According to a Unified Government announcement, there will not be a public hearing on the Indian Springs development proposal this Thursday, as originally planned.
The UG Board of Commissioners will not hold a public hearing on the development proposal at the April 27 meeting, a spokesman said.
The public hearing is not needed at this time because the developer has withdrawn the proposal for a 26-acre flex-tech business park on the southern portion of the site, according to the spokesman.
After conducting community meetings in April, it has been determined that the flex-tech proposal is not right for this location at this time, the UG spokesman said.
Unified Government officials and the developer will now look at what the next steps should be for finding a workable development for the former Indian Springs Mall site, according to the spokesman.
A number of residents turned out to voice opposition to the Indian Springs light industrial project proposal at two recent UG public meetings and at a third public meeting held by the developer.
According to the April 27 UG agenda, the next step will be to develop a planning process during the next 90 days. The process will include opportunities for community input and engagement.
This is why businesses don’t want to come to KCK. The commission asked Lane 4 for this project. Instead of hearing “thanks but no thanks” Lane 4 gets screamed at by Mike Kane and called names by Doug Spangler and David Alvey – rich!
I understand the neighborhood’s dislike for it but some of our commissioners (Kane, Murguia, Alvey) just made it very hard to get the kind of business there that we want.
John Campbell, they yelled at him during a meeting? Do you know what day that was? I’m intrigued and would like to watch the video. Kane didn’t show up to any of the meetings with the public.
Here is the video of the meeting. Kane starts yelling at about 43:30
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQN_9gxMmJQ
Thank you so much!
“A well informed citizenry is the only true repository of the public will.” Thomas Jefferson
I still plan on attending the District 8 Town Hall Meeting tonight and the UG Commission meeting on Thursday the 27th. Most of the following was written this morning prior to this proposal withdrawal information here in the Wyandotte Daily. Now I wonder if Lane 4 will still receive a fee for any possible future development as well, even if they are not the actual developers. Not to mention that LLCs (Limited Liability Corporations), currently are exempted from state taxes. If correct, then Lane 4 and/or Axis Point are LLCs may not currently shoulder a state tax burden from any of this.
Written earlier this morning:
I’d like to begin by thanking Mary Rupert, the staff and all volunteers of the Wyandotte Daily for their continued efforts towards providing the citizens of KCK and Wyandotte County with important news concerning our community. Certainly, Wyandotte Daily provides a much needed public service when considering the lack of any other suitable daily news source specifically covering this community.
Even when considering the possibility that the majority of the people may not have access to the internet and this very important source of information.
With the above in mind, do consider the current proposal before the Unified Government Commission to allow the purchase of 26.59 acres of the Indian Springs site by Lane 4 Developers and Axis Point for $750,000. I don’t regularly attend these meetings at City Hall and I presume that the majority of the citizens have never attended, or that they even know when and where these meetings are held. I personally would not have known about this proposal if it had not been reported in the Wyandotte Daily.
If one considers the reported amount that we the citizens currently have invested in this property per acre with our tax dollars, the $750,000 price represents only an estimated one-eighth of what those 26.59 acres have cost us to-date. In and of that itself, one should experience the need for a further and more detailed examination of this proposal.
Very simply put: I buy a piece of property for you with your money, I then demolish structures and prepare it for future development for a total-to-date, Forty Thousand Dollar investment. I then inform you that it’s my intent to sell it for Five Thousand Dollars and also tell you that it’s a good deal. That’s one-eighth. Any takers?
Now, I have attended these “community meetings” concerning this proposal and have been exposed primarily to the “positive views” of this proposal by Commissioners Philbrook and Bynum, along with the presentations of Hunter Harris and others representing Lane 4 Developers/Axis Point. My question is this: Where are the opposing viewpoints of our other elected officials (including the Mayor), during these meetings and/or public “discussions” concerning this proposal? Why are these other opposing viewpoints not presented to the public during these community meetings? Are these fair and “balanced” presentations of the issues in a public forum designed to educate the public on the proposal, or are these meetings merely intended to provide a cheerleading, one-sided “pro” view of the intended proposal?
Where’s the “con” position?
I personally would not know of any UG Commissioners (or the Mayor), expressing any prior misgivings about this proposal if I hadn’t viewed the YouTube video of the UG Commission meeting of April 6, 2017, on the internet, because like many I did not attend that meeting. And, the minutes of that meeting will not be available to the public until they are approved during the next meeting on Thursday, April 27th (this Thursday). This same Thursday meeting may also fast-track a vote on this proposal and the general public has had 21 days since April 6th to digest this material and become aware of this. And, with very little public examination via news outlets other than the online Wyandotte Daily.
So much for a well-informed public. “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.”
I agree with Janice Witt. This proposal should not be voted upon until extensive adequate public forums have been held to examine both pro and con positions by our elected officials and residents, which should also include how this proposal addresses the previous, officially stated intent(s) concerning the original acquisition and development of this property that was once the Indian Springs Mall and how best to proceed to include the priority wants and needs of the people.
What is really at stake here? Stop this fast-track vote and provide in-depth public forum(s) that allow the public their rightful voice in this matter. Attend this Unified Government meeting at City Hall on the 27th, even if you’ve never attended a meeting before. Bring your friends and family. View firsthand how your local government works and possibly make your voice heard.
Your taxes pay their government salaries. We’re told there’s been a reduction in city based taxes via a reduction in the city mil levies. Yet my appraised home value for this year rose 9% regardless of that reduced mill levy.
Subtract it here and then add it back there. Ever feel like you’re watching a sleight of hand magician?
And while it is very highly debatable that the current housing market values in Kansas City Kansas have actually increased 9% over last year, “2017 Kansas Housing Markets Forecast” Wichita State University, Center for Real Estate, notes a projected Home Price Appreciation for Kansas City Kansas of 4.2%*, [with a resultant statewide median increase of 3.7%], national rates of projected home sale prices for 2017 range from 3.2% to 5.3% (Redfin and Zillow, respectively) … yet with the recent interest rate increase provided by the Federal Reserve (and with three more rate hikes predicted for 2017), resultant mortgage rates will also increase, thereby and undoubtedly also affecting home sales and market value negatively.
*Kansas Housing Market Forecast Home Price Appreciation value increase, is based upon Kansas City Kansas homes, average priced at $200,000 and above. (Certainly far and above the average home prices in my neighborhood and most likely above the majority of homes in the KCK area.)
It’s only money. Your money. Our money.
As for John Campbell’s comments concerning “why businesses don’t want to come here,” tax abatement subsidies and economic development perks are derived (in one way or another), from those people residing in those specific areas where these projects are to be built. Already our collective tax burden is too high. So the answer is to invite those that do not live, nor pay taxes in this community, to place an additional burden upon those that do? Of course these developers have our best interests in mind and not merely upon their own potential profit?
As the Mayor stated, there are other locations within our community where such a proposed flex/tech site could be built. Lane 4’s proposal for the Indian Springs site guarantees none of the “future development possibilities” that they often alluded to, but it would’ve succeeded in garnering them nearly half of that prime real estate at a bargain basement price.
635 and State Ave isn’t exactly primo prime real estate, in my opinion — low traffic despite its location and it can’t even support a good gas station. Costs to demo the mall are sunk; we aren’t getting that money back nor should we expect to (the value of the land is simply what someone is willing to pay for it — it doesn’t matter what they spent removing Indian Springs).
Auction it off with a requirement to develop it within 2 or 3 yrs or the buyer forfeits it back to the county for another auction. And has anyone approached Amazon? They need land next to highways. Just some thoughts. You may disagree.