The Leavenworth County Port Authority now has two virtual building renderings for the Urban Hess Industrial Park in Tonganoxie.
During Wednesday’s Port Authority Board of Directors meeting, Ed Chapman III, Port Authority Spec Building Committee member, presented renderings of an 80,000 square-foot building and a 120,000 square-foot building.
“We do realize that we have quite an abundance of trees, which we’re going to thin out,” Chapman said of the virtual tour.
Chapman said Internet-related ideas for the tour include a land-plan video and pinpointing the location of businesses that could interest potential clients. Information regarding the industrial park’s additional lots and their prices also would be available, Chapman said.
The buildings depicted in the virtual tour are subject to change, Chapman said.
“We understand that the buildings we have here are just ideas, and they’re not necessarily ‘This is what we can do, and that’s it,’” he said. “There will be some customization — we’re aware of that.”
The committee still needs to receive its 40,000 square-foot rendering and develop a request for proposals for the buildings’ construction, said Steve Jack, Leavenworth County Development Corporation executive director.
“We’ll have some still shots, as well as this video,” he said.
Jack said the buildings would be located along the recently constructed cul-de-sac at Urban Hess.
The Spec Building Committee was unable to establish a timeline at its last meeting for when the tour should be made available online, Chapman said. The number of trees and the buildings’ color still need changed in the tour, he said.
Port Authority Chairman Terry Andrews said the committee should understand that the virtual tour is “time sensitive.”
“They have taken, in my opinion, more than the time they should have taken to get to this point,” Andrews said. “We’ve asking for several months to get this.”
Jack said he now needs to contact builders regarding how to construct a request for proposals.
In other business:
* AIR AND BUSINESS PARK — The Leavenworth County Air and Business Park Committee recently interviewed three engineering firms for a Leavenworth County regional airport feasibility study. The committee will present its recommendation before the Leavenworth County Commission on Sept. 11, Andrews said.
“We’re moving forward in that effort,” Andrews said.
* LAND SEARCH — The Land Search Committee met on Tuesday and discussed possible sites for an additional county industrial park. Andrews said the board will send out a request for proposals to solicit interested engineering firms that would study the proposed sites.
“We’re making progress on securing options on the four sites that we’re looking at in Leavenworth County,” Andrews said.
* DIRT — McAninch Corporation, based in Des Moines, Iowa, won the contract for the new Wal-Mart construction. The corporation will move 10,000 cubic yards of dirt to help level lot 8A in the Gary E. Carlson Leavenworth Area Business Center in Leavenworth, Jack said.
McAninch will compact the dirt as it is delivered, Jack said, which will cost between $11,000 and $12,000. The Port Authority originally authorized $17,000 for the compacting, he said.
* LCDC — Tony Kramer, LCDC president, said LCDC plans to have an independent roundtable discussion on the cities of Basehor, Lansing, Leavenworth and Tonganoxie individual comprehensive plans.
* BUSINESS RETENTION — With the addition of Victoria Rowley as LCDC’s new economic development coordinator, Jack said he would like changes and improvements to take place in the business retention and expansion program.
“As you know, most of the jobs are created not from the new businesses that we’re trying to recruit into the community but (they are created from) existing businesses,” Jack said. “It’s an important part of what we do.”
* BASEHOR — The city of Basehor will open bids for its waste-water treatment-plant expansion in early September, said Carl Slaugh, Basehor city administrator.
* COUNTY — County Administrator Heather Morgan said the county is now relocating utilities along County Road 1, including water lines, telephone lines and gas pipelines.
“Once all of those utilities are out of those easements, construction will start immediately,” Morgan said. “We’re still on schedule for November 2009.”
* LEAVENWORTH — City of Leavenworth Mayor Lisa Weakley said the city recently had its first public meeting on Leavenworth’s comprehensive plan and it was well attended. The second meeting will take place at 7 p.m. on Sept. 18 at the Riverfront Community Center, 123 N. Esplanade St.
The six-month Leavenworth Public Library expansion project will start soon, Weakley said.
* LANSING — Mike Smith, city of Lansing administrator, said the city is in the process of updating its codes. Smith also said the city will have its new library in the former special co-op education building. The library will have 6,000 square feet, compared to its now 1,500 square-foot facility.
* TREASURER — Charlie Hill, Port Authority treasurer, said a discrepancy exists on the amount that the Port Authority owes King Construction for its Urban Hess work. Hill said he and Kelly Casey, LCDC administrative assistant, would resolve the issue.
* CLOSED DOORS — Port Authority board members and LCDC staff members met behind closed doors for 30 minutes regarding the acquisition of real property.
Port Authority will next meet at noon on Sept. 24 at the LCDC office, 1294 Eisenhower Road.
Leavenworth, Kan. —
