Appraisal values continue to rise in Pott County; commission approves dust control on Excel, Harvest roads

New construction continues to soar in Pottawatomie County despite the pandemic.

County Appraiser Robin Knoblauch presented an overview of assessments for fiscal year 2020. Included within that was new construction which is up over 10 percent compared to last year.

“$54,920,370 in new construction for the year 2020 during a pandemic is crazy to me. But the market’s pretty hot. It’s a seller’s market right now by all means,” Knoblauch said.

Overall, the total valuation of all property in Pottawatomie County increased nearly 3 percent. The average sale price for county residential dwellings in 2020 was approximately $245,000. Most of the boom continues along the Hwy 24 corridor, but isn’t limited to the Manhattan side of the county. Knoblauch says one thing significantly impacting valuations will be the new Immaculata, a new multi-million dollar church project adjacent to St. Marys Academy.

“That’s going to drive values all over our county. I mean it’s going to affect Shawnee, Wabaunsee, some of the neighboring counties also. But it’s going to affect Pott. County something tremendous. Our values are going to increase because supply and demand is going to be crazy,” she said.

Fundraising for the church project was up over $27 million at the end of January.

Pottawatomie County Public Works officials will add another well-traveled unpaved route to its 2021 county spray program for dust mitigation.

Commissioner Dee McKee motioned for an additional 1.5 mile of spray to be included along Harvest and Excel Roads in Blue Township, due to the amount of traffic each are generating based on increased construction, including the new Oliver Brown Elementary School.

“Harvest Road, they’re building on the other side. The truck traffic there is terrible coming both directions and it’s drifting entirely over Whispering Meadows. All of that road, we put good Magnesium Chloride in at six inches deep about five years ago and it worked really well. We’ve lost it and it goes around the corner on Excel to where it’s paved by Cara’s Way,” McKee said.

Commission Vice Chair Pat Weixelman agreed to McKee’s motion based solely on the increased traffic expected in that area going forward.

“I know it’s not right next to where we’re doing the project but there will be people taking the alternate routes around there and coming down Excel,” Weixelman said.

The additional dust control will cost the county just over $6,000 (83 cents per foot at 7,250 feet) and will begin in May. It will include Harvest Road from Lake Elbo to the intersection of Excel Road and onto the intersection of Cara’s Way.

Applications meanwhile also remain open for residential sprays through April 1.