The Wyandotte County Fair Association could receive $25,000 more next year after a Unified Government workshop reached a consensus about the need for an updated study for the fairgrounds.
The UG Commission took a straw vote at a budget meeting Monday that supported updating the fairgrounds’ feasibility study. The fairgrounds currently is at 13700 Polfer Road, and requests for more operations money have been unheard for about five years. They are still waiting for some features that modern-day fairgoers expect, such as air-conditioning in one of the buildings.
The fair association has asked for an increase in its operations funding for several years, but was left for several years without an increase. The proposed budget allocation this year included only $800 more for operations.
The old fairgrounds at 98th and State was sold to the Schlitterbahn about 10 years ago, with the UG purchasing 160 acres of land at K-7 and Polfer for $3.2 million., according to Marlon Goff, of the UG economic development department.
In 2007, the UG paid $4.6 million to the fair association upon the sale of the property from money that Schlitterbahn paid for that property, and in 2010, the UG transferred 110 acres of land valued at $2.2 million to the County Fair Foundation, Goff said.
The land was undeveloped and didn’t have any fair buildings on it when the fair first moved there.
According to UG data, there haven’t been many changes in the money the UG has allotted to the fair in the last five years. The total has been around $77,000 or $78,000 each year for operations. The county also was obligated to give about $20,000 to $22,000 each year for reimbursements, which are usually individual amounts under $10 each given to winners in various fair competition categories.
The fair association did a feasibility study for fairgrounds development in 2009. According to Goff, the three primary sources of revenue generation proposed by that study were a 40,000-square-foot exhibition hall, a 150-pad recreational vehicle park and a shooting range.
Some site development, including sidewalks, pavilions, stall barn and parking surfaces, have already been completed at the fairgrounds. Contemplated for the future are a pocket park and trail system at the eastern edge of the fair site, he said.
Goff said in evaluating the feasibility study, he found that the feasibility study proposed a 40,000-square-foot exhibition hall, while a 22,000-square-foot stall barn was constructed. The study proposed a 150-pad recreational vehicle park, while the proposed second phase is an 80-pad RV park. The original study also called for a 12-station trap-skeet shooting range, while only five are now planned to be built.
Goff said the group could only get planning and zoning approval for five of the trap-skeet shooting stations.
The fair’s funding request was for $1.72 million in taxable bonds to fund the second phase of expansion, and increase the annual budget to $250,000. Also requested was a land swap or long-term lease of UG-owned property next to the fairgrounds, identified to be the site of the RV park. The UG property of 47 acres is valued at $943,840, according to Goff.
Based on variances between the 2009 feasibility study and the current amount that is planned to develop the fairgrounds, the UG asked for and received a $25,000 estimate of the cost to update the feasibility study.
UG Administrator Doug Bach said the fair asked this year for operations funding of $156,000. He said he received no direction from the elected officials to increase funding to outside funding agencies, and he built in an $800 increase.
Commissioner Hal Walker said the idea of a campground has been previously discussed. He said he thought the UG would have a lease coterminous with the issuance of the bonds.
“If you’ve been out to the fair, you know we don’t have the things that a fair should have, in my opinion,” Walker said. “The idea of the fair moving to this ground was contemplated to be an upgrade in the fairgrounds, they were going to have an arena, exhibition hall, events center, a few staff people, executive director, marketing director, a few labor people.
“We heard earlier they are operating on the sheer good will of many very committed volunteers and 4-H kids,” Walker said.
Eventually, this is ideally going to be an enterprise operation, generating revenue from weddings, political events, parties, trap and skeet shooting, he said.
It is the best proposal he has heard to get the fair to a point that was anticipated earlier, he said.
The previous fairgrounds was used as a site for entertainment, weddings, horse sales, barbecues and other events, he said. People were marketing it and bringing revenue into the county.
“I think there’s a lot of people that we represent that expect a better show for the fair than what we’re providing,” Walker said.
Walker said it is his opinion that the people who supported the previous land deal with the fairgrounds knew all along at some point in the future it was going to take additional funds to complete it, and that’s why the bond provision was put into the memorandum of understanding.
Commissioner Mike Kane said the community voted on an increase in the mill levy for the fair a long time ago, but the fair is not getting that amount.
All the mill levies were rolled into the general fund, and the county never reached the maximum allowed by the state on it, Walker said.
Commissioner Kane said there were people in Wyandotte County who can attract some top professionals to a shooting range here. Wyandotte County youth are among the top in the state at shooting sports, but they have to drive more than 100 miles to practice BB shooting, he said.
“I don’t think $78’s ($78,000) going to get it,” he said. “I think we’ve promised a bunch and delivered nothing.”
Commissioner Jane Philbrook agreed, and said she believes there were a lot of promises. She pointed out that the fairgrounds is a year-round facility, and before it moved, the fairgrounds was used at various times to bring in different activities to the community. She said she would like to have a location there for 4-H members to use for year-round activities.
She said it couldn’t proceed without updating the study, and the fair also needs an executive director. There also needs to be a minimum five-year business plan for the UG to look at, she said.
Commissioner Melissa Bynum said she went to the fair this year and saw a diverse population enjoying the fair.
Bach said by law, the county is required to give the fair reimbursement funds each year, which are about $22,000.
Kane said the trap stations cost $25,000 each and they can’t make any money until they get all five. Currently they have a grant to build one of them. Commissioner Kane said people from all the different districts in the city currently use the fairgrounds.
Commissioner Walker said a $250,000 budget had been considered, from which it would deduct what the bond payment would be. The stall barn would then be completed, existing buildings would be enclosed and inside areas could be heated and air-conditioned. The skeet stations would be completed, and would help generate revenue. A campground could be developed. Walker said a 10-15 year lease of the UG property is not unusual, and at the end of that lease, the UG could decide to move forward with it or not.
Commissioner Kane proposed that the feasibility study be updated, so the commission could make an intelligent decision. He asked for $25,000 to do the study.
Commissioner Angela Markley said the commission wouldn’t necessarily have to wait for the next budget year to proceed with a general obligation bond issue for the fair, if the commission decided to go ahead with it.
Bach said the commission could evaluate the study and business plan, and if it decided to go ahead, could issue general obligation bonds.