City Commision sets date for public hearing
Hearing on Lowe's will be held in February
By Russ Morgan (Contact)
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
The Emporia City Commission on Wednesday set Feb. 4 as the date for public hearings regarding two aspects of the continuing development plan to build a Lowe’s home improvement store in Emporia.
The first hearing will be to consider the development agreement submitted to the city by development firm D.J. Christie. This will include the results of the third-party marketing study by Development Strategies and the financial feasibility study conducted by Piper Jaffray.
The second hearing will be to consider the establishment of a Transportation Development District (TDD) to pay some of the project’s improvement costs. The TDD will allow for the creation of a separate sales tax to pay for those improvements and for improvements adjacent to the district. The tax collected in the TDD can be up to one percent.
The hearings will occur at the commission’s regularly scheduled meeting, to be held at 1:30 p.m. on Feb. 4.
In a separate study session, the commission discussed several different options for the 18th Avenue bridge project. The discussion comes on the heels of the Kansas Department of Transportation’s announcement that it’s portion of the project’s funding will be capped at $3 million. Originally, KDOT was to pay $5.14 million of the $7.4 million project. The cap is due to state budget shortfalls.
According to Interim City Engineer Mike Novak, the project originally was for a two-lane bridge replacement. The plan later was expanded to allow for a four-lane bridge with a tunnel to accommodate pedestrians in the area of the Jones Aquatic Center and the TRYSA Soccer Complex.
One of the options discussed was for the city to reduce the scope of the project and to build a two-lane bridge replacement with pedestrian accommodations, for a savings of approximately $1 million. An additional $2 million could be saved by shortening the bridge. The design would allow for two more lanes to be added as development of the area continues.
“One of the things we need to do is plan for the long term,” said Commissioner Julie Johnson, “but so often we get stuck in the immediate money crunch that makes planning for the future so difficult.”
“You know it’s going to cost more to add, but I like the idea that it at least could be added onto,” said Commissioner Jim Kessler.
In addition to further discussion on the project, the commission decided to delay the bid-letting process from March until as late as October.