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No decision on armory building
Published 2/4/2010 in Local News
By SHAJIA AHMAD
The city of Garden City, due to receive a soon-to-be vacated National Guard Armory in mid-February, has received numerous inquiries to acquire the building but hasn't yet made any decisions about what to do with it yet.
The Kansas National Guard Armory in Garden City, one of 18 armories closing across the state, is scheduled to be vacated by Feb. 14. About 20 guardsmen who train at the facility located at the southern edge of town, 405 S. Main St., and a full-time sergeant are relocating to the Kansas National Guard Armory in Dodge City, according to the Kansas Adjutant General's office.
Several public and private agencies already have inquired about moving into the building that the National Guard will return to the city, including city departments, social service organizations, athletic clubs and other private groups, said City Manager Matt Allen.
The building, built in 1958 and with an appraised value of $370,180, could possibly accommodate several public or private groups, Allen said, adding that local officials plan to create a process in which they identify the best use of the facility.
City commissioners have said they welcome public input about the best use of the facility. The city also can sell the building if it chooses to, according to Allen.
State officials first announced at the end of November their intentions to close and consolidate several armories, when Gov. Mark Parkinson announced cutting hundreds of million of dollars from various state departments and agencies, including $156,662 from the KAG's 2010 fiscal year operating budget.
The closure of 18 specific armories, including Garden City's, was announced by the KAG in mid-December.
State officials, citing the necessity of long-term sustainment of armory operations, said financial realities of the state's budget, demographic changes in Kansas and realignment of the Kansas Guard's force structure made the decision appropriate at this time.
Many of the armory facilities to be closed across the state were built in the 1950s along key transportation routes and designed for 100 to 150 soldiers, but population and commerce has altered that map, according to the KAG. Many of the facilities now in the process of closure had only 50 people training at each, according to the KAG.
Other Kansas cities losing their armories are Atchison, Burlington, Chanute, Cherryvale, Council Grove, Fort Scott, Garnett, Goodland, Horton, Kingman, Larned, Phillipsburg, Russell, Sabetha, Salina East, Troy, and Winfield.
The Salina East building remains open for other Guard use, but the armory operation will be transferred out, according to the Adjutant General's office, which hopes that with fewer armories strategically placed around the state, it will be far better positioned to sustain the remaining 38 facilities.
Garden City is one of three armories located in southwest Kansas. In addition to Dodge City, the other is in Liberal, which also will remain open.
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