By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
As long as Housing Opportunities, Inc. (HOI) annexes their property into
the City of Great Bend, construction can get started on a housing development,
just south of Walmart.
The Great Bend City Council approved a motion to allow HOI to connect to the
city’s sanitary sewer and potable water system following completion of all
associated permitting, payment of fees and contingent that HOI applies for
annexation into the city.
Along with receiving more property tax, City Administrator Kendal Francis said there
are several pros to having the property annexed within city limits.
"One of the key benefits from annexation would then subject HOI to our building codes and inspections," said Francis. "If they build outside the city limits, there are no building codes that they would have to follow. They would not be subject to building inspections."
HOI received nearly $6 million from the Kansas Housing Resources Corporation
for the project, referred to as Cambridge Park. Phase one of three in the
development, includes a 28-unit, low-income project that would give Sunflower
Diversified Services first rights to rent the apartments for their clients.
Sunflower helps adults with developmental disabilities.
HOI General Contractor Eddie Price said access to the development will come
from 2nd Street and 6th Street, but completing Grant
Street to the project is not being considered at the moment.
"Part of the first phase and part of the funding we received was to put in Grant Street from 6th Street down to 2nd Street," said Price. "This way we would have two ways in and out, but it would still be using those two streets."
Once fully developed, HOI would add 64 housing units to the community. The new
development will take upwards of 8-10 years to be fully developed for all three
phases.
City staff was concerned about the capacity of the utility lift station serving
that area. The city installed monitoring equipment to calculate the station
pumps’ run time and its capacity for additional flows. The reported indicated
that Cambridge Park’s additional flows would not significantly impact the lift
station.
HOI would take the 24-acre property from paying $2,500 per year in property taxes to an estimated total of $41,600 a year if annexed into the city. Estimates from the Barton County Appraiser show that $12,300 a year of the total taxes would go to the city. HOI receives discounted tax rates for their developments.