A proposed shopping development in northwest Emporia should have no trouble getting its commercial zoning on Wednesday.
At least three of Emporia’s five city commissioners favor commercial zoning for a 71-acre tract on the southwest corner of 18th Avenue and Graphic Arts Road. Commissioner Tom Myers could not be reached for comment, and Commissioner Julie Johnson said she hadn’t yet made up her mind one way or the other.
“I think it’s a rather important decision and I’ll look at it very carefully,” Johnson said. “It’s a large tract of land and it could have a great impact when it’s developed by the city. I don’t remember anything that large that we’ve had to vote on, as far as zoning and infrastructure.”
The property is owned by Emporia DeBauge Family Investments and by CSJD and is zoned for agricultural use. At an Oct. 24 meeting of the Emporia-Metropolitan Area Planning Commission, attorney Tom Krueger said that Kansas City developers Block and Co. want to develop the property as a shopping center. The planning commission recommended approval 7-0.
Commissioner Ray Toso said that the use made perfect sense for the area.
“It’s something that’s been in the plans for a long time, as far as use of the land,” he said. “I think it would be a good addition to Emporia.”
Earlier this year, Toso voted against another major rezoning that turned the former Modine plant from an industrial to a commercial site. Unlike that move, he said, the DeBauge property is in an area that was intended to become commercial eventually.
“This is a part of the area where it should be growing,” Toso said.
Mayor Jim Kessler said he “would terribly like” to see the ground become commercial. Emporia has been leaking trade, he said, and a high-visibility site like this could be the answer.
“People see it right off I-35, right off the turnpike,” he said. “Hopefully we will draw those people in.”
Commissioner Bobbie Agler called it a “prime commercial development site” because of the improvements being made to the Emporia interchange of the Kansas Turnpike, particularly a roundabout that could readily funnel traffic to the property.
“It looks like to me — and this is probably my weakest area — that when the turnpike and and interstate realignment come into play, I think it opens up that area as very accessible,” Agler said.
Like Kessler, Agler said that Emporia’s “pull factor” — its ability to draw customers from outside — was going the wrong way.
Johnson said she still had some questions she wanted answers to, such as drainage.
“From the drawing, it looks as though there is the potential for a lot of runoff and I didn’t notice that there was any means of handling it,” she said. “Also, it looks as though much of it is devoted to parking and I wonder about that. What’s the aesthetic sense of it?”
Wednesday’s meeting will start at 7 p.m. in the city commission chambers, 518 Mechanic St.