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Developer looks to build subdivision
Published 9/5/2012 in Local News
City commission rezones land near new high school.
By SHAJIA AHMAD
sahmad@gctelegram.com
1
Brad Nading/TelegramA motorist heads north on Campus Drive past a lot south of Pheasant Valley at Pioneer Road Tuesday.
A Kansas City, Mo.,-based development company is looking to build a housing subdivision for medium-income-earning residents in the northeast part of Garden City.
Garden City commissioners on Tuesday approved the rezoning of about 11 acres of property at 3002 N. Campus Drive, changing the area from a public facilities district to both single-family and multiple-family residential districts.
The area for the proposed subdivision — to be known as Pioneer Road Estates — is planned for the east side of North Campus Drive, just opposite the intersection of Campus and Pioneer Road.
The property is currently owned by USD 457, which owns much of the area to the east of the site, in and around the new high school at 2720 Buffalo Way Blvd.
Vogel Properties, the development company from Missouri, has proposed building 13 duplex units on about 4.4 acres on the south side of the rezoned site, and 17 single-family homes on 6.6 acres on the north side of the rezoned site, according to planning and development department documents.
At their last meeting on Aug. 21, city commissioners allowed Vogel Properties to apply for a $400,000 grant through the Topeka-based Kansas Housing Resources Corp. to help develop the area for the housing subdivision.
That grant from the quasi-government state agency is known as the Kansas Medium Income Housing Program, and the award allows developers — through the authority of communities that are smaller than 60,000 residents — to apply for funds that will benefit infrastructure or housing development in rural areas.
Ross Vogel, a representative of Vogel Properties who attended Tuesday's city commission meeting, could not be reached for comment late Tuesday about whether the proposed housing subdivision is dependent on the award of the $400,000 grant.
Planning and Community Development Director Kaleb Kentner said in a separate interview Tuesday that the development company is expected to hear about the housing grant by mid-October.
Kentner said the grant is a new initiative by the state's housing resources corporation and is open to communities across the state, making it "very competitive" to secure.
"The odds of us getting one are slim the way it is, but us getting two are even slimmer," Kentner said, referring to a second grant application under the same KHRC program that city commissioners approved on Tuesday.
The developers behind the second KHRC grant are Overland Property Group, Overland Park, and Prairie Trails Partners II LLC, who developed the Trails at Prairie Ridge, 3201 Campus Drive, a 32-unit affordable housing apartment complex completed this past summer.
Information about the Overland Park-based developer's proposed project under the KHRC medium-income housing grant application was not immediately available Tuesday.
Kentner said any grant funds awarded to developers can be used to pay for infrastructure development such as fire hydrants, streets and other utilities that must be built to city codes and specifications.
Kentner said the city is in favor of both projects coming to fruition and receiving funds from the state housing authority.
"We're in desperate need for housing," Kentner said. "We're in favor of housing being built that (is) quality housing. That's what this community needs."
Kentner also said that if and when Vogel Properties' Pioneer Road Estates on Campus Drive comes to fruition, the developer will be restricted to building and selling at costs if they make use of the state agency's grant award.
Kentner said that more than likely the single-family homes will range somewhere between $150,000 to $200,000, affordable to middle class, working families.
"The ideal situation for moderate-income housing is where you have your teacher, your police officer, your firefighter, your blue collar worker," Kentner said, enumerating possible professionals who may qualify for purchasing or renting homes under the grant program.
In approving the rezoning on Tuesday, city commissioners also questioned city staff members about if and how the road cutting across the proposed housing subdivision might connect or allow access to Garden City High School.
Kentner said in a separate interview that while an extension of Pioneer Road is planned to run through the housing subdivision and connect on its east end to the high school driveway, it will not serve as a second entrance to the high school. It will be a gated area, access through which will be controlled at the discretion of the school district, he said.
"It will basically be a dead-end street," Kentner said.
Found 15 comment(s)!
(laughter)
hmmm, another poster afraid to put their name to their post. another rat. let me look again at the advertisers paying for this.... interesting.
Posted by: james McAllaster on 9/17/2012
Reply
james McAllaster you always smell rats in every article you post on that is why no one can take your comments seriously. You don't seem to like this town so I am baffles to as why you still live here!
Posted by: Judy on 9/16/2012
hmmm,
i smell a rat. the developer may not actually get the money, assuming that the article is correct, but, the developer will certainly, directly benefit -from- the money. i won't. you won't. sooo, if you want to try to say that this -isn't- a backroom deal.... i say.... you're an idiot.
Posted by: james McAllaster on 9/13/2012
James
James, no money goes directly to a developer. The grant money goes to the municipality, who applies for the money based on need, then contracts to build and manage the property. So far there are no developers in or out of this "deal".
Posted by: GC Advocate on 9/11/2012
Judy
Judy, they were not through the KHRC because the funds have only been available this year and only recently awarded. The housing assistance they have received has been through the Overland Property Group which is not a grant but a tax credit housing program. If they did receive grants, it has ONLY been for LOW-INCOME housing which Garden City has received also. As for the "moderate income" housing this article talks about, no one has received these before because they did not exist until now.
Posted by: GC Advocate on 9/9/2012
uninformed.....
-i- am uninformed. that is what burns me. backroom deals. here's what i want to know.... which local developers / builders were -not- in on this deal? that's what i want to be informed about. this ho-hum attitude towards throwing tax dollars towards your friends.... like a game of highstakes keep-away.... just who is it that thinks this is a good idea? and, what are they getting in return for this generous gift of -our- taxpayer dollars.... gad, this kind of thing burns me....
Posted by: james McAllaster on 9/8/2012
Dennis Mesa?
This guy is a poor excuse for a puppet; but none the less - that's about all he's been in the political arena for years. Prove me wrong!
Posted by: Poverty Joe on 9/8/2012
Yeah, but no
Um GC Advocate Hays and Dodge have been applying for these grants for years and have them listed in their comprehensive plans to apply for them so yeah it happened....
Posted by: Judy on 9/7/2012
Uninformed public
OK all, first of all, the state has not given any grants to Hays and Dodge in the past to build housing. Prove to me where they have instead of playing the "poor us" tune. This the first time the KHRC has given money for "moderate-income" housing. Secondly, GC's own Dennis Mesa is the Executive Director of the KHRC, so be glad a local boy is out there assisting with our housing shortage. Thirdly, there are so many programs and housing developments out there for "low-income" families that they cannot be filled due to over abundance Whether you agree with what constitutes "moderate-housing" or not, it is unfortunatley expensive to build new homes and they do not cash flow. It's also unfortunate that Finney County ranks 89th out of 105 counties in terms of per capita income while having a housing cost above the state avg.
I believe Vogel Properties, along with Mr. Kentner, may have to reevaluate how much the final homes should cost. At least with a grant from the KHRC, maybe the cost of the new homes can come down a bit.
Posted by: GC Advocate on 9/6/2012
Reply
Billy while you make a good point you have to realize that companies have in recent years avoided moving to Garden City because there is no where for workers to live one they hire people.
Posted by: FinneyCountyResident on 9/6/2012
Good observations by Judy and Billy
Billy: I don't know this for a fact, but I have been told that at least one industry has picked another county in SW Kansas in the past year because of Finney County's government.
Judy: You are absolutley right about developer grants going to Dodge City and Hays and not to Garden City. Maybe Steve Morris wasn't so good for Garden City as his cheering section at the Telegram, the country club and the teachers union thought.
Posted by: Harvey on 9/6/2012
Middle Class?
Housing at $150,000 to $200,000 is Middle Class? Where? After 35 years in the same profession with pretty darn good pay, no way in hell can I afford a $150,000 home. Where do these people get their information? I always felt decent about myself but these figures put me at middle poverty rather than middle class!
Posted by: Poverty Joe on 9/6/2012
Fed Up
It's nice to know that those who can afford hundred thousand houses will have more housing.. meanwhile those of us that can barely scrape by get the shaft AGAIN. Why not build places to work.. I don't know maybe a factory or a warehouse or some kind of production company. If we want Garden City to grow we got to give people a reason to come here and another burger joint or housing unit isnt going to cut it. Just one guys opinon.
Posted by: Billy on 9/5/2012
Reply
The state of Kansas should give these developers this grant because they hand them out to Dodge City and Hays like crazy, but this is Kansas and the state ignores Garden City.
Posted by: Judy on 9/5/2012
Reply
It's nice to know that the future of this community's housing problems relies on grants even the developers think the state wont give us...
Posted by: Judy on 9/5/2012