Dan Warner, a city planner, will take questions about the city’s proposed plan for the former Farmland Industries plant. He can take questions about how the land will be used, leaving questions about whether City Hall should actually buy the land to elected officials.

Moderator

Hi folks! I’m Joel Mathis, managing editor for convergence. Dan is here and ready to take questions. Welcome, Dan!

Dan Warner

Hi Joel. Thanks for having me today. It’s a pleasure to be here.

Moderator

The Farmland Industries site has sat unused a few years. Now your department has planned out proposed uses. Please give us an overview of what’s planned.

Dan Warner

The draft plan that we have right now is focusing on the long-term redevelopment of the former Farmland Industries site. The major ideas in this plan are to redevelop the property for predominately employment related uses while also providing open space for the community.

bearded_gnome

our country has a desperate need for more gas refining capacity, has any one considered putting in a new refinery in the old farmland property; this would contribute to lower gas prices and greater energy independence?

Dan Warner

bearded_gnome: I’m not sure about specific development plans for the property right now.

Moderator

What, roughly, are the percentages of land-use breakdowns. Would the open space be available for use by the public?

Dan Warner

I don’t have exact percentages with me right now, but I can say that the dominant use will be employment related but that there is a good portion of the property that lends itself to open space and we are proposing that it stay that way. We are also proposing a civic land use adjacent to the Douglas County Fairgrounds.

Moderator

What kind of time frame is it expected for approval of this plan. And what kind of time frame would it take for cleanup and redevelopment to commence?

Dan Warner

I hope this plan will make its way through the approval process starting in November and hopefully be approved sometime in early 2008. There currently is some clean up proceeding on the property. As to actual redevelopment, it’s tough to give a good forecast until the property is acquired by some entity that is able to proceed with redevelopment.

Moderator

We have a question from hawkperchedatriverfront about whether city purchase of this land is justifiable. But this plan doesn’t really address ownership, does it? If not, how can the planning process be going on without knowing for sure who will be in charge of the land?

Dan Warner

You are correct, the plan is neutral on the question of owership of the property. However, we can proceed with planning now in an effort to get out in front of the redevelopment process by providing a community vision for the redevelopment of the property. This plan will become part of the Lawrence-Douglas County Comprehensive Plan if adopted.

Moderator

Stain asks about the cleanup process. I’m not sure you can address who will do cleanup. But it leads to this question: Given the pollution at the site, can the land be meaningfully redeveloped?

Dan Warner

According to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, a major portion of the property is available for re-use in its current state. Approximately 225 acres of the 467 acre site does not have environmental issues that would prevent redevelopment. The plan states that the remainder of the property that does have environmental issues will have to proceed with clean up activities before redeveloping.

Moderator

Have you heard much from the public about the proposal. What’s the reaction so far? And how can the public weigh in?

Dan Warner

I received some favorable comments thus far and a few helpful ones that I will incorporate into a revised draft. People can provide written comments to me on the current draft by October 19th. They can find a copy of the draft online here: www.lawrenceplanning.org and can email me comments at dwarner@ci.lawrence.ks.us and also call me at 832-3162

Moderator

What else should we know?

Dan Warner

The plan talks about extending roads through the Farmland Property. The plan does not support commercial/retail uses along 23rd Street/K-10.

We hope to take the plan to the Planning Commission in November. It will be heard by the Planning Commission, City Commission and County Commission before it is adopted.

Moderator

Thanks, Dan, for joining us today.