Vincent Marshall Dodge City Globe
The Dodge City Commission added more housing for the development on Monday.
The commission approved an annexation of the property north of Ross Boulevard and west of 14th Avenue, for future residential development by the owner.
According to Planning and Zoning Administrator Nathan Littrell, the owner would convert the property to single-family housing through the Rural Housing Incentive District and is flat and located next to city property.
“There is a housing need that is ongoing, so of course that would meet some of those needs for our community,” Littrell told the commission.
The commission approved the annexation of the property with a vote of 4-0. Mayor Kent Smoll was absent from the meeting and did not vote.
Later in the meeting, the commission unanimously approved the resolution to name the property as an RHID ward for the future subdivision.
The city also amended its charter ordinance designating the city’s website as the official newspaper of the City of Dodge City.
“As you know, the city’s newspaper publication and actual readership has declined significantly,” City Manager Nick Hernandez said. “The legal services you have to pay now. This will actually help promote transparency within the city and allow us to do this at a lower cost and save money for the citizens. This is really the first step in this process. We will also control the timing of their publication to ensure that we meet the dates that must be observed. We’ve had a few issues with these in the past, so this would definitely fix that.
The designation was approved unanimously.
Grant applications have been submitted for the 2022 Community Facilities Advisory Council Organizational Funding, to be approved by the City Commission for five organizations.
The grants total $110,000 for approval, including $15,176 for the Dodge City Area Arts Council; $40,000 to Dodge City Roundup; $15,000 to the Ford County Historical Society; $9,978.40 to the Kansas Teachers Hall of Fame and $30,200 to the Young Guns Youth Rodeo.
“The funding that comes in for organizational funding is part of the ‘Why not duck?’ program. sales tax,” Deputy City Manager Melissa McCoy said.
Commissioner Joe Nuci raised a concern saying, “When we pay all the utilities, insurance, salaries, basically everything to keep that door open and as we’ve been saying for as long as I’ve been on this commission, that ‘At some point, that might go away and lead to depreciation, because our depreciation isn’t funded as well as I would like. I just remind them that there is no guarantee that the same amount will be paid out next year and start looking for other ways to fund them.
Funding for the organization was unanimously approved.
The city also unanimously approved the replacement of property in the area east of Wyatt Earp Boulevard, Highway 56/283, east of Trail Street, Butter & Egg Road, Highway 400 and Highway 56/283/400. The property would be used for commercial development as it had been rezoned to commercial route C-2.
The property will be used for a Blue Beacon truck wash.
More playsets will be coming to Chilton Park as the commission unanimously approved a playset design from Athco Landscape Structures for installation.
The new playset will feature inclusive play areas for users.
The cost of the project would be $120,000 and will be funded through capital improvements.
To contact the author, email vmarshall@cherryroad.com
