Month: May 2019

The development agreement for the new Turner Logistics Center on the Turner Diagonal will be on tonight’s 7 p.m. Unified Government Commission agenda.

The $125-million logistics and distribution center will be at I-70 and the Turner Diagonal. As part of the project, a new diverging diamond interchange would be built. As many as eight buildings and up to 2.7 million square feet, with a possible 1,800 new jobs, would be built north of the interchange, which is near 72nd and I-70.

At the April 29 Economic Development and Finance Committee meeting, commissioners closely examined this agreement before voting unanimously in favor of it.

The $30 million interchange project will receive a $13.8 million federal grant and would have $7.5 million in local funding. Funding also would come from the Kansas Department of Transportation and $1.5 million from NorthPoint Development.

Completion date for the interchange and the first logistics building will be the end of 2020, according to a UG official.

Brent Miles of NorthPoint Development told the UG Committee on April 29 that it has been a roller coaster, with federal funds denied a few times before they were approved.

With “a lot of hard work, determination and some luck, we’ve pulled it off,” he said.

NorthPoint previously worked on the redevelopment of the public levee in Fairfax.

Miles said originally they bought land for this project, but that land was sold for the Amazon development in the Turner Diagonal area. More land is being purchased for this project. It may take five to seven years to build out the entire project, he said.

Miles said the structure of the current Turner Diagonal and exits off I-70 was designed for a toll system that moved west, and the new design will be cleaner.

He said the project will create jobs available for Wyandotte County residents.

According to Katherine Carrtar, UG economic development director, the project includes industrial revenue bonds. Instead of property taxes, the project would require a payment per square foot starting at 14 cents in the first year and going to 48 cents in the 14th year. The UG’s portion of these tax payments from the development would be about $1.5 million a year, according to UG officials.

Commissioner Jim Walters at the April 29 meeting said he was a little disappointed, although he loves the project. He said he was disappointed it would have so little effect on the overall tax structure, that it would just pay for replacing a bridge and an interchange that KDOT should have done 40 years ago. He said the overall project was good for the community.

Commissioner Brian McKiernan said at the April 29 meeting that he has “fussed quite a bit lately about projects where we get nothing out of it and are expected to provide infrastructure around the project, public services around it, and not give us any capital to work with.”

He added this project was great in that it would provide a lot of jobs for the community. While he was in favor of the project, he said the UG needs capital to use for overall improvements of neighborhoods.

UG commissioners recently have been hearing presentations about how sales tax revenues have declined over the past few months in Wyandotte County, and some expressed disappointment that new projects would not provide more in the way of tax revenue to the UG that could be used for other UG improvements.

Some similar remarks about wishing they had a better deal for the UG on the grocery store project were made by commissioners at another recent meeting, although the commissioners voted for the project. The UG administration earlier answered some of those questions about its ownership of the grocery store by saying it had done the same thing with the downtown hotel and the Legends theater, and then sold them to private owners after a number of years, recouping their investment later.

At the April 29 meeting, Miles answered commissioners, saying, “You did have an obligation for Riverview, and we went to KDOT and got out of that obligation. There was $7.5 million you were going to have to budget in capital expenditures that you didn’t have to budget. I think we traded Amazon and no obligation out of you for a payment out of us,” he said, adding it was just his perspective.

Also at the April 29 meeting, a resident appeared to ask if her home on North 75th Terrace near Elizabeth Avenue would be taken by the construction of the I-70 interchange, and she was told it would not be.

The new interchange, according to agenda information, would use existing concrete bridges.

Other items on the Thursday, May 9, UG Commission agenda:

• A resolution stating that a pump station improvement project at Kansas Avenue and South 51st is a necessary project and authorizing a survey of the land for the project.

• A resolution stating storm sewer project No. 5303 is necessary and authorizing a survey of land for it, which could lead to condemnation of some property.

• An agreement between the UG and the Department of Army, the Kaw Valley Drainage District and the city of Kansas City, Missouri for the Armourdale and Central Industrial District Levee unit flood risk management project. The design cost is $4.3 million, with $1.5 million to be a local share to be split by the local agencies. There is federal funding available for the project.

• A mutual aid agreement with Edwardsville and Bonner Springs to provide fire and EMS mutual aid services.

• A recommendation to construct a new fitness court at Huron Park.

• An update on the Land Bank policy lease program.

• Land Bank transfers and applications.

• Land Bank proposed hold areas within the Northeast Master Plan areas.

• Recognition of Coronado Middle School.

• Public Works awards.

• Appointments to witness the destruction of old election ballots and records.

A special session of the UG on the topic of capital maintenance improvement projects will begin at 5 p.m. Thursday, May 9, in the fifth floor conference room at City Hall, 701 N. 7th St., Kansas City, Kansas.