A trip to Colorado to visit his daughter was one of the reasons local developer Tim Schultz to put forward a plan to develop parkland near Lee Mill Heights. On Tuesday night the Manhattan city commission decided to move ahead with the first reading of an ordinance to annex nearly 100 acres to develop a small 20 acre single family subdivision. The remaining 72.82 acres would be set aside for city parkland. During the meeting at city hall Schultz says the ordinance corresponds with a $25,000 dollar gift to the Parks and Recreation department to develop the park.
The commission also approved a first reading of an ordinance to develop a Dunkin’ Donuts drive-thru restaurant in Abbott’s Landing Shopping Center. Although Mayor Karen McCulloh did say the landing was turning into “cholesterol circle”.
Next on the general agenda the commission was briefed by the new MHK regional airport director Jesse Romo on the agreement for the airport fixed base operations (FBO) facility design-build phase 1 process. Romo outlined the need for the FBO in the day to day operations of the airport, and clarified the mechanics of the agreement as being done by one firm during both the design and build phases. The agreement passed with a unanimous vote.
Finally, a first reading of an ordinance to consolidate and update citywide parking ordinances was brought forward to the commission. During the discussion Riley County Police Department Captain Josh Kyle asked the commission to consider the impact of the ordinances on the workload of the department. According to Captain Kyle the department wanted to lessen the burden on police resources when dealing with parking violations, and implored the commission to “get us out of the parking police business.” The first reading passed with an unanimous vote.
