University Daily Kansan / Friday, March 31, 1989
Campus/Area
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Business park close to landing first company
by Steven Wolcott
Kansan staff writer
The first returns on Douglas County's $1.4 million investment in the East Hills Business Park could occur in the next two weeks if a garage door manufacturing firm locates at the park.
Chris McKenzie, county administrator, said a manufacturing company was interested in buying land at the park where the county was planning to construct a "spec" building at the 300-acre development one mile east of Lawrence on Kansas Highway 10.
A spec building is built without a tenant and is to be sold or leased to companies that want to move into an office rather than construct their own.
"The financing had been put together for the spec building but now that's on hold." McKenzie said.
now that's bi not nu.
She should not release the name of the company because it did not want any publicity during negotiations.
Twylà Rist, vice president and director of industrial development and marketing for Jones & Company, the Overland Park real estate company that is marking the land in the region where they will devolve the name of the company.
"I can say it is a manufacturing company," McKenzie said. "We'll be making an announcement in about two weeks."
"It will be a major user, and it is a relocation from Kansas City, Mo." Rist said. "I can't tell what you they
manufacture because it wouldn't be too hard to identify them from that."
Rist said the manufacturing firm would use about 11 acres of land in the 300-acre park.
"We anticipate some kind of confirmation in two weeks," she said. "Then we'll be shouting from the rooftops."
Bill Martin, director of economic development for the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce, said that the company manufactured garage doors and windows at a 120.00-square-foot project. It will add about 100 jobs to the economy
The park was opened for development in November 1988.
McKenzie said the county had paid $75,000 for the land, and then spent $638,484 for improvements to Highway 10 and Noria Road, which is east of the park.
Mike Wildgen, assistant city manager, said Lawrence had spent about $1.7 million putting in water and sewer, streets and sidewalks at the park.
He said a portion of the $1.7 million would be paid by the property owner in the form of an assessment. The property owner has 10 years to pay or could pay off the assessment at the time of purchase.
The land at the park is being purchased from the county by the Douglas County Development Corporation as tenants are found.
McKenzie said the corporation was non-profit and closely allied with the Chamber of Commerce, which appointed its board of directors.
"The development corporation is responsible for the assessments, but only 5 percent of the total improvement costs are assessed against the property," he said. "The other 95 percent is paid and carried by the city until the land is sold; then, the city is reimbursed."
city street. Martin said the corporation was formed to market and develop the park.
""When someone gets interested in the park we act as the conduit to sell them the property." Martin said
He said that when a portion of the park was sold, the corporation would reimburse the city, with interest.
The county is responsible for paying property taxes on the land at the park until it is *cald*, McKenzie said.
"We have a tax exemption application on file at the board of tax appeals," McKenzie said. "It is our opinion that the property should be depleted once until such time as it's purchased."
Tacha sees definite need for second high school
Editor's note: This is the fifth of five Lawrence School Board candidate profiles. Three spots on the board will be filled in the April 4 election.
by Carrie Harper Kansan staff writer
John Tacha, 48, said education had been discussed at the Tacha dinner table for as long a time he could d remember.
Tacha is owner of the Bureau of Lectures and Concert Artists Inc. a business that provides educational programs for
schools in the Midwest and programs for businesses.
The board should work to educate the public on the need for a second high school before the bond issue is presented in 1990, he said.
Business is enhanced by a highquality school district and Lawrence School Board needs someone with a business background, he said.
"They (vaters) are looking at it from a bond issue standpoint rather than a need standpoint." Tacha said
past but that dramatic enrollment increases in the lower elementary grades would cause a junior high space crunch in the next few years. Because a second high school would take a few years to build, the district needs to prepare for that increase, he said.
Tacha said that the district was not much bigger than it had been in the
Having a second high school and moving ninth graders into the high schools would solve the junior high space problem and prevent overcrowding at the high school level, he said.
Now is the time to examine the high school curriculum, Tacha said. The district needs to decide what deciding who will teach it and where.
"Everywhere, not only in Lawrence, we're getting away from the basics. Tchaa said, "I'm not here. If you've got the money to do it."
Tacha said he did not favor allowing students to choose which high school to attend because it would create many problems.
He is on the board of Cottonwood Foundation and on the board of the local school district's endowment association. He is a member of the Hospital Board and Kansas Delta Fees. He leads Tacha First Methodist Church.
Tacha lives at 408 Homestead Dr.
Traditional dance
Performing a traditional dance from Java, Gina Simatupang,
Jakarta, Indonesia, junior, rehearses one of her movements.
Simatupang and other Indonesian students were rehearsing
yesterday at First Southern Baptist Church, 19th Street and Nalsmith Drive, in preparation for Indonesian Cultural Night, at 7 p.m. tomorrow in the Ballroom at the Kansas Union.
Penny wants consistent government
by Carrie Harper Kansan staff writer
Editor's note: This is the fifth of six City Commission candidate profiles. The candidates are running for three seats in the city's commission. The election is April 4.
David Penny, 44, said Lawrence needed fair, consistent city govern-
Penny, owner of Kaw Sand Co., said he thought public money should be used for public projects.
serve the city well into the 1990s. He said he could bring Yankee honesty and the work ethic that was instilled in him by his ancestors to the commission.
Penny said he did not support the
Business Improvement District because the city was not in the retailing business. A secret ballot vote by the people involved would be best, although he said he thought the problem would be resolved before to
"It is a benefit district set up for promotional things, not really capital improvements," Penny said.
A suburban mall in Lawrence is inevitable and the city should not waste any more of the taxpayers' money fighting it, Penny said, although he does not personally want to see one.
"If Lawrence has pent-up retail needs, then a developer — downtown or suburban — should be allowed to purchase a patent at his own expense." Penny said.
Lawrence should have had a circumventive traffic loop years ago, such as the one that he passed to Pinyon. He said the main arteries of Lawrence were
Penny, who placed first in the primary election with 3,064 votes, is a member of the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce and the Kansas Aggregate Producers Association. He attended a summer school and has hosted foreign students through the KU Host Family program
cramped with traffic from the highways that were not designed to handle such loads.
an eastern traffieway connecting downtown with Kansas Highway 10 should be a serious future consideration. A spokesman for the northern parts of Lawrence, he said.
Penny received a mechanical engineering degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1966 and a four-year degree in Greek and Hebrew from the Dallas Theological Seminary in 1970.
Although he has put a lot of time into restoring his own home and participating in preservation activities, Penny said he did not support the preservation ordinance which recently was passed by the commission.
Penny said he did not support a mandatory recycling program in Lawrence because private companies cost the taxpayers nothing and still reclaimed as much as government-supported projects.
Penny has lived in Lawrence for 13 years.
"The ordinance as it is written is detrimental to encouraging people to preserve their homes." Penn said. "The ordinance that promotes preservation."
Penny lives at 643 Tennessee St.
Walters says reappraisal is major issue.
Editor's note: This is the last of six City Commission candidate profiles. The candidates are running for three available spots on the commission. The election is April 4.
by Carrie Harper Kansan staff writer
Bob Walters, 51, said he thought he could make a contribution to the city
could make a conde-
tinue through pu-
licity.
Lawrence City
Commission.
Walters is the manager of research facilities for the University of Kansas Space Technology.
secretaire-treasurer at Ethan A. Smith Moving and Storage.
Similar issues may arise in Reappraisal may be the issue of the time, Walters said. The effects of reappraisal on owners of older resi-
Priorities must be established when the new mill levy is established next fall, he said.
dental and commercial property may be adverse and the ability to cope with the rumored effects is an important consideration, he said.
Walters placed third in the primary election with 2,496 votes.
The South Lawrence Trafficway will serve as an important route for traffic related to the East Hills Business Park as well as a relief to congestion on 23rd Street, Walters said.
"Dumping traffic from a major arterial like K-10 onto 23rd Street is simply not good transportation practice or policy." Walters said.
He said the city needed some sort of traffic plan to pull Lawrence's street system together for the future.
Walters is the president of the Lawrence Motor Carriers Association and a member of the Kansas Motor Carriers Association. He is a past president of Commerce, the Rotary Club and the Breakfast Cosmopolitan Club.
Walters said he supported the commission's commitment to Plan 95, which reinforces downtown as the regional shopping center of Lawrence. He said he would not support a suburban mall.
The Riverfront project will provide an anchor at the north end of downtown and provide further enhancement to attractive downtown. Walters said.
He said that the Business Improvement District had误读 but that he would favor a round table discussion among the business opponents to work out differences.
Businesses often put together marketing programs that include incentives to attract customers. Wal-Mart offers incentives of tax incentives to attract businesses.
Walters said Lawrence could use those incentives sparingly but should not rely on them because of intangibility, to offer, such as the University.
Recycling should be encouraged, Walters said, but not made mandatory as part of city sanitation.
City services and the housing stock of Lawrence neighborhoods must be maintained for the attractiveness and the safety of the city, Walters said. Traffic, parking, pipelines and school zones are the most pressing neighborhood problems, Walters said.
Walters is a lifelong Lawrence resident. He and his wife, Anne, have three children.
Walters lives at 2626 Arkansas St.
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Lottery Ticket with the purchase of a Texas Burrito (must be purchased at regular price)
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Offer expires 4/30/89
10" Show Plants $9.99
6" Hanging Baskets $6.99
6" Foliage Assortment $3.99
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KANSAS BASEBALL
Saturday, April 1-3:00 p.m. KU vs. Nebraska
25¢ hotdogs will be sold between games of the doubleheader
Sunday, April 2- 1:00 p.m. KU vs.Nebraska
“Seat Cushion Day”
FREE seat cushions to the first 250 fans, courtesy of the Kansas Union Bookstores.
At Hoglund-Maupin Stadium
Gates open 1½ hours before gametime
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