photo by: Journal-World

The west side of the Douglas County Courthouse, 1100 Massachusetts St.

Douglas County leaders are set to tackle two large-scale topics this week — they’ll review nearly 100 requests for American Rescue Plan Act funding and conduct a hearing about a proposal to incorporate a new city in the southeastern corner of Douglas County.

On Wednesday, Douglas County commissioners will begin to comb through the ARPA funding proposals during a work session. After that, the agenda for the commission’s regular meeting includes a hearing about the petition for incorporation of the proposed city of Clearfield, which is looking to establish its boundaries in the southeastern corner of the county, about 9 miles northeast of Baldwin City.

American Rescue Plan Act requests

Since the applications for American Rescue Plan Act funding first opened in mid-March, 99 requests for funding have been filed, and they’re seeking roughly $100 million in total. However, county commissioners have only about $21 million in ARPA funding left to distribute.

Of the 99 proposals the county has received, 29 of them are from internal county departments. That group of requests totals $33,709,105. Some of the noteworthy requests from those agencies include about $1.5 million to cover professional design services associated with an addition and renovation at the Judicial and Law Enforcement Center, and a nearly $3 million request to support the county’s Open Space Plan.

Groups that aren’t county departments, such as area nonprofits and health care providers, have submitted $63,324,674 worth of requests. Those include a nearly $6 million request from Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center for a supportive and rehabilitative permanent housing project; a nearly $3 million request from the Lawrence Community Shelter to expand its capacity; and a $3.5 million request from LMH Health to establish a health career education program for Kansas residents who are underrepresented minorities, first-generation students or come from a low-wealth background.

This will be the first of two work sessions to discuss and review ARPA requests. The second one will take place before next week’s meeting. The commission doesn’t take any action during work sessions, so there won’t be any decisions yet about where to direct the remaining funding.

Clearfield petition for incorporation hearing

The County Commission will have the final say in deciding whether Clearfield may incorporate as a new city, and Wednesday night’s hearing is a requirement in the process for doing so.

During the hearing, commissioners will hear testimony from people who reside within the 18-square-mile territory that petitioners are proposing as the new city’s boundaries. There are more than a dozen factors that will ultimately inform the commissioners’ decision, including the likelihood of significant growth there or in adjacent areas within the next 10 years and the new city’s proximity to other cities nearby.

A presentation from the group of residents hoping to incorporate Clearfield is included in the meeting’s agenda materials, and it sheds more light on why they want to become a city. The Journal-World previously reported that the petitioners might have been motivated by their opposition to a proposal to develop a utility-scale solar farm in the area. The presentation from the group explicitly mentions “irresponsibly sited and sized” solar projects as an area of concern.

The presentation doesn’t specifically name Florida-based energy firm NextEra, which is proposing the solar farm in Douglas and Johnson counties. However, the proposed solar farm would overlap with the proposed boundaries of Clearfield.

The agenda materials also include a number of statements from residents who live in the area proposed for incorporation, and many of them are opposed to incorporating the new city. More than one of those statements noted that at 18 square miles, Clearfield would be the 13th-largest city in the state by land area covered. It’s not clear how large Clearfield’s population would be; the petitioners have claimed that the boundaries would include more than 1,200 residents, but their original petition listed just 415 residents.

Wednesday’s work session will begin at 4 p.m., followed by the business meeting at 5:30 p.m. at the Douglas County Courthouse, 1100 Massachusetts St. The meeting will also be available by Zoom. For meeting information, visit the county’s website: dgcoks.org/commissionmeetings.