Comments on: Wichita developers furious about county’s Bel Aire plan

By: Value

Value — Thu, 28 May 2009 18:49:16 +0000

Over $17,000 per acre for undeveloped land, then adding a railroad spur and services. What is the true cost with improvements? Why is Bel Aire being paid and why isn’t the land being donated to the county for their involvement since property tax revenues would still go to Bel Aire? Is there another site that would make more sense in the county and what would that cost be? As it stands, there is no justification or definition as to what should be done. Welcome to Kansas politics as usual….

By: Bill Wilson

Bill Wilson — Thu, 28 May 2009 16:47:42 +0000

Now that you’ve read the “what I’m hearing” post, a couple of thoughts:

It’d be a good idea, I think, if the county reached out to some of these developers for, at the very least, an intellectual partnership.

These are guys whose business has been complicated by the fear of the great economic unknown, and I suspect that’s some of what’s driving their anguish today.

And then, de-annex the land. We live in an era of bailout fear, and getting the county back in jurisdiction will solve a bunch of that.

By: knkoenig

knkoenig — Thu, 28 May 2009 03:43:56 +0000

“…A question not answered in Bel Aire – why can the County succeed where Bel Aire could not?…”

Does the county commission have a brother-in-law developer, and the Bel Aire not?

By: bth

bth — Wed, 27 May 2009 16:37:48 +0000

My recommendation – sent to one of the Commissioners:

Develop an inventory of all properties currently in government hands – County and City – that could be offered for development.

Offer the cities – especially small cities – County support in marketing.

Focus on brownfields (e.g. Bridgeport) where utilities are in place and there has been a history of contamination and groundwater is not used for drinking. This way when there is a spill the consequences are not that severe.

A question not answered in Bel Aire – why can the County succeed where Bel Aire could not? If there ARE things the County can do why not just let County do on behalf of the city?

Add to the property inventory ‘willing’ private land that could be ‘pieces’ of a puzzle for development. This way if a dozen parcels had to be assembled they might already be in inventory.