Category: Unified Government Commission

Update: Because four UG commissioners will not be in attendance at the 5 p.m. meeting, the performance review of the UG administrator will not be conducted on Oct. 14, according to an amended agenda note. The labor negotiations discussion is still on the 5 p.m. agenda.

At its meeting tonight, the Unified Government Commission will consider sending a letter urging the Kansas Legislature to leave Wyandotte County with Johnson County in the 3rd Congressional District.

Legislators currently are redrawing maps for the districts based on population.

Also on the 7 p.m. agenda Oct. 14 is a resolution approving an agreement with Bishop Ward High School to provide a school resource officer from the Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department. The school would pay $30,000 this school year for the SRO; $33,000 in 2022-2023; and $36,000 in 2023-2024. There would be increases from 2024 through the term of the agreement.

Also on the agenda is a resolution for a sewer separation project, authorizing a survey of land. The location of the project would be Washington Boulevard to Sandusky Avenue, North 13th Street to North 10th Street.

The project includes sewer separation south of Big Eleven Lake, including new sanitary and storm sewers; Big Eleven Lake enhancements, including energy dissipation and aeration; utilization of Big Eleven Lake for stormwater storage; stormwater pretreatment facilities including bioretention and mechanical debris-nutrient separators; and closure of Waterway Drive between Washington Boulevard and State Avenue. Eminent domain could be used in the future to acquire parcels.

Also listed on the agenda are Land Bank option applications for new construction of two single-family homes by Circuit Avenue Partners LLC. Addresses were 837 Freeman Ave., 841 Freeman Ave., 843 Freeman Ave., 845 Freeman Ave., 847 Freeman Ave., 849 Freeman Ave. and 851 Freeman Ave. They were “fast-tracked” to the Oct. 14 meeting and put on the consent agenda, but there is a question about whether they will be considered on Oct. 14 because of committee action Monday night.

At a UG Neighborhood and Community Development Committee meeting Monday night, Ric Worner told the committee that the developer would like to build two model homes on these lots, then invite everyone to tour the model homes and give input on what they would like to see in the future homes they plan to build on the seven lots.

It is their intent to build homes on all the lots, but they have not had the chance to do environmental inspections on the lots yet, he added.

Beverly Easterwood of the Douglass-Sumner neighborhood group spoke at the committee meeting and said they would like to have more information before endorsing the project.

Commissioners Melissa Bynum and Gayle Townsend were in favor of holding over the approval for this project until the community group could talk with the developer, and also until the district commissioner’s opinion was heard.

Worner said they were trying to expedite the project because they were trying to build two houses this year before the weather changes.

He said his firm also was working on another project, but there was a difference of opinion between the UG and Mt. Carmel as to who had the right to the lots, delaying that project. He has previously developed the Hazelwood project at 114th and Parallel, he said.

Commissioner Townsend withdrew her motion at the committee meeting to hold over the project.

Easterwood at the committee meeting then said she felt there had not been proper time for the neighborhood group to investigate what’s taking place in its neighborhood.

Commissioner Townsend said in February and March, the committee tried to make provisions for neighborhood groups to have enough time to evaluate proposals. She was concerned that the items on Monday were fast-tracked without notifying the neighborhood group early enough.

The committee on Monday night then voted, after Commissioner Townsend’s motion, to move the project to the Oct. 28 UG Commission meeting for full discussion and action, with a meeting required with the neighborhood group in advance of the Oct. 28 meeting.

At the 5 p.m. special session Oct. 14 in the fifth floor conference room at City Hall, the UG Commission will meet in a closed, executive session on the county administrator’s quarterly review and labor negotiations, according to the meeting notice.

The Oct. 14 commission meeting will be on YouTube, on UGTV cable television, on Zoom and telephone.

The Zoom meeting is at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83557310190?pwd=dnBpWCtad1ZkS0p2NW56bDZnZDY5QT09.

The passcode is 456436.

The tolll-free telephone numbers are 877-853-5257 and 888-475-4499.

More information on how to connect to the meetings is at https://www.wycokck.org/Departments/Clerks-Office/BOC-Virtual-Meeting.

Unified Government committees are scheduled to meet beginning at 5 p.m. Monday, Oct. 11, in Zoom meetings.

The UG Neighborhood and Community Development meeting wll begin at 5 p.m., followed by the Economic Development and Finance Committee meeting.

On the agenda for the Economic Development and Finance Committee:

• An ordinance to approve a community improvement district at 98th and Parallel for the Fairfield Inn project, and a resolution approving a development agreement between the UG and Legend Hotel LLC. The CID would add 1.5 percent sales tax for visitors to the hotel , on top of the current sales tax, and would be used to reimburse upt to about $1.5 million in construction costs.

• A resolution to waive fees associated with new construction of single-family homes and duplexes on vacant properties east of 78th Street for two years in order to spur new development.

• The second quarter budget revision report.

• The second quarter budget-to-actuals report.

The UG Neighborhood and Community Development Committee will meet at 5 p.m. Monday.

On the agenda for the NCD meeting are several Land Bank option applications, including:

• New construction, single family homes:

Aglahe D. Montano, one home, 2100 S. 37th St.;
Oscar Garza, one home, 129 S. 16th St.;
Meredith Vertreese, four homes, 720 Garfield Ave., 722 Garfield Ave., 724 Garfield Ave., and 728 Garfield Ave.;
Rebecca Davis, one home, 5911 N. 123rd St.;
Circuit Avenue Partner LLC, two homes, 837 Freeman Ave., 841 Freeman Ave., 843 Freeman Ave., 845 Freeman Ave., 847 Freeman Ave., 849 Freeman Ave. and 851 Freeman Ave.
Bright Solutions, four homes, 810 N. 10th St., 1007 Armstrong Ave., 1013 Armstrong Ave., and 1017 Armstrong Ave.
Bright Solutions, two homes, 1238 Osage Ave., 1242 Osage Ave., and 1244 Osage Ave.

• New construction, multi family, four units

Bright Solutions, one duplex, 829 S. Mill St. and 831 S. Mill St.
Bright Solutions, one duplex, 1220 Pennsylvania Ave.

• New construction, garages

Evelyn Janeth Amador Portillo, one garage, 327 Franklin Ave.
Maria Barrios, one garage, 845 Reynolds Ave.;
Jesus Leyva, one garage, 919 Cleveland Ave.;
Robert Moreno, one garage, 1210 Waverly Ave., and 1214 Waverly Ave.

• New construction, commercial

Bessie M. Robinson, 2535 N. 17th St.

• Land Bank property transfers

The Homes Inc., 2926 N. Allis St.
Yard extensions
Bryant T. Crosby Sr., 3541 R N. 60th St.
David Jennings, 3533 Ford Ave.

The committee meetings will be on UGTV cable television, on YouTube, on Zoom and on telephone.

To join by Zoom, visit https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87643675135?pwd=cnNEU0pvN1NvKzhsVHZSU1NwVnBZZz09.

The passcode is 159683.

To join by telephone, call toll-free 888-475-4499 or 877-853-5257.

Public comments may be made by Zoom, or in person at the City Hall lobby.

For more information on how to access the meeting, visit https://www.wycokck.org/Departments/Clerks-Office/BOC-Virtual-Meeting.

A resident unhappy with a Unified Government Commission vote allowing her to have eight ducks on her property, instead of the requested 12, showed up at Commissioner Harold Johnson’s yard after the vote on Sept. 30.

Shortly after the vote at the virtual meeting, Commissioner Johnson spoke during the virtual UG meeting, “This person is outside of my house, and she is confronting my wife and my son.”

Corinna West, who wanted the UG Commission to approve 12 ducks at her urban farm, instead of the eight recommended by the Wyandotte County Conservation District, went to Commissioner Johnson’s Westheight area home after the vote to register her objection to him citing neighbors’ complaints that were not in the public record. She lives around two blocks from the commissioner’s home.

She said she was cited for disorderly conduct on Sept. 30 at Johnson’s property.

West said she went to the commissioner’s home because she wanted to express her dissatisfaction, because the commission entered testimony that should not have been admitted into the record. She said he had not responded to her earlier emails and phone calls.

During the virtual UG Commission meeting, Commissioner Johnson thanked West for the work she was doing in breeding ducks. He said he was pleased the planning and zoning department would recommend eight ducks, instead of the six allowed by the code.

Commissioner Johnson said at the meeting that when he saw the approval of the increase to eight, and the unanimous approval by the City Planning Commission, he looked at that as a good compromise.

“From my perspective I’d like to see how this goes over the next two years, then we can always make an application for more at a later date, if in fact we don’t have any problems with that,” Johnson said at the meeting.

He said he was not aware of any opposition submitted directly and formally through the zoning process, but he has been made aware of some opposition to it. Johnson made the motion to approve the special use permit for eight ducks, which later passed 9-0.

He was asked by Commissioner Jane Philbrook if the opposition was from people who live close to the urban farm.

Commissioner Johnson then asked Mayor David Alvey if it was appropriate to respond to that question, and the mayor indicated it was. Then Johnson said the complaint was from people close by.

West said on Friday that wasn’t the sort of complaint she could answer – it wasn’t specific. She said she could answer comments about plants on the farm, about water runoff or any number of things.

West had disputed the conservation district’s finding that she did not have enough wetlands plants on her quarter-acre lot. She said she counted more than 1,000 of wetlands plants, and she had photos of them that she presented.

West raises pounds of produce and fruit on her quarter-acre urban farm in the historic Westheight neighborhood, along with the rare duck breeding stock. She raises a rare Heritage breed of Cayuga ducks, a domesticated duck breed native to North America.

She is a micro-entrepreneur, she said, and she believes that having to jump through so many hoops for zoning is keeping other entrepreneurs away from Wyandotte County. Quite often, those with zoning issues have to hire engineers or attorneys to represent them, which is not always possible for a small business, according to West. She said she sees the local government as just working with their friends.

“It just makes me very angry the city will not play by its own rules,” West said about the complaint made to commissioners and not through official hearings and channels.

West had submitted eight positive comments from neighbors into the public record.

As a local advocate for the mentally ill, West said she has previously raised her voice about issues in the community.

If the UG Commission had held its meeting at City Hall, instead of online, it’s more likely that West would have said what she wanted to say at City Hall. She probably would have been dragged away from the podium, she said. The lobby of City Hall was open on Thursday night for residents’ comments.

West now has to consider what to do next. She is considering her options, but hadn’t decided as of Friday. Going to court over keeping $80 worth of ducks might not be a good option, she said. She already has 12 ducks, and four wll probably have to leave.

Having to sell the four ducks is a concern to her. She has emotional ties to them. West said she raised the ducks since they were hatched, and they even have names: Midnight, Shadow, Echo and Noncompliant.

Noncompliant is named after herself, she added.

“Sometimes being noncompliant is the key to recovery,” West said. “Sometimes, the key to change is the voice of dissatisfaction.”

She would like things to change so local regulations are not as difficult for small businesses.

A Kansas City, Kansas, police spokesman confirmed on Monday that West had received a citation for disorderly conduct in the incident. An attempt to reach Commissioner Johnson for a comment on Friday was not successful.