City annexes Woods' home, leaves farmland outside limits
By Scott Rochat
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Emporia will annex a fingernail of land belonging to Jim and Sharon Woods, bringing their house and driveway into the city but leaving the surrounding 150 acres of farmland in the county.
The city commission voted 3-2 for the annexation, which allows the Woods to get city water at city rates. The couple agreed earlier this year to sell 40 acres of their land near Logan Avenue for a Hill’s pet food plant and move their home south if they could get city water, since rural water is not available in the area.
Mayor Julie Johnson and Commissioner Bobbie Agler voted against the annexation, saying it set a bad precedent.
“There are other ways to get to the spirit of the agreement that does not constitute something ridiculous like this,” Agler said.
The decision means that the surrounding farmland is outside the city and therefore not subject to city taxes.
Commissioner Jeff Longbine agreed that it was an unusual annexation, but that this case merited an exception.
“I’m willing to approve that annexation because it gave us 100 jobs and $100 million in investment,” Longbine said. “Maybe I’m wrong, but I’ll make that trade anytime.”
“And if we get more like this?” Agler asked.
“With 100 jobs and $100 million investment?” Longbine countered. “I’ll look at those all day long.”
Commissioners Jim Kessler and Kevin Nelson also voted for annexing what one commissioner called the “comma” of land.
A second house owned by the Woods that is closer to Logan Avenue will be supplied with well water.
The Emporia-Lyon County Metropolitan Area Planning Commission recommended against the annexation. Normally it takes a two-thirds vote to reverse a planning commission decision, but according to City Attorney Blaise Plummer, annexations may be decided by a majority vote.
Ashley II
City commissioners approved a preliminary planned unit development for Ashley Estates II, but said the site must be able to handle the runoff from a 50-year flood.
The development by Maurice Schmidt would contain five buildings, each with four two-bedroom condominium units. The area is planned as senior housing.
The city usually requires that a development like this be able to handle a 25-year flood. But several neighbors told the planning commission last month that they didn’t want to see more flooding problems on Prairie Street , leading city staff to propose a higher threshold as a safety measure.
“We’ve got plenty of room to do that,” Schmidt said of the 2.7 acre development. “In my heart, I viewed it as overkill. But I never wanted, a year and a half from now, for someone to walk into my office and say ‘You made our problem worse.’”
Patty and Dennis Delmont, who live at 1605 Prairie St., said they still had concerns about the runoff in their neighborhood and further downstream if the development went through.
“I don’t want any more flooding from anywhere, and I want the flooding we have to be remedied,” Dennis Delmont said.
Kessler said he believed the 50-year requirement would help the area, but that the city needed to take a closer look at these issues citywide.
“The more I hear about storm water problems across the city, the more I believe we need a storm water utility,” Kessler said. “This is not our only problem in town.”
In other action:
F Commissioners voted to remove parking from the south side of West Seventh Avenue between Neosho and Rural streets. The parking was creating a tight squeeze for city trash trucks, City Attorney Blaise Plummer said, resulting in one fender-bender that the city had to pay a claim on.
F The commission rezoned 2.44 acres of the land for the REG biodiesel plant from light industrial (I-1) to heavy industrial (I-2), matching the rest of the site. The section had been given an I-1 zoning by mistake.
F Commissioners rezoned 5.9 acres of land for a rail-spur to the Hill’s pet food plant from heavy industrial (I-2) to light industrial (I-1). The land is former REG ground that was transferred to Hill’s.
F An incentive compliance agreement with Hill’s was postponed until Wednesday. The agreement would give Hill’s a 10-year property tax break among other things if Hill’s builds a $100 million plant and employs at least 100 people at above-average salary. The total payroll must be at least $4,390,000 to get the tax breaks.
F Nowak Construction of Goddard submitted the low bid to build a water main for Rural Water District No. 5 ($217,756) and was awarded the project. The city’s share is not to exceed $125,000, with the water district covering the rest.
F Commissioners awarded the South Avenue sidewalk project between Prairie and West Streets to Emporia Construction at a $162,395 bid. Mayor Julie Johnson voted against the bid because of questions in the procedure. A sidewalk already exists on the other side of the street in that area, but City Engineer Keith Beatty said that more right-of-way would have to be acquired if that one were to be repaired and widened and that it would be easier to build new. Several trees would also have to be removed if the old sidewalk was improved instead.
F The commission proclaimed Sept. 29 “Reunion Day” for the crew of the World War Ii bomber “William Allen White” and the city of Emporia. Three members of the original crew will be in town that day.
F Next week’s Wednesday study session will begin at 10 a.m. instead of 10:30 a.m. and include a discussion of how the leash laws apply to dogs in pickup trucks. The study session will be at 521 Market St. in the city conference room.
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