More industrial sites for Lawrence? Our chamber of commerce and some city and county commissioners argue that a shortage of industrial sites is an urgent community problem. A developer is proposing an island annexation and rezoning of agricultural property to industrial. Our leaders are being tempted by an expensive solution to a non-problem.

We have a huge alternative available industrial site, 467 acres at the former Farmland Industries Inc. fertilizer plant at the southeast gateway to Lawrence. The plant closed in 2001, and Farmland declared bankruptcy in 2004. Lawrence and Douglas County governments in 2004 hired Lathrop & Gage, a Kansas City law firm, to guide them in rehabilitating the property. Our commissioners were quick to seek advice but have made no further reported progress. “It’s kind of like we’ve been stuck in cement for a while” according to a commissioner quoted in the Journal-World, March 24. Four years being stuck is too long. The result is an industrial wasteland of abandoned storage tanks and pipes.

Lawrence city commissioners expect to eventually buy and then resell the Farmland industrial site. Delay by Lawrence city government in accepting responsibility for environmental cleanup is the obstacle to the city’s purchase of the site from a bankruptcy trust. Private sector buyers are apparently reluctant to accept the risk of unknown contamination by Farmland.

City leaders are now distracted from solving the Farmland rehabilitation project by a substitute project – the proposed island annexation and rezoning from agriculture to industrial of 154.9 acres near the Lecompton I-70 interchange. Developing a substitute industrial site will make it more difficult to sell the Farmland site. Demand falls when available substitutes increase, so either the sale of the Farmland property will be further delayed or the price received by the city from the sale will be lower.

Lawrence does not gain from all possible types of industrialization. The 154.9 acres near the Lecompton I-70 interchange is proposed for annexation with no plans to provide city services. Advocates argue that Lawrence would gain increased tax revenue – more tax revenue with no (immediate) infrastructure costs. But as economists say, “There is no such thing as a free lunch.”

City commissioners are currently discussing a citywide sales tax proposal to fund infrastructure and required services. According to the May 23 Journal-World, Public Works Director Chuck Soules does not see a way to spend more than $5.1 million to maintain streets without raising taxes, but his department needs at least $9 million to adequately maintain the city’s streets; Police Chief Ron Olin’s department is struggling with high fuel prices and could require officers to do more foot, bike or motorcycle patrols to save on fuel; and no major road reconstruction projects are planned in Lawrence in 2009.

Meanwhile, our commissioners are considering a developer’s requested island annexation of 154.9 acres outside the urban growth area identified in Horizon 2020 and over two miles from city water and sewers. The developer, or successor property owners, will inevitably request water and sewers for the benefit of greater Lawrence. Police and fire protection must be provided. Good planning would save Lawrence taxpayers from increased future infrastructure costs by not approving island annexations far from existing or even planned city services.

Recent analysis of Lawrence tax revenue by Lawrence Budget Manager Casey Liebst found that the Lawrence property tax base was 68.99 percent residential, 31.01 percent non-residential in 2008. One commissioner at an April 15 meeting regarding annexation mentioned that our residential component is high. The Leibst analysis shows that our residential component is fourth highest among the ten largest cities in Kansas in 2008. Manhattan has a higher residential component. Topeka has a lower residential component.

The high residential component of the property tax base is a reflection of Lawrence being an attractive area to live. The current median prices of homes for sale are $200,000 in Lawrence and $131,900 in Topeka. Many of us prefer Lawrence to Topeka and choose to pay more for our homes and in taxes in Lawrence than we could in Topeka, because Lawrence is prettier and less industrialized.

The fact that an island could be profitably developed, because it is close to I-70, is not a sufficient reason for development. Hidden current costs and future costs should be considered. Lawrence should rehabilitate the Farmland site before adding to our industrial property inventory. Lawrence should decline small tax revenue gains with high long run costs for infrastructure. Lawrence should preserve its beautiful, rural green space and oppose island annexation for industrial space.