The Manhattan City Commission met at City Hall Tuesday night and accepted a large land donation from the Kansas Department of Transportation.
KDOT first offered Manhattan a 99-acre property known as the VMI tract — located north of K-18 and east of the Scenic Meadows subdivision — with the condition the city does not develop the property back in February, but the commission rejected the donation by a 3 to 2 vote. City Manager Ron Fehr told KMAN earlier in the week that commissioners wanted another consideration of the offer after getting new information on the tract following that meeting.
Director of Parks and Recreation Eddie Eastes said they envisioned the most “reasonable public use for it is trail development.” He said they already have plans to construct three miles of new trail in the tract which would connect trails from Warner Park to the Stone Haven Park tract to the VMI tract and beyond.
“The VMI tract really fills a critical gap in connectivity to some existing neighborhoods and parks,” Eastes said. “It’s not very often this opportunity comes along.”
The only access to the tract currently is through a small neighborhood, multiple residents from which attended the meeting and raised concerns regarding a possible influx in traffic in the area.
“Increased traffic in the neighborhood, whether pedestrian or vehicular, is really not something our immediate cul-de-sac is really interested in at all,” local resident Caitlyn Reddy told the commission.
Residents were also concerned that making the VMI tract into a public park would create parking issues in their community.
“I would ask that if there is going to be a pedestrian access point, the city really works with enforcing or managing where parking would be,” Aaron Conti said during public comments on the item.
Commissioners assured residents of their commitment to preventing the new park land from negatively affecting the community.
“I 150-percent agree with you that there should not be vehicular access through your neighborhood,” Commissioner Jared McKee told residents. “If we vote to take this land tonight, as long as I’m on the commission I will ensure we keep that promise.”
Commissioner Wynn Butler also told residents they will not have to worry about future commissions using the land for development.
“The fact that there is no access actually works in benefit of the neighborhood because it can’t be developed,” said Butler. “You’re not going to see soccer fields in there because you can’t build a parking lot in there – it just won’t work. So it’s going to be green space.”
City Manager Fehr said that development is also not possible as the VMI tract is in the flood plain.
Eastes said during his presentation that some work will have to be done on the tract to treat it for noxious weeds and demolish a few condemned structures, but that Parks and Recreation have the funds, expertise and manpower to do a lot of the groundskeeping work needed.
The donation was accepted by unanimous vote.
The commission also discussed a first consideration of an economic incentive package for a local company. Ultra Electronics I.C.E. Incorporated is a local aerospace electronics business that was bought out by a U.K. holding company in 2014. Ultra Electronics is looking to expand and relocate some military aerospace programs to a facility in the U.S.
“This is a competitive situation, they also have a facility in Austin, Texas that could get this work,” Manhattan Area Chamber of Commerce Director of Economic Development Trent Armbrust told the commission. “That’s why we emphasize it’s a retention as well as an expansion opportunity for us.”
Commissioner Usha Reddi said Ultra Electronics is “exactly the type of business we’re looking for” and that is imperative to keep their business in Manhattan.
“Being in competition with Austin is a pretty big deal and every time we lose somebody like that we won’t get them back,” Reddi said. “Not only won’t we get them back, but word spreads and we may not get other people to come into Manhattan.”
The package offers the company up to $745,000 in economic development assistance for facility construction and hiring incentives to spur job growth. The company is seeking to create 33 new jobs making more than $14.25 per hour over the next 10 years. Company president Randy O’Boyle said they are excited for the future in town.
“What this really means to us is we’re going to have an opportunity to grow again in Manhattan,” O’Boyle said. “We believe it’ll only be good things and more jobs and high tech jobs here in Manhattan.”
The commission passed the first consideration unanimously, and the item will return for second consideration at their June 19 meeting.
Another agenda item was an ordinance annexing and rezoning the Hespenhide Hills area. Hespenhide Hills is a 7-and-a-half acre tract of land off of Seth Child Road in the Marlatt area. Assistant Director of Community Development Chad Bunger said the land would be rezoned into a single family housing district divided into three lots.
“Lot one, the long skinny piece, is really preservation of open space at the back yard of the applicants,” Bunger said. “Lot two primarily has some manicured landscaping, it’s the entrance to Tatarrax — and that’s the piece they wanted to preserve for the neighborhood.”
Lot three would be developed for housing. Bunger said they heard some concerns from residents about utilities in that lot, but after an engineer reviewed the plan they found no issues with developing the lot.
The item passed the commission by unanimous vote.
The commission also discussed establishing a policy regarding community improvement districts, or C.I.D.s. A C.I.D. is a district where property owners can vote to ask the city to impose an increased sales tax of up to 2 percent on that district. A minimum of 55-percent of owners in a proposed district must approve and file a petition with the city to form a C.I.D. Assistant to the City Manager Jared Wasinger said the extra funds could be used for public as well as private projects.
“It’s an added economic development tool we need to throw in the toolbox and just see what happens,” Commissioner Butler said.
The Manhattan policy would prefer developers secure private funding for projects, which the city will reimburse following an audit of their expenditures. The city policy would also prefer developers provide at least 50-percent of funding for projects.
“So when they approach us to put this tool in place, we want to make sure the developer is investing with us,” Wasinger said.
Commissioner Reddi said the city isn’t in a position to give fewer options than other Kansas cities do to developers.
“I think as we have to stay competitive with as many businesses that want to come in or renovate –whatever it might be — we have to give them as many options as possible and still make sure they fit into our community,” she said.
Developers looking to form a C.I.D. with the city of Manhattan also must enter into a performance agreement with the city, which allows city officials to scrutinize how the funds are being used.
The item was approved by the commission by unanimous vote.
Last on the general agenda was an ordinance authorizing Cox Communications to build small signal boosters to improve wireless internet connection in town. Cox would be permitted to install new poles and other equipment and lease out their infrastructure to large wireless companies such as Verizon to strengthen their signal.
Manhattan would receive 5-percent of the revenue from those leases as well as an addition $1,000 for every pole built in the public right-of-way. Cox Director of Business Development Eric Berry said improving these wireless networks “is the platform for them to get to 5g, it’s that densification they need to make that happen.”
“This isn’t just about the franchise fee revenue,” Commissioner McKee said. “This is about us building out the infrastructure to make sure we can provide those technologies when companies are willing to offer them.”
Berry said they plan to install their new equipment on existing structures, poles and wires wherever possible.
“The goal is not to litter the city with a lot of new poles, we have yet to do that in any community,” Berry said. “If you reached out to anybody in Louisiana, Arizona, you name it — we have yet to put up a single pole to date that we own.”
The commission approved the ordinance also by unanimous vote.
Finally, the consent agenda was passed unanimously except for a resolution authorizing the establishment of a Food and Farm Council for Riley County and Manhattan. Wynn Butler was the lone dissenting vote.
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