Nobody wants extra property at former Superfund site
Plans to build a new South Patrol police station in Kansas City, Kan., hit a delay on Monday night at a standing committee meeting at City Hall.
The 9-acre site is near 2200 Metropolitan next to the new Walmart in Argentine. The value of the property was estimated by the developer at $1.66 million, according to the UG.
The UG Commission approved the new South Patrol facility in October of last year with a proposed location on the old Kansas City Structural Steel site in Argentine. In December the commission authorized $1.85 million in general obligation debt for the 10,000-square-foot police station, but according to the UG, it has not specifically authorized the site location.
At the Public Works and Safety Standing Committee Monday evening, Unified Government Administrator Doug Bach said the UG was only going to use a couple or three acres for the police station, and had planned on that, but the developer now wants to give the whole nine acres to the UG. It represents a change from what the UG had originally thought, according to Bach. The site is a former Superfund site that has the approval of the Environmental Protection Agency for this police station project.
Dirt from the contaminated fill area has been placed on part of that parcel. The site has been capped, according to Bach. The EPA has said it is safe for people who would work at the patrol station, according to UG officials. But it would not be approved for a children’s playground or public park.
The property is owned by Argentine Retail Developers Inc., which proposed to donate it to the UG, according to the UG. Listed in the secretary of state’s records as the office address for the company is Columbus, Kan., and the corporation officers include Hunter Harris, who is a partner in Lane4 Property Group; and with the board of directors is Ivan Crossland Jr., who is the chief executive officer of Crossland Construction Co.
“I don’t want that property; I don’t feel like we should take that property, but the developer in working this has said, look, if we’re going to donate the property, you take it all. That’s a little bit different when you look at it,” Bach said.
“What’s the long-term liability – it’s kind of unknown,” he said. It changed the deal a little bit, he said.
The UG would be able to leverage all the TIF (tax-increment financing) dollars to pay for the patrol station, according to Bach, making the project much cheaper to build at that location.
Jeff Bryant, a Public Works and Safety committee member, said he would be concerned about what might happen 35 to 50 years down the road, when something like a water main might break on the property, with water migrating outside the property. The UG might be responsible for contamination leaving the property, he said.
Commissioner Jane Philbrook was concerned about the UG accepting responsibility for former Superfund properties and how it could affect the UG in the future, plus what were the chances of the UG’s liabilities.
Bach said he had no concerns about the site; that the EPA approved it and put restrictions on it such as no parks. The developer may want to turn the extra property over to the UG because the developer would not have to spend money on, or do anything with it, in the future, he said. Also, the part of the highest elevation may have some sort of liability for the future, he said.
Bynum said she would be in favor of going ahead with the deal with just the three acres the UG needed, not the nine acres. “I want a project there to work,” she said.
The committee voted 4-2 against accepting the whole nine acres, with Jeff Bryant, Jane Philbrook, Harold Johnson and Melissa Bynum voting no. Voting yes were Angela Markley and Mike Kane.
The next step, Bach said, would be to discuss the project with the developer again and see if they can make additional progress on it. The UG would still like to do the deal but would like to do it without that extra parcel in its ownership, he said.