district and UG could work together to do site development and budget work, he said.

“We’re certainly willing to partner with you and explore additional opportunities and conversations,” Conrad said.

Fund the Downtown Improvement District

Lynn Kuluva, chairman of the advisory board of the Downtown Shareholders and the Downtown Improvement District, said the advisory board is recommending the UG allocate $125,000 next year to pay for the UG’s portion of the district’s cost in that year.

He said the UG is a major property owner in the district, with several buildings in the district. The Downtown Improvement District provides clean and safe services for the area, he said. When people come to the downtown area for UG business, UG events and other events, the goal is for them to find downtown KCK as a clean and safe place to come. “But that costs money,” he added.

When the district was formed, property owners were told the UG would pay $150,000 a year to cover its share of expenses, but it hasn’t been able to do so, Kuluva said. Last year, the advisory board recommended $125,000, but the UG authorized $100,000 and directed staff to increase the mill levy on private property owners to make up the difference, he said.

“That really wasn’t right; it’s detrimental to our efforts to try and rebuild the downtown,” he said. “We want the downtown businesses to succeed, thrive; we want to attract more businesses and increasing the tax load on them is counter-productive.”

There was $357.9 million in the current UG budget, according to Reginald Lindsey, UG budget director. The proposed 2019 budget will be announced at 5 p.m. Thursday, July 12, at the county administrator’s budget presentation.

Another public hearing on the budget will be held at 5 p.m. July 30. Budget adoption is scheduled for 7 p.m. Aug. 2.

The UG Commission meeting March 1 is online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zASAKdCPUI4.

KCK man dies in accident in Miami County

A Kansas City, Kansas, man died in an accident at 4:50 p.m. Thursday, March 1, on U.S. 69 near 399th Street in Miami County, Kansas.

According to the Kansas Highway Patrol trooper’s report, the victim was James R. Carr, 53, of Kansas City, Kansas.

He was northbound on U.S. 69 in the right lane when, for an unknown reason, his 2003 Ford Taurus went off the roadway and struck a bridge pillar head-on, according to the trooper’s report.

Carr was a 1983 graduate of Bishop Ward High School who worked for J&J Seamless Guttering in Kansas City, Kansas. Funeral service information is available on the Porter Funeral Home website at https://www.porterfuneralhome.com/obituary-detail.php?obituary_id=58822.

Ordinance for mobile grocery in northeast area sent back for more work

An ordinance that would allow mobile grocery locations in the northeast area of Kansas City, Kansas, was sent back to the Planning Commission for more work on wording.

During the Unified Government Commission meeting on March 1, Commissioner Gayle Townsend said that while she thinks the mobile market is a good concept, she had concerns about the details involving the wording of the ordinance.

She sought to more clearly define what sort of vehicle could be used for a mobile market, and she preferred to have more than 100 feet distance between the mobile market location and residences.

Rob Richardson, UG planning director, said the ordinance change was brought forward at the suggestion of those who are trying to temporarily serve the northeast “food desert” area of Kansas City, Kansas, with a mobile grocery. Instead of approving each location of the market with a special use permit, the ordinance would allow different locations that do not need a permit. According to Richardson, the ordinance was based on similar ordinances used in other communities with mobile markets.

A grocery store for the northeast area has been a frequently discussed topic of Northeast Master Plan meetings, and at a recent UG meeting, the mobile grocery was proposed as a stopgap measure until a brick-and-mortar grocery store could be built. (A video of a Feb. 22 UG meeting on the Northeast Master Plan is online at YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPs0LMk2x1E.)

A grocery store was one of the top items residents wanted, as expressed in a survey that was done as part of the Northeast Master Plan, according to officials. The UG and Northeast Area Master Plan group may look at co-op models for a grocery store, if a traditional one cannot be built, according to one official at the Feb. 22 meeting. However, there isn’t yet an operator for a grocery store, according to officials, who said they are working on it.

At the March 1 UG meeting, Commissioner Harold Johnson said he didn’t hear any opposition to the mobile market ordinance at a recent UG standing committee meeting, and he would like to see the project move forward.

Commissioner Townsend said while she agrees with the concept, the ordinance lacked a sunset clause and there was no way to appeal it. She said she would probably get phone calls about a mobile grocery market parked near residences. She also did not like a provision allowing them to operate seven days a week, and she noted that people had a right to peace and quiet in their homes in residential neighborhoods.

Commissioner Jane Philbrook said she had talked with persons who are trying to provide a way to get fresh food to residents of the northeast area. If the UG could get someone to build different types of standing grocery buildings in the area, then the mobile market would just move to a different area that needs it.

Currently, she said elderly persons here are faced with transportation issues, and are not always able to get to a store to purchase their food.

“I think we need to take care of our community,” Commissioner Philbrook said. “If we don’t like something we passed, we can come back and change it.”

However, Commissioner Townsend said instead of trying to put forward an ordinance that has flaws in its language, they should try to fix it now, not be in a hurry and not create more problems.

Commissioner Brian McKiernan said that based on earlier meetings, he understood that the mobile market would not be in the same place every day. It would be in designated parking lots, such as church parking lots, and would not be open past 7 or 8 p.m.

During a public hearing on the issue, Matt Kleinmann, Lawrence, Kansas, said he had been working on issues concerning healthy food access in the northeast area. He said the point about distance from homes was a good one, and he believed that they could work through any questions and find a way that the program could work.

Broderick Crawford, Kansas City, Kansas, said that as a resident in the area, he felt it was imperative that something was done to provide fresh, healthy food in this area. He understands that any concerns could be worked out. It has been too long for individuals in this area not to have access to fresh, healthy food, he said.

Stephanie Kimbrough, a Kansas City, Kansas, resident, said at the public hearing that she was “very disappointed” her elected officials have decided to put a Band-Aid on a wound in the northeast area.

“Too long we’ve been neglected, and underrepresented, and underfunded,” Kimbrough said. “To hand me something as superficial as a food truck instead of an actual economic investment in that area is very disappointing. Who’s going to regulate to make sure that my safety or the safety of the people who are purchasing from this truck is going to be insured? Who’s going to take the responsibility of the citizens in that area, who, with the increased amount of people, debris and public safety, are we expecting our overtaxed police officers to continue helping us with supervising?

“Who’s going to take over the responsibility, and to use the gross overstatement of ‘anything is acceptable’ is insulting to the tax-paying citizens of that area. No, I don’t want ‘anything.’ I want a sound economic plan, just like we would do at the Legends, just like we would do at 78th Street, just like we’ve done on 47th Street, I deserve it, too, right there on 29th and Stewart,” Kimbrough said.

She also asked who would take care of the debris in this project.

“I am disappointed immensely to say, here is a token, here’s the crumbs off the table, instead of a purposeful economic plan to help the northeast section,” Kimbrough said. “We have a plan, we sat there for several months talking about what we wanted in our area, and how we wanted to revitalize our area. It’s disappointing and disheartening. What happened to the Healthy Campus that we were planning at Big Eleven Lake? What happened to the economic revitalization that we spent months working on?

“It is disappointing that you are OK with saying, ‘It’s OK just to hand you anything,’ instead of saying, ‘Let’s work together,’” Kimbrough said.

The UG Commission sent the ordinance back to the Planning Commission for more work on the language on a 9-1 vote, with Commissioner Philbrook voting no.

The March 1 UG meeting is on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zASAKdCPUI4.