The Garden City Telegram
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Crazy House making plans for move
Published 7/10/2009 in Local News
By STEPHANIE FARLEY
sfarley@gctelegram.com
With the Kansas Department of Transportation project of widening U.S. Highway 50/400 to four lanes from Garden City to Holcomb, Crazy House, which is located along the stretch, had two choices for the future of the business, according to owner Brian Shaw.
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Laurie Sisk/Telegram - One of many pieces of construction equipment drives past Crazy House on Thursday morning as construction continues on the U.S. Highway 50 project. The project will make the highway into a four-lane divided highway from the U.S. 83 intersection to just past Holcomb. It also is causing businesses and homes along the highway to move.
"I'm sure you're all aware of the new highway project," Shaw told members of the Holcomb/Garden City and Finney County Area Planning Commission on Thursday.
Construction on the project that will four-lane the highway from Garden City to Holcomb started in April. The project, at a construction cost of about $48 million, is set for completion in July 2011.
Shaw said the project was changing public access to his business, located next to C Bar H Farm & Home Supply, and reducing his parking. Shaw said he concluded his options were closing his business or relocating the western clothing and supplies store, along with C Bar H Farm & Home Supply.
Shaw said Crazy House is in its third generation of family in the business, and after being in business for about 49 years, closing wasn't an option.
Instead, Shaw said Thursday that about 42,000 square feet of building and space is designed for the proposed new location of Crazy House and C Bar H at 3502 N. Campus Drive -- the 9.23-acre area is bordered by Shortgrass Street, Campus Drive and U.S. 50 West Bypass.
Shaw displayed an architect's rendering of the proposed relocation, saying the new building is planned to have a central area that will serve as the focal point when customers enter the building. As they walk in, they'll have the option of going to their right for Crazy House or left for C Bar H.
The new building is designed to hopefully be more consumer friendly and have more eye appeal, Shaw said, adding, though, the store still will cater and aim to make its main customer, the working man, feel comfortable to step in the store however he comes.
After Shaw's presentation and public hearings that saw little comment, the planning commission unanimously approved the plat and site plan for the new property contingent upon staff recommendations, including adequate buffering and screening required to protect the residential areas and identification of appropriate existing and proposed utility easements for the site plan and plat. The commission also recommended Garden City commissioners approve amending the city's comprehensive plan to show a change from residential to commercial potential, and rezoning the proposed site from agricultural to general commercial.
Shaw said the proposed retail facility will be an improvement from the businesses' current location. The new location, he said, will either have blacktop or concrete parking vs. the gravel and dirt at the existing building, and Shaw is planning to landscape some of the area. Shaw is asking for a possible 25-percent reduction in the parking he needs to provide, according to Tim Hamilton, with Planning and Community Development.
Because of the recommendation, city staff are recommending Shaw increase his landscaping from 10 percent to 35 percent of the developable lot needing landscaped.
Hamilton said Thursday's public hearings and appearance before the planning commission let everyone know what is expected of them. Shaw said Lee Construction will be the contractor, although no timeline for the project has been presented. Shaw wouldn't comment on his business outside Thursday's meeting.
Hamilton said the project still is in the preliminary stages -- no permits have been pulled.
Other aspects of the project mentioned Thursday include that the equipment in front of C Bar H would be sheltered and wouldn't be seen by property owners at the new location. A portion of the property is in the proposed flood plain, so Shaw is working on what needs to be done to meet building requirements. There also will be no access from Crazy House and C Bar H traffic on Shortgrass Street.
Shaw is one of 11 property owners who haven't settled with the state on a price for property taken through eminent domain for the project. The state appealed the amounts appraisers recommended awarding.
Shaw said the state had told him that with the highway project, he could move the business' entrance to the back of the building and still do fine. Shaw said that goes against what he's learned in more than 40 years of retail and that he'd flip-flop his entrance when Wal-Mart agrees to put its front door on the back of its property.
"That's where we are," Shaw said of going through the legal process with the state and moving. "... Because we're gonna die on the line" where they're located now because of loss of access to the building.
Shaw said he thinks the new location will be an asset to the city, adding the city's never been able to collect sales tax from the business, which now sits outside city limits. Shaw estimated the business could bring in $40,000 to $50,000 in sales tax revenue a year to the city.
Finance Director Melinda Hitz said, outside Thursday's meeting, the range is based on $4 million to $5 million in estimated sales a year at the business.
"That would be a nice asset to have within city limits," Hitz said.
Planning Commissioner Della Brandenburger said Shaw and city staff addressed her two concerns of whether there'd be paved parking and if outside merchandise would be visible.
"I really like it," Commissioner Mario Lopez said of the project.
Pete Maestas attended Thursday's public hearing, asking about adequate highway access to the business. Planning and Community Development Director Kaleb Kentner said there would be adequate access.
"They will be my backyard neighbors, and I just welcome them," Maestas said.
The state
KDOT currently is in an appeals process with 11 property owners, including Shaw, whose property was disrupted by the highway project.
On Thursday, KDOT Chief Counsel Vicki Johnson and Dustin Bradley, an attorney with KDOT, said the state is in the discovery phase of litigation regarding the 11 cases.
Expert witnesses are preparing reports and parties involved are sharing information, Johnson said, estimating they'll be in that stage for two to three months.
It's a lengthy process to get the cases to trial, Johnson said, and further settlement could take place or the court could order mediation before any of the cases go to trial.
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