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Fridav. February 10, 1989 / University Daily Kansan
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KU officials discuss campus lights
photo illustration by Steve Travnor/KANSAN
by Kris M. Bergquist
Kansas staff writer
Kansan staff writer
KU officials once again are trying to shed some light on campus.
night on campus.
Officials from KU administration, facilities planning, parking services, student housing, Watkins Memorial Health Center and Student Senate met Feb. 2 to discuss financing for several new campus lighting projects.
campus lighting project. Ken Stoner, director of student housing department, said that soon after the office of facilities planning organized the details on its timetable the housing department would be committed to finance the West Campus Road lighting project.
"My impression was that the committee was put together to reaffirm the University's commitment to campus lighting." Stoner said. "We (housing department) always knew we were going to fund a portion. Now, we can make sure that everyone knows who is funding, where and when. We can get portions moving now and get the plans on the agenda and put them into the budgets."
Lighting has made a lot of advances in quality and efficiency since then. It's hard to get replacement parts for the old fixtures. Money is a big problem.
landscape architect for facilities planning
landscape architect for facilities planning
Greg Wade
Locations for new lights include:
Locations for new rights and align West Campus Road from the Vietnam Memorial to and around Joseph R. Pearson Hall. The estimated $84,000 project will be financed by the department of student housing and is scheduled to begin construction late this summer.
- from the southern end of lot 34, east of Watkins,
up the west walkway at Watkins. The estimated
$78,000 project will be partly financed by Watkins
administration.
tion budget
■ around the new Human Development Center,
east of Haworth Hall. It will be financed from the
construction budget.
around the new science library, south of Hoch Auditorium. It will be financed from the construction budget.
- around parking lots 54 and 55, west of Murphy Hall. It will be financed from the construction budget. The lots will be upgraded this summer.
around the new parking garage, north of Allen Field House. It will be financed from the construction budget.
bond budget Facilities planning also is studying the feasibility of installing new lights along the service drive behind Wescoe and Stauffer-Flint halls and along Jayhawk Boulevard from Bailey Hall to the Kansas Union.
Before lights can be installed, facilities planning must go through three steps:
■ It studies the feasibility in terms of cost and location to install the lights.
■ If the project is feasible, facilities planning then prepares a cost estimate.
prepares a cost estimate
■ After estimates are done and financing is granted, blueprints are drawn and construction can begin.
"Because the funding (from housing and Watkins) was identified only last week, it carries a high priority," said Jim Moidig, campus director of facilities planning. "There's a big concern for safety. We're basically saying that we'll put some other projects in the drawer while we look at this."
Modig said facilities planning requested $157,000 for campus lighting from the Board of Regents. The Regents will decide in May whether to fund the request.
request that university officials will meet again in May to discuss progress of the proposal. Modig said each department was looking for ways to raise funds to help the project.
Lighting was replaced in the summer of 1967 on Jayhawk Boulevard, from the ChI Omega fountain to Baina Hall. When Haworth Hall was under construction, new lighting was installed between
was awarded a grant to design the landscape architecture for facilities planning, said the remainder of KU's lighting system was more than 20 years old.
"Lighting has made a lot of advances in quality and efficiency since then. It's hard to get replacement parts for the older ones, but we have new options. It's quite expensive to put in new lighting and change existing lighting."
Brook Menezes, student body president, said last week's meeting was a positive sign that the week
University was back on track with the lighting 1850E.
"Campus lighting is a big issue." Menees said. "You can do a lot of work at home, but campus is where it's at if you want to go to the library, the architecture studios, or the Kansan. A lot of teachers do their work at night. You can't do anything if you're afraid to walk on campus."
Menees said the Student Senate was putting together a survey to get an idea of what students considered major issues on campus. He said campus lighting would be included in the survey this Spring.
Reappraisal: owners should note process
by Carrie Harper Kansan staff writer
Process violators lose right to appeal
Property owners who disagree with their property reappraisals will right to appeal the decision. Don Gordon, county appraiser, said Don Gordon, county appraiser, said
The first set of reapraisals in Douglas County were mailed on Feb. 3 as part of the statewide reapraisal process ordered by the Legislature in 1985. The "change of property value" notices will be mailed every Friday in February, with a wrap-up mailing on Feb. 28 or March 1. Gordon said.
A description of the appeals process is printed on the back of all the notices, but if property owners do not respond within the stipulated time, their right to appeal. Gordon said
The state predicts that about 10 percent of the property owners will appeal the new values, Gordon said.
The first step in the appeals process is to request an informal hearing with the county appraiser's office. Gordon said. The appointment can be made within 18 days or must be arranged within 18 days of the notice printed on the notice.
Gordon said the office had set up four direct phone lines for reapraisal inquiries. The appropriate phone number, which depends on the property's classification, is printed on the change of value notice.
Gordon said owners should take specific documentation to the hearing to back up their complaints. Helpful items could include photos of needed repairs, recent reappraisal
values and sales information about comparable properties.
Within a few days after the hearing, the owner will receive a decision in the mail from the county appraiser's office.
If the owner is not satisfied with that decision, he has 18 days to appeal in writing to the county clerk's office.
At least 10 days before the formal hearing, the owner will get a notification of the time and date his complaint will be heard by a hearing officer. Gordon said The Douglas office appointment appointed the hearing officers.
The owner also has 18 days from the mailing date of the hearing officer's decision to file another formal appeal with the county clerk's office.
A hearing then would be held before the County Board of Equalization, which is made up of the three county commissioners. Gordon said all hearings before the equalization board must be completed by June 15.
If property owners object to the equalization board's decision, the next step is a hearing before the State Board of Tax Appeals, Gordon said. This appeal must be filed within 45 days of the equalization board's decision, or in November after the 1989 tax statements are sent.
Gordon said that most complaints would be resolved in the first appeal hearing.
Students should remain unaffected, agents say
"We do have some data entry and data collection errors that need to be corrected," Gordon said.
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erally, the higher the assessed property value, the higher will be the taxes.
Lynch said she was dissatisfied with her apartments' reappraisal value. She planned to appeal her case and pleaded guilty to reappraisal hearing board, she said.
"I think it's very bad for the students," she said. "Anytime you have a large increase in taxes, some thing has to give. I'm going to fight
Don Gordon, county appraiser,
read reappraisals of properties with
less than five units only had been
mailed. He said reappraisals for
larger apartment complexes would
be sent out by Monday.
Gordon said the reappraisal value for large apartment complexes may not be as high as smaller ones.
"That's strictly on paper, however, and we will not know for sure until this fall," Gordon said.
However, not all reappraisals have met with disapproval. Ed Grosdidier, an owner of Lawrence single-family
The tax on a property will depend on the assessed property value. Generally, the higher the assessed property value, the higher will be the taxes.
rental units, said he was happy with the reappraisal of his properties.
"I think their appraisal was right on the money," Grossidier said. "When my property is compared to other property sold recently on the same block, the figures look very close."
Pam Ruttman, leasing agent for Trailride Apartments, 2500 W. Sixth St., said her tenants would not notice effects of the reappraisal.
Officials at Mastercraft Management, which owns 11 apartment complexes in Lawrence, declined to say whether they thought reappraisal of Mastercraft's properties would affect tenants.