The Manhattan City Commission approved multiple ordinances at their meeting Tuesday. Those ordinances rezoned property on the 1800 block of Todd Road, accepted the donation of a tract of land in the Scenic Meadows subdivision, approved the creation of development and land donation agreements for the developers of the Stonehaven subdivision, and approved multiple contracts for the year 2019 with the Manhattan Area Chamber of Commerce.
Todd Road
Commissioners unanimously voted to rezone a few lots in the 1800 block of Todd Road. The ordinance changes multiple lots from the multiple-family residential district to a multiple-family residential district with a university overlay district.
The rezoning would allow the ELCA Lutheran Campus Ministry at Kansas State University to relocate to the site. They are planning to relocate from 1745 Anderson Avenue.
Flood Update
Manhattan City Manager Ron Fehr gave an update of ongoing city actions related to the Labor Day flood of Wildcat Creek.
Fehr said one of their efforts has been to look into creating a 2-D flood modeling software. The commission unanimously approved a consent agenda item authorizing city administration to seek qualifications for professional services to create that program.
“We think would be a strong help for us to do some predictive modelling for emergency evacuation [and]other types of components for whether a mitigation measure would be effective or not,” said Fehr.
The modeling program is part of the Resilient Riley County Wildcat Creek Watershed plan. The total cost of the software is estimated to run $125,000, which would be split 50-50 with Riley County. The commission also appointed Commissioners Linda Morse and Wynn Butler to serve on the selection committee for the search for qualifications for professional services.
Fehr also said they’ve received a $752,000 hazard mitigation grant from the State Department of Emergency Management to buyout some homes that have experienced repeated flood damage. The total cost of the buyouts will be around $1,000,000, leaving the city to cover the additional 25 percent of the project cost.
The program is voluntary and gives the city the opportunity to buyout homes which suffered damages amounting 50 percent of its value or successive damage amounting to 25 percent of its value.
The homes being bought out include 157 Bethany Drive, 700 Fairman Drive and 945 Village Drive. Fehr said they have another grant application in the works to buyout additional at-risk properties as well.
Manhattan Area Chamber of Commerce
Commissioners unanimously voted to approve multiple contracts for the Manhattan Area Chamber of Commerce. The contracts will run throughout the year 2019 and include a $147,000 economic development contract, a $41,000 Fort Riley promotion contract, and a $1.2 million tourism and convention contract.
The economic development contract pays the Chamber for “economic development recruitment and retention services” as well as to market the Manhattan Business Park. The Fort Riley contract pays the chamber for promotion of the Army base and to supplement the salary of the Military Relations Manager and is matched by the Chamber. The tourism and convention contract pays the Chamber revenue collected from the 7 percent transient guest tax in return for tourism and convention services.
“We take our work that we do for you very, very seriously,” Chamber President and CEO Lyle Butler said. “We appreciate your feedback, we appreciate your comments, we appreciate your suggestions, and we appreciate working with all of you along with your city staff.”
Stonehaven
Commissioners unanimously voted to authorize city administration to create and execute development and donation contracts with the Stonehaven subdivision developer.
The development agreement lays out 9 public infrastructure projects the city will complete in the subdivision, but also included contingencies for developers to complete prior to the start of any construction.
Those projects include grading a portion of Amherst Avenue as well as installing and adjusting utilities along the road, engineering and construction of a detention pond on Tract A and the reconstruction of the dam located on Tracts A and B to address drainage concerns, construction of a sediment basin, construction and improvement of a roundabout at Amherst Avenue and Miller Parkway, construction of a replacement sanitary sewer lift station, extension of the sanitary sewer system along Amherst by 2150 feet, extension of the water system along Amherst by 2000 feet, a 400 foot extension of Amherst Avenue “from just south of the intersection of Amherst Avenue and Miller Parkway south to and including the intersection of Amherst Avenue and Stonehaven Drive, and Stonehaven Drive east over the dam,” and construction of a 500 foot water main to be installed along Stonehaven Drive.
But before any of those projects are completed, the developer would have to acquire a Kansas Water Pollution Control Permit from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment “regarding the construction of the public improvements,” submit a petition to form a benefit district to cover the costs of the infrastructure, dedicate three tracts of land for donation to the city as well as seek and acquire a dam certification permitting the detention pond projects from the Kansas Department of Administration, Division of Water Resources.
They donation agreement lays out terms for the donation of multiple tracts intended for park and water detention purposes. The land will be transferred via warranty deeds “to ensure no prior obligations of the property exist” and also allows the developer to retain naming rights for the park.
No financial agreement is laid out in the agreement and all projects that have a cost attached will have to return to the commission for approval.
Mayor Pro Tempore Usha Reddi said the plan is “very solid.”
“It looks like it took care of all of the challenges or questions we might have for even future commissioners who might be coming on,” Reddi said. “It’ll be good to see some of that land on the tax rolls after all of that area develops.”
Commissioner Linda Morse also said the agreements “seem very logical.”
Scenic Meadows donation
Commissioners unanimously voted to accept one of three tracts of land in the Scenic Meadows subdivision offered to the city for use as parkland.
Cedar Hills Development Corporation originally developed the subdivision and is looking to close out their interest in the property. The terrain of the land is too sloped to be suitable for development, leading the company to offer the land to the city. The donation was broken into three tracts totalling 35 acres, but two had significant use restrictions.
Tract C, D, and H were offered to the city. Tract C “is a two-acre wooded open space in the center of the neighborhood with frontage on Shadowridge Drive and Bramblewood Drive.” Development in the tract is severely restricted due to conservation and gas line easements. Tract D “is a two-acre wooded open space near the eastern edge of the property” and development on it is restricted as the entire tract is in drainage easements. Tract H totals 31 acres of open space and connects Roger Schultz Memorial Park to the VMI Tract. There are some easements in the property as well, but as it is much more extensive in area those restrictions would impact development to a lesser degree than the other tracts.
The Parks and Recreation Advisory Board recommended the city accept all three tracts, but city administration only recommended they accept the largest 31-acre tract. Assistant Director of Parks and Rec said they think it’s the most valuable portion of the land from a recreation standpoint because of its size and the connections it would create between two other parks.
Development plans for the park mainly focus on 1.5 to 2 miles natural hiking trails. Cost estimates for that project came in at $15,000 to $25,000 per mile. The only other costs related to the park are to cover mowing and land maintenance on the land. Further development and planning of amenities of the park would follow a master plan process that seeks out input from surrounding neighbors.
Commissioner Wynn Butler spoke in favor of only accepting Tract H.
“These other two tracts, we can’t do anything with them either and if we did the neighbors aren’t going to like it,” Butler said. “We could put disc golf right there in Tract C, see how people would like that. I don’t think that’d fly at all.”
Butler also wasn’t interested in the city taking on any additional land management costs by having to maintain vegetation near houses in the Scenic Meadows subdivision.
Mayor Pro Tempore Reddi said she felt as though she were in an awkward position having to decide between the PRAB and the city staff’s recommendations. She said that though she understands where the Parks Board was coming from in their recommendation, she sided with city staff.
“After going on the tour today and seeing all of those lands, they’re not vast enough for us to have any kind of an impact,” said Reddi.