Good evening.

Welcome to the February 3rd, 2026 City Commission meeting.

Um City Clerk, will you please call the roll?

Mayor Adam Track?

Present.

Commissioner McCullough?

Yes.

Commissioner Fox?

Here.

Commissioner Morrison?

Here.

Commissioner Von Lentel.

Present.

Mayor, we have five commissioners present.

The quorum of three is met.

Thank you.

Will you please rise and join me in saying the Pledge of Allegiance?

I pledge allegiance.

Thank you.

We have an opportunity for comments from the public for any item which is not related to anything on the agenda tonight.

We will not discuss those items or debate them.

We will not make decisions based on those during this time.

Please address all comments to the commission.

And each person will be limited to one speaking opportunity for three minutes with an initial period of 30 minutes for each item on the agenda.

So is there anyone who would like to make comments on anything not on the official agenda?

All right.

Seeing no one approaching the podium, we will close that as that part of public comments.

Commissioners, do you have any comments to make?

Commissioner Von Lintel.

I'm glad to see democracy in action and yeah, it's good to see everybody here.

Commissioner Morrison.

I have none.

Commissioner Fox.

I have no comments.

Uh regarding the consent agenda, I would point out in the minutes.

Okay, we're not quite there.

We don't wait for a second.

Nothing, thank you.

Um I would like to acknowledge that your commission this afternoon completed two very intense days of a retreat where we discussed a number of items regarding um current activities underway in the city, as well as laying out our strategic goals for the year to come.

Uh we will be discussing those further as uh the year uh unwinds.

Commissioners, I was very pleased at the level of consensus that we achieved on quite a number of the items.

So I appreciate that you were all engaged with that and uh didn't come to blows.

So um I'd also like to point out that the city has just recently released its 2025 year end report.

Um I believe there are copies out in the lobby if you are interested.

I think there was a copy on everyone's chair today.

Um this is certainly a pretty high level report, but I think it gives you an a pretty good idea of what we did accomplish in the past year.

Um I'd encourage you not to just throw it out but to read it and share it around and let people know what what we've accomplished.

Okay.

Um we will move on to the consent agenda.

These are items of a routine and housekeeping nature or items which have been previously reviewed by the commission and may be approved in one motion.

Umers may request an item be removed for separate discussion, or may uh indicate some corrections are necessary.

Um we will allow public comment on the consent agenda.

Is there anyone who has anything?

Go ahead with corrections.

Larry, you had a correction.

I'd point out a correction in the minutes that it says after roll call, the city clerk announced there were five commissioners present.

Uh there is the number three behind that five, but that was three.

Three present.

Yeah, and it didn't it also say we I thought there was something else.

Okay.

That's only something about the vote was one to two or something.

I don't know.

Yeah.

All right.

Uh any comments from the general public on the consent agenda.

Seeing none, we will close public comments.

Is there a motion to approve the consent?

I move we approve the consent agenda with its correction.

Second.

All right.

Uh Chelsea, will you call the roll, please?

Commissioner McCullough?

Yes.

Commissioner Fox?

Yes.

Commissioner Morrison?

Yes.

Commissioner Von Lentel?

Yes.

Mayor Adam Track?

Yes.

Motion carries five to zero.

All right.

We will move on to the general agenda.

The first item on the general agenda is to consider ordinance number 7810, rezoning 21214 Leavenworth Street and 300 North Third Street, from planned unit development to community commercial district, and ordinance number 781, amending Marketplace Unit 2 PUD.

Commissioners, before we um before John proceeds, do we have any ex parte information to uh report on this item?

No.

Okay, thank you.

John, whenever you're ready.

Uh good evening.

Um we have two lots here that are part of the Myanmar Marketplace Unit 2, PUD, Planned Unit Development.

Uh they want to redevelop one of the units or one of the buildings on the lot, and then make the other lot marketable, the one that's been vacant for quite some time.

They want to rezone to community commercial in order to make that marketable.

Um I'm not sure what else I'd add.

The uh planning board uh uh recommended uh adoption of this at 60 on their meeting on December 15th, and I'm happy to take any questions.

Um concern I would have would be if if there potentially was a drive-thru in that in that location, and I'm I assume we'd be able to take care of how that was set up with the plat, right?

Yes.

Um in fact the plat itself has a restriction of no access along here, along third street, and along here.

So they would have to work out a cross-access agreement with the other properties in order to set up a drive-thru.

Okay, that makes a lot of sense.

Okay.

Any other questions for John?

Commissioners.

Does anyone from the public have a comment on this particular item?

If not, do we have a motion to approve a second?

Um I will move to I will move to approve ordinance number 7810 rezoning attractive land from plan unit development to community commercial and approve ordinance number seven eight one one amending the Manhattan Marketplace Unit 2 PUD.

No, I'd like to second.

Okay.

Chelsea, would you call the roll again, please?

Commissioner Fox.

Yes.

Commissioner Morrison.

Yes.

Commissioner Von Lentel?

Yes.

Mayor Adam Track?

Yes.

Commissioner McColla?

Yes.

Motion carries five to zero.

Thank you.

Um second item on the agenda is to consider ordinance number seven eight one two, amending the professional place planned unit development.

Commissioners, again, are have you had any ex parte communications considering this item?

No.

Okay, thank you.

Oh, don't have a present.

I'm sorry.

That's the next item.

I know.

Uh there is no presentation prepared for this.

Uh they wanted to add a particular use to the planned unit development that includes massage parlors and other personal services.

Okay.

And that's it.

Hair salons.

Yes, that was it.

I think there's a different word besides massage parlor that we use.

Oh, sorry.

Can't remember what it is, but entities that offer massages.

I suspect if that was the use, we probably wouldn't approve the uh the trans.

Massage therapy.

Yes, I'm okay.

Uh okay.

Any comments from the audience.

I move we approve.

Um we see anybody?

Yes.

Oh.

Sorry.

Hi, good evening.

My name is Jasmine Thompson.

I am one of the owners of Stone and Spark Collective.

And I am Lori Reimer.

I am also one of the owners as part of Stone and Spark Collective.

First, I'd like to thank the Urban Development Committee for reviewing and recommending approval of this amendment.

We truly appreciate the time and consideration that has already gone into this process.

We are here tonight simply asking for it to be amended to include personal services so that our business can operate within compliance of city code.

While the terminology may be classify as this personal services, I would like to emphasize that our professions are licensed.

They're regulated and highly professional.

Each provider within our building operates independently, carries liability insurance, maintains city and state licensure, follows strict sanitation standards, and contributes to local economy of small businesses.

Our clients come individually and by appointment and then they leave.

So we don't have a lot of impact in that area.

What we do provide is economic contribution through small business ownership, support for other local businesses through cross-referrals, a professional, well-maintained space, an inviting environment that enhances the vitality of the corridor.

Our goal has always been to operate transparently and responsibly and in alignment with city regulations.

That's why we're here tonight.

Not to bend the rules, but to make sure we're following them correctly.

We care deeply about our community.

Many of our clients are long-term Manhattan residents, and we're raising families here, and we invest back into the city.

This amendment simply allows our building zoning language to reflect the modern reality of small business today.

Service-based entrepreneurs, especially in health, wellness, beauty, and hair services.

And we're growing in legitimate part of a local economic development.

We respectfully ask for your approval so that we can continue operating responsibly and contributing respon positively to Manhattan's small box business community.

Thank you.

That was an excellent statement.

Please sign in over it with Chelsea.

I would just like to add that as the massage therapist prior to uh the city having us be a licensed within the city of Manhattan.

There were massage therapists working in that planning development already, as well as nails.

Um so it's kind of on my part a little ridiculous that now it's it seems to be an issue, but at the same time it was already there prior to, and so I just asked that it can be continued.

Thank you.

We didn't we need her name and address Oh, sorry, come back.

Would you give us your name and address, please?

Uh my name is Lori Reimer.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you.

Addressed.

Um public on this item.

Okay, now I will move that we approve ordinance numbered 7812, amending professional place plan unit development.

Okay.

Chelsea, we call the roll.

Commissioner Morrison.

Yes.

Commissioner Von Lentel.

Yes.

Mayor Adam Track.

Yes.

Commissioner McCullough.

Yes.

Commissioner Fox.

Yes.

Motion carries five to zero.

Thank you.

And I good luck, and I appreciate that you want to be in compliance with our regulations.

Thank you, Ed.

All right.

Item number C.

Do we have a drum roll?

Uh consider ordinance 7813 rezoning 2005 Hunting Avenue from low density residential RL to RL with university fringe overlay.

Um F.

Commissioners, any ex parte communication on this item.

So I would acknowledge that shortly after the election I had uh visits with the neighbors.

I visited their house and saw toured a couple of the houses.

Uh also last fall I had uh conversations with the architect about the project.

So uh I've had conversations on both sides of the topic.

I've had no contact from either the applicant or the others other than long time.

I grew up in the neighborhood.

I'm well familiar with those that were built, not built, and where we played basketball when we had time at least school or the occasion.

That was in the 1950s.

Andrew.

Um I have visited the neighborhood back in November.

Um everything that I heard there, I watched again on the public um comment from the Urban Planning Board um in December.

Karen?

Yep.

Um I also visited with members of the neighborhood.

Uh you may recall that I recused myself from voting on this the first time it came before us, and I will do so again tonight.

John, would you like to make the comment or presentation?

Sure, thank you.

John Adam Assistant Director of Community or Planning and Development.

Last year, this lot here was replatted to include this portion that was there.

After that, they applied to extend the overlay that they currently have, which is the university fringe overlay, which is on their primary, which was on the original lot to extend it onto this portion here.

On December 15th, 2025, Manhattan Urban Area Planning Board heard this proposal.

They took testimony, and then there was a motion to approve or recommend approval to the city commission.

It failed on the 3-3 vote.

And so that is what is before you tonight.

And I think city attorney of and the sorry, the planning board members who voted in the negative cited factors three, four, and six for the reasons for uh recommending denial.

And I believe could you expand on what three, four, and six are?

Three is adequacy of services and infrastructure for the uses allowed in the proposed district.

Four is the character of the neighborhood, including the zoning and uses of nearby property, and six the proposed change addresses a community need identified in an adopted plan.

Thank you.

Sure.

Okay.

I think the city attorney has something to add.

John, I have one question.

Can you go back to your previous slide?

Yes.

Um the university overlay, so it only covers the fraternity the current fraternity property or the that piece.

So does not cover the two adjacent homes that are owned by the fraternity.

No, that's correct.

Um we it's bad practice to extend any kind of zoning, including an overlay over land that would have split these two lots with a zoning designation.

So we advise them to replat the lot to add this portion here to this primary lot, if that makes sense.

After that, then we had a legal description and area that we could distinctly say, let's extend it onto that.

They didn't choose to try to extend it over the other two lots that they own on there.

Thank you.

Katie, do you have something to add?

Okay.

Yeah.

And then okay.

So uh permitted uses uh in RL remain the same when you have the uh the university fringe overlay.

You can add child care home, that's a conditional use.

You can add dormitory sorority and fraternity, that's a outright permitted use in the OUF.

Cultural facility or place of assembly is a conditional use.

Medical clinic general office is an outright permitted use in the OUF.

And then the other two live work and mixed use buildings, would require a special kind of subdivision type, which is not likely to happen given the small area of this.

That's more like a greenfield development type of development.

Thank you.

Okay.

Good evening, Mayor and Commissioners.

Katie Jackson, city attorney.

I due to the due to this the popularity of this item.

We wanted to review a couple things that are unique about it.

Um this is a quasi-judicial decision, which is the same as the prior two PUD decisions tonight.

Um I will pull up the seven factors, but the facts that you hear tonight, you'll be applying those to the seven factors in the zoning.

Um it's a quasi-judicial decision, which means this decision has limited effect on the subject property and not a broader city impact.

Uh, we would offer a fair open and partial review, no pre-judgment.

If you have had conversations or you have had a site visit that will impact your decision, just be sure to disclose those as the mayor has asked for ex parte communication.

Be sure you disclose that in the meeting.

Um I wanted to go through.

We have a unique situation because we do have a valid protest petition on this property.

The first consideration by the commission, it doesn't change the votes because the planning board did not approve the rezoning.

So these are the correct um options for you on this phase for the city commission consideration.

The minimum votes are there.

These options are from the statute 12757.

You'll have to do one of these things tonight as a majority.

If you are unable to get the votes to adopt or override, then our recommendation is for you to vote to remand it back with guidance to the planning board on what information you would need to be able to come to a decision.

I am going to pull up the factors.

As you do take in the information tonight, and when you provide your input on your vote and decision, it would be beneficial to relate to the factors.

I'll pull them up here.

They are also in your packet on the AIS, but it's helpful to see them.

So we'll have those available to flip between as well.

So also for the public's information, these are the factors that the city commission considers as it receives information tonight and it renders its vote with the statutory options.

Katie, can you increase the size so that people can read it more easily?

Yeah.

No, that's smaller.

All right, I don't know what close is going to make it bigger.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Any questions for me before we begin?

Okay.

Thank you.

All right.

We have 16 individuals signed up for public comment.

Please remember that you're limited to three minutes.

If you are going to repeat a comment made by the person who spoke before you, please try to be a little bit brief.

We will extend the usual 30-minute limit to accommodate the remaining comments.

So settle in.

Sorry.

Does the applicant get to present first?

Yeah, the applicant.

Yeah.

Yes, all right.

Yes.

Go ahead.

Who is presenting on your behalf?

Mayor, members of the commission.

I've got concise notes that I will read.

And they address the seven points that you're here to consider.

I'll also introduce the president of the acacia board, Derek Dawes, who will follow my brief comments.

Thank you.

My name is Bruce McMillan.

I'm president of Baker McMillan Architects, 555 Points Avenue, Manhattan.

The Acacia Board, Olsen Engineering, and our firm have appreciated the staff support and guidance provided over the past 20 months that this project has been in development.

The planning board and commission's unanimous vote of approval for the recent property replant in August set in motion the steps to follow, including this rezoning request for extension of the OUF University Overlay on lot three of Acacia Edition 1.

The replot was approved with the apparent understanding by both the planning board and commission that Acacia will be using it for its own planned purposes.

In your packet is supporting documentation provided to the planning board addressing all seven criteria for review outlined in the Manhattan Development Code to be met.

As noted, criteria three, four, and six were cited in the split vote from the planning board.

For further clarification, the following supports the fact that indeed three, four, and six were specifically addressed as the meeting requirements of the Manhattan Development Code.

Item three addresses infrastructure.

It is specifically noted in application information that added utility easements are provided as designated by Evergy and a stormwater detention structure is planned as part of the parcel to be zoned OUF to control runoff.

It has been designed by Olsen Engineering and approved by City Staff Review as pertent and acceptable as part of infrastructure site improvements.

Criteria four addresses character of the neighborhood, including zoning and uses of nearby property.

The mid-century modern character of the neighborhood is specifically enhanced by the existing acacia structure built in 1956, and one of the original designs establishing the neighborhood character.

Images with a proposed addition and parking that are either minimally or not visible from other properties are shown in attached information in your packets, and I have copies to distribute if you care to see those.

Zoning remains RL single family residential for the parcel and the entire neighborhood.

It does not change.

Several nearby properties are owned by sororities or fraternities in the neighborhood with OUF overlays.

Everything east of Lee Street is OUF.

University overlay.

This is not an isolated ownership or zoning in the neighborhood.

Criteria 6.

Excuse me.

The proposed OUF zoning addresses a community need as identified in the adopted plan by the city.

The MHK housing market analysis states that housing needs must be met by community partners.

KSU is listed as a community partner, thus allowing Acacia to provide additional housing for students who wish to join and meet this criteria.

Criteria 1, 2, 5, and 7 are not cited as concerns by the planning board.

As noted in the staff report, this parcel is certainly eligible for the requested OUF zoning as it abuts the existing OUF in lot three.

All criteria as they relate to the RL zoning district, Lee Elementary School, Neighborhood Historic District, and Comprehensive Plan are addressed, including responses to comments at the October 30th, 2025 neighborhood meeting.

And finally, staff recommends approval.

The board, Olson Engineering, and our firm have worked closely with staff to bring this project forward and seek your approval to allow it to progress.

We will be glad to stand for questions, but I would allow Derek Dawes to address the commission at this time.

Thank you.

Thank you, Bruce.

Thanks, Bruce.

Good evening, Commissioners.

My name is Derek Dawes.

I'm the current I serve as the current board of directors chairman.

I live in Gretna, Nebraska, which is Omaha.

So I appreciate the opportunity to speak to you tonight.

We engage Baker McMillan, the permanent pre-eminent architecture firm here in town to follow the procedures and process to the letter to get us here tonight.

Our fraternity has been located at 2005 Hunting Avenue for more than 70 years.

While our current facility has served generations of students well, it was designed for a different era.

And now requires significant modernization and upgrades.

Our goal with the proposal is simple.

Enhance student living experience while preserving and harmonizing with historic and residential character of the neighborhood, while we're proudly been part of for decades.

Over the past decade, our undergraduate members have achieved extraordinary success, earning numerous local and national awards, and being recognized multiple times by our national organization as the top chapter in the country.

Many of them here tonight.

Our focus on scholarship, leadership, and service has created a winning model, and we are eager to continue building on that tradition with facilities to support our mission and values.

Acacia is among the oldest and most respected attorneys at Kansas State.

We have six buildings on campus named after our alumni.

Our alumni include a Kansas governor, a Manhattan mayor, a U.S.

Senator, multiple K-State presidents and faculty members, and now a Hall of Fame football coach.

The deep legacy connects our members, past and present to our chapter house and to the city of Manhattan.

Our alumni network spending multiple generations is fully behind this initiative.

They have contributed multiple significant resources to make this project possible and are committed to ensure that the chapter's physical home continues to reflect the integrity and excellence that defined acacia.

This proposal represents a multi-million dollar investment in the property, one that both preserves the historic integrity of the property and enhances the overall character of the neighborhood.

The improvements will also contribute to increased property values and tax revenue for the city, benefiting the broader community.

We understand that some of our neighbors have concerns, and we've taken those concerns to heart.

Our design and planning processes included thoughtful steps to minimize impact and address feedback.

We've committed to being a positive and responsible partner in the community, ensuring that our innovation not only serves our members but adds value to the entire neighborhood.

Our alumni board has remained actively engaged for more than two decades with strong leadership continuity and a long-term vision vision of stewardship and accountability.

Just as we teach our undergraduates, we practice our alumni governance the same, ensuring that our project and our organization remain vibrant well into the future.

Our proposal does not seek to add incremental or new use simply to extend the existing use to an 80-foot replatted area.

We are infilling our property.

The 80-foot rezone will be parking and completely out of sight from any view and happens to back up to Lee School's parking lot.

So parking lot to parking lot.

Thank you for your time considering our proposal.

We are here fully committed to see this to fruition and thank you for your time.

We'll answer any questions.

Thank you.

Commissioners, have you any questions for the applicant?

Um so you cannot put the parking lot in with the existing um zoning.

As we understand from staff that we need to include the parcel in the OUF, I asked the question twice planning for this eventual movement.

And it was thought at that time that the rezoning would transfer with the replat to only be informed shortly before that we went for the replot, that indeed the OUF did not extend with the replat.

So we we intended all the way up to the replot date that the OUF would continue with that process to find out that it was not going to.

So to be clear, the you're requesting this zoning not to put the parking lot in so much as to add the addition to the 20 additional beds.

In order, yes, sir.

In order to add the additional space to the building to accommodate an additional occupant load, the parking requirements increase as well, and we can accommodate all of the required parking on site as it pertains to the development code with this extension.

It's not 20 additional.

So the house was originally designed for 47.

We want to get to 52 members on that 2005 replatted site.

That's our that's our target.

Well, the development code requires 50 percent parking capacity for the house occupant load.

And we can we can certainly meet that and exceed it actually.

I'll let Derek address our another item.

Sorry, we've reconfigured our current uh 2005 property with less beds to accommodate the needs of the new students as they um you know more amenities and so forth.

So from our original 47 beds, I think we're down to 30, 30, 38.

So we want to go back up to 47 plus five more to get to 52.

So that's counted 37 in the existing house.

47 was the original design of the original.

47 was original.

Currently it's 37, and then 20 in the addition.

That would be maximum occupant mode.

Right, nice.

Okay.

37 plus 15.

52.

I want to make sure my eyes aren't lying.

The new zoning would not include the residents on the north half of those lots.

Is that correct?

That is correct.

They remain RL when the replot was done.

All of the setbacks, all of the lot requirements, lot coverage, lot dimensions, all of that was specifically designed so that all of those properties stay within the RL zoning district and meet all of the minimum requirements to remain RL.

Well, even though the CASHA apparently owns those lots now, correct, or has control of them, they do understand that by rezoning this, it may be a handicap to the value of the property on the north of that side because of this parking lot.

In other words, it may come back to buy them if they ever want to sell houses and they have this overlay at the back of the property.

I mean, I'm just wanting to make sure everybody understands it does have a handicap once they do that.

That has been discussed.

Thank you.

Karen.

Thank you both gentlemen.

Thank you.

Okay.

Um I will now open public comment, period.

As I indicated, we have about 16 people.

I will take you in the request you come up in the order in which you signed in.

Uh Rex, you are the first.

Good evening, Mayor, Commissioners.

I'm Rex Fowles.

I live in the historic district at 2048 Hunting Avenue.

I also enjoy researching the history of this neighborhood.

The question tonight is one of rezoning, not for or against any particular project.

And the seven criteria are all that matter to your decision as to whether to upzone this land.

So we will focus on the review criteria.

I will use my time to address criteria number one.

Regarding existing use of the property, it is currently used as the backyards of two single family homes.

The property is very suitable for its current uses, as shown by the current owners frequently using the property for the yard games, barbecues, meetings, and other events.

As far as the zoning history, the staff broke the staff report is missing a couple of important events.

In 1952, land west of Sunset was being annexed into the city, primarily to build a new hospital, which is now Lafine Health Center.

This is a couple years before the fraternity was even built.

Two neighbors protested to the city commission that per legal advice, all the land was to be downzoned to residential and then go through the zoning process to be upzoned.

Even so, the report the Mercury reports that at the next meeting, the commission nevertheless approved changing the entire area to commercial.

Learning that Acacia didn't have to go through the zoning process when two neighbors protested makes me want to pause and thank our city staff, uh the planning board, and this commission for allowing this democratic process of allowing both sides to present their opinions.

Fast forward to 1960.

According to the local paper, Acacia received a setback on a proposed expansion project when neighbors protested to the commission against granting a variance for the project.

According to Acacia's centennial history, the fraternity sought to add room for 16 more men and a rec room.

Yet it was never built after the neighbors protested.

My point is the zoning and development of 205 hunting has been contended by neighbors more than once, and a previous expansion proposal in 1960 was turned back, giving you precedent to do the same tonight.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you, Rex.

Danny Devlin.

Good morning or good evening.

Um my name is Danny Devlin Mertz, and I live at 2020 Hunting Avenue.

Um and my home resides directly across the street from uh the third property that Acacia lives in.

Tonight I want to address review factor number two, consistency with the comprehensive plan.

Staff report points out that on the future land use plan, the property's designation is RLM allows for, and I quote, inappropriate cases, complementary neighborhood scale supporting land uses such as retail, service commercial, and office uses in a planned neighborhood setting.

The staff report goes on to imply that because acacia has been on the block for 70 years.

This is an appropriate case for such uses.

Commissioners, the applicant is proposing to build a 37-car parking lot on the rezoned portion of the lot.

They have drawings that show this is possible.

Per Manhattan Development Code, they therefore could have as many as 74 people living on the lot, whereas the current house is designed for 44 residents.

That's a 68% potential increase in capacity.

It is easy to see that going from 44 to 74 people would in fact change the relationship between the fraternity and surrounding neighborhood.

As my neighbors will point out, the streets were not designed for it.

Also, the noise created next door to an elementary school and the backyards of Jay and Cornelia Courts is incompatible with low and medium density residential living.

Yes, the applicant says they will increase the capacity of the house by 10 students, not 30, but this rezoning request is not tied to any proposed development.

You must make your decision considering all uses made possible by extending OUF on this block.

And as the applicant's drawings show, extending OUF allows them or any future owner to use this lot much more intensively than they currently do.

Any private club, social service, mixed use commercial, or urgent care, could bring 68% more traffic to the block as compared to what's been happening since 1956.

Concluding that this change is okay by the comprehensive plan, presumes that rezoning a small piece of land will make no difference in how intensively acacia or any other future owner could use the lot, which of course is exactly why they want the rezoning to use the lot more intensively.

Thank you for your time tonight.

Thank you, Danny.

Jay Banks Barks.

Good evening.

My name is What did I do?

That was scary.

Sorry.

My name is Jason Banks, and I live at 2008 Hunting Avenue directly across the street from the proposed development.

I'm here tonight to address the third of the seven criteria for the comprehensive plane.

I want to start by saying there is no animosity toward the young men of 2005 hunting.

You will no doubt and have heard that they are decent young men, and that is no doubt true.

However, there are grave concerns about the proposal before you today.

If this rezoning is allowed to go through, it will have serious deleterious effects on the standing infrastructure.

First, we must acknowledge that this neighborhood, this historic district of a neighborhood, is a product of its times.

Curved streets and large setbacks are all indicative of the atomic age, which this neighborhood is a shining example of.

Thus, its historic designation.

But that infrastructure was of an age.

It was not designed to deal with a one-person, one car world, which is our modern problem, and unfortunately, the situation we're currently dealing with.

But that age deserves to be protected, as both the neighborhood and the developer and public record have agreed.

The reality of the situation is that this request is part of a school zone, one with, which in recent memory was the beneficiary of a large portion of a 97.5 million dollar bond.

An investment in our infrastructure that cannot be and should not be easily dismissed.

Additionally, and I think just as importantly, the proposed rezoning is directly adjacent to a school pickup location.

That means that every car that is added to this neighborhood reduces site lines and creates danger for those who are most at risk and thus diminishes the effectiveness of our infrastructure investment.

It must also be noted that this is not only that not only is Lee Street a bus route, so too is hunting, which is often reduced in one-way traffic.

The developer has proposed a potential solution to that problem.

However, the proposed solution is not actually a solution but a hindrance.

The proposed development, which includes an addition that will significantly increase the number of residents in a low density neighborhood, does not ameliorate the issue but exacerbates it.

By approving this request, you will not decrease the impact on our infrastructure, of which we must give special consideration to the elementary school, which abuts it but actually increase it.

Developer's current plan of a parking lot claims that it removes 37 cars, but what is not clearly stated is that those future spots are merely a replacement for the developer's already existing parking in the project, as proposed with its substantial addition, will in fact raise the number of cars parked on the road.

Therefore, if the developer's plan is allowed to go through the strain on city streets will actually increase, not to mention an increased danger to most uh important piece of infrastructure, public education.

In conclusion, the developer's plan put before you does not decrease the pressure on our infrastructure, but in fact increases it.

Thanks for your time and consideration.

Thank you, Jay.

Ashley Furman, 2000 Hunting Avenue.

Good evening.

I'm here to focus my comments specifically on review factor four, the character of the neighborhood.

My partner and I have lived directly across from Acacia for over three years, and we have never experienced a neighborhood as welcoming or as committed to preserving its historic character as much as this one.

Neighborhood character is often discussed in terms of architecture, landscaping, or overall vibe, but it's equally important to consider who those characteristics attract.

People are an extension of a neighborhood's character.

And this neighborhood truly is a microcosm of Manhattan.

We have renters and owners, young families and retirees, college students and professionals, all living and interacting in harmony.

We have affordable housing, high-end housing, a school with a playground, a school bus stop, a strong sense of community, and we have all of this in a centrally located and highly desirable part of town.

I share this not to give you a warm and fuzzy sales pitch, but to demonstrate appropriate zoning in action.

As the staff report accurately states, our neighborhood is, quote, considered stable and suitable for the uses to which it is presently zoned.

Neighborhood character isn't just about what exists today.

It's about the expectation zoning creates over time.

The RL zoning district sets clear, predictable expectations for homeowners about the scale, intensity, and types of uses that belong there.

That predictability is a central part of what makes our neighborhood stable.

Expanding the university fringe overlay, even incrementally, is a direct threat to our neighborhood's stability and thus its character.

Because it drastically changes what is allowed on this property in the future and affects the value of neighboring properties regardless of current intentions.

Stability is why my neighbors are here tonight, and it's why my partner and I invested hundreds of thousands of dollars into remodeling a mid-century home down the block.

Without stability, our neighborhood will fail to retain long-term residents and recruit new ones.

And we'll lose the very character that makes this area worth protecting.

I want to be clear.

This is not opposition to the fraternity's contribution to our neighborhood's character or their continued success.

However, if the out of town developer had the neighborhood's best interest at heart, they could renovate their main house and the two single family homes they own.

They could even work out a campus parking plan to reduce the amount of cars or traffic on the street.

They could have purchased a former frat house, complete with the parking lot, not even half a block away in an area that already has the university overlay, all without rezoning.

For these reasons, I implore you to uphold the planning board's decision and deny the request for rezoning so that our neighborhood's character is preserved and remains stable.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ashley.

Abrams, hello, my name is Abram Mertz.

I live at 2020 Hunting Avenue.

And I'm gonna focus my comments on review factor five, the compatibility of the proposed zoning district with nearby property.

Now, I was not in the house when this happened.

This happened shortly before me.

But I was the beneficiary of a larger parking lot, which for our dry house allowed us to throw parties, smoke, drink, uh, and generally carouse outside of our dry house.

To the best of my knowledge, I don't believe anything is changed since I was called I was in college.

But the relationship between these fraternities and the surrounding neighborhoods can be a fickle thing.

And one thing I noticed while I was in college was the steady drought of single family homes in our neighborhood.

And by the time I had left, we had Mrs.

Converse and Mrs.

Converse was the old lady who lived across the street and was the only non-rental across the street.

And sure, we did great things for Mrs.

Converse.

I I guess I and I should say I think that was her name.

I don't know why we call it, it might not have been.

But we did great things.

We we raked uh occasionally mowed, but we did this because we understood that we destroyed the neighborhood to grow our own house.

And to me, I'm a believer in the fact that history repeats itself.

We let Delta Upsilon do that probably 25 years ago, maybe 30 years at this point, and it destroyed that neighborhood around University Drive.

And to think that the same thing won't happen again is absurd.

And I would also like to point out that the staff report suggests that this lot will always be used by Acacia.

And to quote the report, university fringe overlay is not expected to change the relationship between the fraternity and surrounding neighborhood.

But of course, we know that under this OUF use, it could become many, many other things.

And that is in fact gonna happen right down the street in another fraternity.

So there's a lot at stake for this neighborhood.

And what I would leave you with in my final 25 seconds is you're gonna hear from as many as seven of our neighbors tonight who are all adamantly opposed to this upzoning.

Consider which one of them might be the misconverse of this neighborhood.

Because it's gonna happen.

Thanks.

Abram, sorry, before you leave, could you do me a favor and just lift that microphone up a little bit more?

Like this?

Yeah.

Thank you.

Rosemary.

I probably don't need to be calling you.

I imagine you all know your number and your coming up in order.

Good evening.

I'm going to address my comments to review factor number six.

Oh, sorry.

Please, your name and address.

Rosemary Ramondo, 730 Canfield Drive.

Thank you.

And review factor number six.

And I also live in the notification area.

As a longtime Kansas State employee who's lived on Canfield Drive since 19 since 1992, I want to see Kansas State and its students thrive.

I also know how important it is for the city to for the city to support Kansas State.

However, as several different documents and adopted plans indicate, this rezoning proposal does not address a Kansas State need nor any identified Manhattan need.

First, after 10 years of decline, Kansas State has seen modest increases in total and undergraduate enrollment for the past three years.

However, senior administrators understand that, based on pure demographics, the traditional student population served by Greek houses will not increase in the coming years.

Kansas State is instead relying on non-traditional, non-degree, online, and graduate learners to increase enrollment to its 30,000 learner goal.

The Kansas State Strategic Employment Plan for 2025 through 2030 says it best, and I quote while some undergraduate growth is expected, particularly in undergraduate online transfer in and non-degree populations, Kansas State will primarily focus on stabilizing undergraduate enrollment to offset local, regional, and national demographic declines, particularly for undergraduate in-person students entering as freshmen.

This is also why the adopted housing market analysis on page 14 clearly states that reduced need for student housing increases opportunities for transitioning existing homes out of the student rental market and into needed workforce housing.

To quote the plan directly, there's adequate rental housing stock to accommodate increases in enrollment enrollment from current levels.

While Acacia has every right to up to operate 2015 and 2023 hunting as student housing, so long as they abide by the four unrelated occupants rule, it really is a shame because these are the type of houses that Manhattan needs for the workforce.

In sum, while it's entirely possible and perhaps even desirable for acacia and other fraternities to increase their enrollment, all evidence indicates that they will be doing so by capturing more students already at Kansas State rather than increasing student enrollment, and it is unnecessary for the city to support the creation of more student housing for Greeks to meet these goals.

Rather, city actions can best help Kansas State by encouraging affordable and desirable housing close to campus for university workforce.

Arguably expanding you OUF so far from campus in the middle of a stable residential neighborhood actually works against this need since residents want particularly in zoning and uses.

Thank you for your attention.

Mickie, good evening, Commissioners.

Mayor.

Mick Charney, 1420 Waterford.

I'm speaking with respect to review criterion seven, additional matters.

Hunting Avenue encapsulates in just one city block middle class aspirations of the post-war, post-1951 flood, coming of age period of Manhattan.

An 1850s frontier town that in the 1950s was barely 100 years old, and yet was declared by the National Civic League in 1952 before any other Kansas town to be one of the ten all-American cities.

And then in 1953, the all-American city of all the all-American cities.

Hunting Avenue catalogs an impressive array of mid-century modern house styles that found inspiration in earlier precedent-setting works by architects of national and international renown.

This district includes a significant number of houses designed, not by builders, but by architects, with such foresight and so attuned to the latest progressive architectural developments and possessive of the same enlightened pioneering spirit as Manhattan's founders, including Dr.

Amory Hunting, that Hunting Avenue became yet another exemplary first for our city.

Its stylistic cohesiveness is also a rarity.

It should be treasured and saved intact as an architectural showpiece, an outdoor museum.

It derives its uniqueness, ambiance, and character, not from the dwellings alone, but also from its challenging topography, landscaping, and holistic integration of dwellings with their building sites, which is too often overlooked as a fundamental defining component of post-war modernism.

As an example, please direct your attention to the Bone Break House.

In the staff report that accompanied the historic district nomination form, among guidelines proposed to govern future design reviews, there's a statement on appropriate site alterations.

To wit, site alterations should balance historical design and use with needs of current users, giving preference to the former, that is to say, to the original design intent.

Above all, we must remember that Hunting Avenue is a duly registered historic district.

Therefore, you are obligated, as are we all to safeguard its original design intent and not cannibalize those features that give it design distinction and historical importance.

And so your decision is a consequential one.

Whatever you decide, the repercussions will be far reaching, either bolstering the city's historic preservation movement or setting it back and potentially jeopardizing Manhattan's special status as a CLG, certified local government, one of only 17 in Kansas.

CLG affords our city preferential access to state preservation that other cities do not enjoy, while it simultaneously and categorically commits us to preserving and protecting the past for future generations.

Thank you.

And if you want copies of what I've just presented, I have some extras I can distribute.

It's up to you.

But thank you anyway.

Thank you.

Okay, thanks.

Colleen.

Good evening, Colleen Lynde 2048 Hunting.

I just want to make one point in regard to a point that was made earlier tonight, and then summarize the comments that my neighbors have made previously.

Mr.

McMillan mentioned this again tonight, and it's in a letter that's in your packet tonight.

And since many of you are new to this commission since this issue came before the commission back in August, I just wanted to clarify that any apparent understanding that Acacia intended to use it for its growth purposes connected with the replat, uh there was there was no understanding that night back in August when the replat was voting on that somehow this project would necessarily be what would happen there, just as we have trying to trying to be emphasizing now that this rezoning is not necessarily tied to any particular project.

So I just want to allay you of any concerns that as a commission, just because the replat was uh unanimously voted for doesn't necessarily mean that you've been committed to any kind of rezoning now.

We greatly appreciate, as was assured us that night, that there would be a separate hearing and process for the rezoning question, which is before you now.

And also, as I recall from that night, commissioners were encouraged or reminded that the only way they could not vote for the replatting was if they were not willing to accept responsibility for the easements.

Essentially, the question was asked, as I recall several times by members of the public, why are we even having a vote if we can't not vote on this?

Um, long story short, don't read too much into that unanimous vote.

Overall, what I hope that you will have heard over the last uh 20 minutes or so is that the staff recommendation in favor of this rezoning relies very heavily on the 70-year history of acacia on the block.

We've tried to make the point that it's always it had that acacia has been there for 70 years, but this rezoning would change qualitatively the nature of the possible uses of the building, and therefore could change the nature qualitatively of the relationship between uh Acacia and the neighborhood.

Secondly, um the applicant wants us to accept that acacia is a strong fraternity with a good history that has committed well to the community.

These are all things that we absolutely accept.

But once again, the rezoning is not tied to this particular project.

Even if it were, I have to point out that every owner-occupant in the notification area signed a protest petition.

So unfortunately, they just don't see it as the positive benefit to the community that the applicant has presented it as.

Thank you, Colleen.

Joseph Thomas.

Good evening.

My name is Joseph Thomas.

I'm a 2005 graduate of K State with a bachelor's and master's in architectural engineering.

I live in Ottawa, Kansas.

My wife and I own a residential development construction company, and I'm a proud alumni of Acacia fraternity.

Having worked on many residential projects where we renovate and/or build homes in established neighborhoods, I truly do appreciate the importance of ensuring projects fit in well and respect the needs of the neighborhood.

For instance, we only build even in neighborhoods where traditionally there's only a one-car garage, an older neighborhood.

We only build homes with two car garages to help reduce the impact of cars on the streets, and what was referred to earlier is a you know, we're in a new paradigm in society where it's a you know one occupant, one car or one car per occupant homes.

There are a few things to me that are less or more off-putting than going through a neighborhood where you uh we might build a home or think about a family moving into a neighborhood and seeing it crammed full of cars where you have to weave in and out of cars, and so um I think for that reason I'm a strong proponent for rezoning of our parcel at 2005 hunting.

Approving the rezoning for this project makes sense for a variety of reasons and addresses many concerns.

This expansion of parking to be located behind 2015 hunting will allow our members to park on our property predominantly instead of along the street.

This will allow much improved streetscape.

The lack of overflow vehicles being on the street will allow anyone passing through the neighborhood or who might specifically come to view the Lee Elementary Neighborhood Historic District to more fully appreciate the residential lots, deeper setbacks, and curve linear streets.

Those are all elements that are distinguishing characteristic that made the neighborhood worthy of being a historic neighborhood district.

Secondly, there's no negative impact on this uh street site landscaping of the parcels.

We'll still use our same ingress and egress into the parking lot that we've always used.

Uh there'll be an increased safety for pedestrians walking through the neighborhood, and I know that was another point.

Um, and I think that's one of the big points, you know, not having a bunch of cars on the street is is gonna be uh additive to safety and not detracting.

Um I personally live immediately next to an elementary school.

We share a fence line with the uh along the uh the playground, and I walk two of my girls to school every single day.

And I can tell you if I lived there, I would be such a huge proponent of being able to remove cars off the street where I'm trying to take my kids to school.

Um, there's an increased safety for vehicles.

Obviously, if you take less um objects on the roadway, or if there are less objects on the roadway on a parked along the street and move them to a parking lot on an owner's property that should result in uh increased easier vehicular uh passageway through the neighborhood.

Also, uh certainly increased property values if you come to buy a home in the neighborhood uh and not having a cram full of cars.

If we can move our cars on to our property, I can only see how that would be a cruel to property values.

Thank you.

Thank you, Joseph.

Blake Gamber.

Hello, good evening.

Uh I'm Blake Gabber.

I'm a May 2025 grad of Kansas State University with a bachelor's in management information systems.

Um proud alumni of Acacia Fraternity, and I currently serve our fraternity at the international level as an undergraduate counselor.

Um Hunting Avenue has long served as a university affiliated residence that fits naturally within the neighborhood's character and history.

Um you guys have heard it multiple times.

We've been in the Manhattan community since 1913 and have been at Hunting Avenue since 1956, a house built by an Acacian, and for more than a century, our chapter has been defined by one thing, and that is service to the community we live in.

Human service is our motto, and we we live by that.

Umacia fraternity, you will not find a negative headline.

Uh you'll find, and I quote, K-State chapter of Acacia one's top international chapter.

That's now the third time in 14 years we've won that, and a personal favorite of mine, uh, a WIBW news story, K-State fraternity aims to raise awareness of men's mental health.

Um, something I made my personal mission when I was president of fraternity these past few years.

Um we even brought uh NAMI, the National Alliance of Mental Illness.

Um, we brought them to Kansas State University through these guys back here.

This was I brought it, they drove it.

I couldn't be more proud.

Um, and that's kind of what this is all about.

We we relish being a quiet, respectful neighbor and being a pillar of change in our community with mental health being kind of one of our biggest pillars right now.

We want to see that change within our community.

We want to see it led by the youth of our fraternity.

We we hold our members to a high standard, extremely high standard, more than most fraternities.

We have always integrated seamlessly into the neighborhood.

We don't create disturbances, we do not generate police calls, we do not bring the challenges that can be associated with fraternity housing.

We are very proud of that.

We understand, we recognize that the rezoning acknowledges the reality of house property has functioned for decades.

Greek life is getting more competitive.

We are struggling to compete with other fraternities, and an opportunity like this would provide us to stay competitive in this day and age to continue our mission to create better men in our communities.

I think that's something that everyone can get behind.

So with our documented track record of being a positive force in Manhattan, and we're committed to continuing that tradition for centuries to come.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you for dedication to this community, and I hope you guys approve.

Thank you.

Thank you, Blake.

Quinton.

Please state your name and address.

Hello, my name is Quentin Hoppe, and I live at 2005 Hunting Avenue.

As I just said, my name is Quentin.

I'm currently the president of our undergraduate chapter of acacia.

I'm here today to share what makes our fraternity exceptional and why we are in need of rezoning.

Acacia is not the fraternity that you see in the news or the movies.

It's not Animal House by any means.

We're very committed to our core value of human service, serving others in our community.

One of my favorite examples of this is us going out into the community and uh cleaning up a river bank in my freshman year.

It was very A fun, but also we got to do something meaningful for the community of Manhattan.

Another one is uh we do something every winter called Acacia Clause, where we go out and solicit food so we can donate it to Cats Cupboard for people that struggle with food insecurity in our community.

These are all things we're very proud of, and we want to keep doing them, but we're hindered by our house.

It's an aging house.

Personally, my I have had family members that have lived in that house since the 1960s.

It has not changed very much.

It is affecting our quality of life, and it's affecting our ability to recruit and compete with other fraternities, as Blake mentioned.

If you ask me, I believe that the best way you guys can help us continue to benefit the community and help us flourish is to approve this rezone.

That's all I have.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Quentin.

Trish.

Trish.

Good evening, and thank you very much.

I have the most unique experience.

Sorry, name and address.

Oh, Trisha Cash, and I'm representing 2005 Hunting on that, which as we know is Acacia Fraternity.

And I have the privilege of serving as a house mom and have been there for nine years on that.

And I'm going to change the remarks that I actually started out tonight because you have heard all of the stories of this.

Acacia was obviously constructed in the 1950s on that part of it.

And since that time, it has never diminished the property value of any of those houses in that neighborhood.

In fact, they had to drive by Acacia in order to even look at the houses to purchase those homes.

So they knew that a fraternity was setting there.

You know, we can all talk about bricks and mortar and parking lots and all of this, but what also factors in importantly, and particularly in today's world, is the intrinsic value that we have the responsibility of protecting for our young people.

Acacia is a strong fraternity.

It has always been a leader and on campus.

As I said, campus buildings are named after Acacians on this.

They pride themselves on building character.

And if there's anything we need in today's world is young people who are going to be capable leaders with character.57, over half of the members are engineering students.

We have every facet of majors represented.

Manhattan is a university town, has always been a university town.

If we don't support the students that come to K-State, how are we going to make it be a stellar university, which it is, which we all live in the community and appreciate if we don't support the students that then come to this?

The Greek houses provide about a third of the student enrollment at K-State.

We need to be able to update, just as residents need to be able to update their personal homes on that.

And that's what this is all about on that.

The difference is we happen to have a few more men living in this than what lives in a regular house.

But those residents also drove by acacia before they purchased those homes on that.

And as I say, property values have only increased on this part of it.

I think we as citizens have an obligation to put our energies where we can support the positive development of leadership and intrinsic values of our young people, because where are we going to be when we put more value on brick and mortar than what we put on our young people?

So thank you very much.

Thank you, Trish.

Lucas writes.

Hi, thank you.

My name is Lucas Renz of 2820 Nevada.

No, that's all right.

I currently serve as the president of the alumni inner fraternity council here at K-State.

We consist of a group of K-State alumni from all different fraternity chapters.

Most of our members serve as advisors, mentors for the respective chapters, while also serving in this very similar role for the Interfraternity Council, and more or less looking out for the best interest of our fraternity community as a whole at K-State.

As you're aware, the City of Manhattan has always had a close relationship with the university.

K-State is thriving.

The city of Manhattan obviously benefits from that success.

And a major part of the success success of K-State is our Greek community.

Again, over a quarter of the student body at K-State is a member of a fraternity or sorority.

A large portion of the student leadership at K-State, thinking student government, clubs, organization leaders, homecoming committee.

They all come from members of our Greek community.

The GPA of fraternity and sororities is consistently above the all-university GPA each year.

They're producing thousands of volunteer hours in our community.

They're hosting philanthropy and service events that serve and donate to many of our charitable organizations right here in Manhattan.

They play a large role in the week-long events of homecoming week each year, not to mention the month of prep work and the economic impact that that has on our community.

Obviously, the acacia fraternity is no different.

You've heard from several, you'll hear from more students and alumni of acacia.

While I'm not an alumni of the acacia fraternity, I can confirm that acacia has had a long-standing and positive relationship with university in our Greek community.

One of the things that our fraternities and sororities have to do is modernize and adapt to new generations of students.

But I believe this year we had our highest membership and fraternity and sorority community.

Between tuition, housing, dining.

Each student is spends well over $20,000 a year to attend K-State.

They spend money at our local stores, they eat and drink at our restaurants, they get their groceries from our grocery stores, all while funding their own intermural recreation and other events that our tax dollars don't need to fund.

Our fraternities need to be equipped with the space and the resources to provide these students with a membership experience that will allow them to succeed and to continue to be a benefit to our community.

They're producing leaders in our community as you see her today.

They're raising money and volunteering for organizations in our community that are producing successful alumni that stay engaged with the fraternity and the university.

Thank you.

Thank you, Lucas.

Tim.

Good evening.

I'm Tim Lindemuth.

I live at 500 Denison Avenue for 48 years.

I'm president of the Eugene Field Neighborhood Association, which is southwest of the K-State campus, immediately south of the alumni center.

We are a neighborhood of 65 owner-occupied homes.

We have three sororities, we have two fraternities, and we have one scholarship house, Smith House.

And we're very historic as well.

The neighbors made a beautiful presentation about their history.

Our neighborhood was the Ingram House neighborhood, one mile west of the city of Manhattan at the time.

The Stone House is still there, 1867.

So it is a very historic neighborhood.

You may know Bridget Everett, the TV personality.

She grew up on Fairchild Avenue.

She and her brothers delivered my Manhattan Mercury when they were children living there.

And I still living to remember that.

In the years that I've been there, my neighborhood has very kindly the Lambda Chi Alphas and the Theta Si, so very kindly allowed our neighborhood association to use our dining rooms for our neighborhood association meetings.

We don't have a place big enough in the neighborhood.

So we we have gone to these fraternity houses for that.

Theta Psy, Lambda Chai, Kapacapa Gamma, and AZD have all improved their houses.

Not only renovated, but they've also added additions onto their houses.

They've built parking lots.

And the neighbors, when we came to these to the zoning and to and to the city commission, we've always said we would like landscaping and landscaping was added.

And it's today you can see it.

It's the landscaping is beautiful, shielding some parking on the 700 block of 1800 block of Fairchild.

And so the neighbors and the students and those groups, we have we have developed a beautiful relationship together.

And they come over and they'll help neighbors clean gutters, shovel snow and so forth like that.

And so I'm encouraging the neighbors and the fraternities to look at Eugene Field at what we have accomplished and how we have been able to live together, and the Greeks have been able to improve their properties, and so I would encourage you also to take that into consideration with this.

And I also your colleague over here is going to make uh copies of our neighborhood booklet.

Um she's going to give you copies later.

But I I've got uh three copies for the neighbors and two copies for the fraternity.

Um thank you, Tim.

Okay.

Who wants who's the neighbor?

Who's the neighbor?

Look at our neighborhood and what we're doing with our our neighbors.

Thank you, Tim.

Uh D Hawks.

Good evening, commissioners.

Uh, my name is Z.

Hawks.

I serve as the director of fraternity and sorority life at Kansas State University, and this is uh my colleague Hugh C.

DeBuitar uh works in our office as well.

I think he's listed on there as well.

Um I also I live at 201 Silo Place.

You guys can come shovel my lawn first.

Um like I said, I serve as the director of fraternity and sorority life at Kansas State.

I am here to provide some information related to a few points that were raised during uh previous conversations and meetings, uh specifically undergraduate enrollment projections at Kansas State University and participation trends within fraternity and sorority life at Kansas State.

Uh regarding enrollment, it is important to clarify that Kansas State University is not projecting an overall decline in undergraduate enrollment.

Publicly available information from the university's upcoming strategic enrollment plan indicates a projected four to five percent increase in total undergraduate enrollment between now and 2030.

This growth is expected to be driven primarily by expanded transfer pathways, which we've heard some others talk about, growth in some of our online programs and continued investment in student retention and student success initiatives.

Growth and plans which have been in place for the past uh few years since I've uh since I was hired at Kansas State two and a half years ago.

At the same time, consistent with national and regional demographic trends, including a projected decline in the number of high school graduates.

The university does anticipate a gradual increase in first-time first-year student enrollment over the next several years.

This distinction is important as it reflects a shift in enrollment pathways rather than an overall reduction in undergraduate population.

While all of this information is correct, we also know the FSL, the fraternity and sorody life community does not see the same impact due to the population that we often serve.

With respect to fraternity and sorority life participation, the data does not indicate a decline at all.

Since reaffiliation with the university, since my hiring in June of 2023, the fraternity and sority life community at Kansas State has grown by 11.5% and currently includes over 3,500 students across 45 organizations.

During that same period of time, our new member interest has increased by nearly 17% in three years.

This reflects a sustained and growing student engagement population at Kansas State University.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Are there anybody else?

Is there anybody else?

And Lauren, you will you can follow.

And Chelsea, do you have another sign-up sheet at the board?

We do.

I can briefly sign in.

There's not anybody.

Okay.

Good evening.

My name's Kurt Roberts.

I live in St.

George, Kansas.

I serve as the KSU faculty advisor and a board member of Acacia Fraternity.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you tonight in support of the request of this rezoning to the University Overlay District.

You've heard all the key points.

Fraternity wants rezoning, neighbors oppose it, parking and congestion.

All of this is true, but what I'd like to provide tonight is the part that's not been included in the public debate.

The tension between Acacia and its neighbors did not begin with this rezoning request.

It began back in 2018 when a former board president took steps to acquire two nearby residential properties.

At the time, he did not disclose his affiliation with the fraternity, and neighbors believed he was being deceptive about his intentions.

Understandably, that caused alarm and speculation that the homes would eventually be torn down to expand the fraternity blueprint.

That fear led neighbors to organize, and in 2021, they were successful getting city approval to create the Lee Elementary Neighborhood Historic District, which now requires historic resources board approval to remove structures, an approval that would never be granted.

Fast forward to 2024.

Rather than fight the neighborhood, the current board began working with a highly respected local architect on a common sense plan to modernize the facility while operating within MDC and HRB guidelines.

And more importantly, to address legitimate issues like on-street parking and congestion.

That effort led to the unanimous approval by both the planning board and city commission of a replat, which has been discussed previously in 2025, and that's replat is what brings us here tonight.

The rezoning request is straightforward and practical.

It can concerns the use of property and does not introduce a new use.

Approval would allow Acacia to develop additional off-street parking with appropriate screening and proceed with HRB review of final designs for a necessary renovations of fraternity house, which was built in the 1950s.

And yet, despite nearly two years of good faith effort and transparency, the opposition has returned in part because some have vowed to fight this to the end, largely due to a lingering distrust of one past individual.

I want to give credit where credit's due.

The neighbors are good people, and they've been organized and resourceful in navigating the process.

But at this point, what we're seeing is less about zoning and more about a vendetta.

And their position seems to be the only acceptable solution is for Acacia to leave the neighborhood entirely.

That's not a reasonable or beneficial solution for anyone.

Acacia's been part of the neighborhood for more than 70 years, and they intend to continue being a responsible, stable, and positive presence long into the future.

So I will close with this.

It reduces street congestion, improves safety, and ensures the long-term care of an aging historic property.

Thank you, and I respectfully ask for your support.

Thank you, Kurt.

Lauren.

My name is Lauren Clement.

I live at 725 Midland Avenue, just three blocks due west of this particular site.

I'm a registered landscape architect in Kansas.

I taught at K-State for about 40 years in that program.

And I feel compelled to ask you to distinguish landscaping from what landscape architecture really is.

George Kessler, a landscape architect, laid out Kansas City with its parts and boulevard system.

Vertical Homestead laid out a lot of Brooklyn, New York, parks and boulevards, large-scale planning.

My interest is campus planning and all the systems that go into it.

After teaching for a number of years, I went to law school at KU and became an attorney in Kansas with a particular interest in land use, water, natural resources, and so forth.

I decided to keep on teaching at K-State.

And I know Monty Wheedle was here earlier for a hearing.

I was on the county planning board for 23 years serving with Monty Wheedle, who I learned a lot from.

He said previously you really don't have enough information to make this decision to the Manhattan Urban Area Planning Board when there's that hearing.

I think we all need to listen very carefully to Monty Wheedle and what he says with his perspective.

I'm retired now, but I intend to remain an engaged citizen and a long-term resident and community member here.

I probably should apologize to my professional colleagues and some friends who are supporting this request.

I am very much opposed to it.

I take open space very seriously.

Green spaces and systems are key components of neighborhoods and towns, should not be taken for granted in city planning and design decision making, whether it's parks, boulevards, or residential areas under discussion, especially in designated historic districts.

The lawn and the treat areas of subject houses are green and not paved.

They're key components, as I've been mentioned, of the spatial composition of this neighborhood and why the houses are so important at mid-midcentry modern marvels.

As a lawyer, I take language and procedure very seriously.

My students will tell you that.

Words matter, procedures matter.

From my perspective, that the proposed quote, the proposed zoning is not anticipated to change the relationship between the fraternity and the surrounding neighborhoods.

That's in the staff report.

That is substantially irresponsible, in my opinion.

In land use, function, physical, ecological, visual, and aesthetic terms, the proposed rezoning absolutely would allow deleterious changes in this low density, somewhat congested and very historic district.

From a procedural standpoint, this application should fail because it has not been reviewed by the city's historic resources board.

They absolutely should be part of this process.

I'll conclude with the insightful few lines from Joni Mitchell's song, Big Yellow Taxi, her soulful community commentary on urban design improvements.

Don't it always seem to go?

You don't know what you've got till it's gone.

They take they've paid paradise and put up a parking lot.

That's exactly what's happening here.

Thank you very much for listening.

Thank you, Lauren.

Can you please sign in?

Lauren, yes, please.

Thank you.

Yes, I think.

Is there anyone else who would like to make a comment?

Hi, my name is Diet Swanson.

Um, I live in Kansas City.

Um, these are my two boys.

Um, and I am a proud mother of these two boys, and I also had another son who is a graduate of K-State is also an Acacia.

My brother was an Acacia, and my father was an Acacia.

So I've had long-standing history knowing Acacia.

And um, what I want to say really quick, um I know a lot of people are talking about the house and everything.

What I think when my boys were going through the process of trying to figure out what fraternity, if they wanted to do a fraternity and everything, um, once they started looking at it, they saw that Acacia was a smaller fraternity, great community.

They um they were able to uh know more people instead of the larger fraternities that are around, and that's what's nice about the fraternity is it's a small community, and these guys have gotten to know so many, you know, different people.

And I'm gonna tell you honestly, uh, my two boys here have learned a lot of things from their fraternity brothers, leadership positions that I didn't think that to be honest, I didn't I didn't know if they would ever get involved in that stuff, and now they are involved in it.

So I'm like, wow, you know, this not that's that's writing all my kids.

But it's one of those things where it's like they're they got you know from their fraternity brothers, they got the you know extra um to go and do it.

So it's it's you know the camaraderie of all of them and everything like that.

And it what drew them is it's a small, like I said, it's a small community, and it's been here for 70 years, but I know that one thing I have to laugh because when my brother was here, I was I had started as a freshman when he was a senior, and house is basically the same as when he was there.

Not a lot has changed, but they're trying to make updates and upgrades to make it more you know conducive for the students in the living facilities that they have.

Um adding on would also bring in potential a few new members, but it would still keep the integrity of the small house.

Um if you look around, if you notice all these young men are here tonight being very respectful for everything, they were here to come and you know be here for their fraternity and and represent the fraternity.

And uh all I the all I what I want to end on is I I'm very happy and proud of what all of these boys have done as a result of getting to know all the people in the community, they give back to the community, they're very involved in everything on campus.

All of these boys around here, young men.

Um, you've got kids who are in the band who are in the Pep Club.

You may have a few um mascots in the house potentially over the years, things like that.

So I I can honestly say that this has done so much for my own kids, not and not that's not even saying all what everything else is done for these young men here.

So, in conclusion, I I would really hope that to be competitive with some of the other fraternities they're in.

Obviously, they're still a small enough fraternity, but to be able to um be competitive with them, there needs to be some upgrades, and this is a great opportunity to get make that upgrade for those those students, the f the future of acacia.

These guys probably won't see it because he's graduating and he's a freshman.

So, but it's just for the future generations for Acacia.

So thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Do I sign in over here?

Okay.

Going once, going twice.

Okay.

Thank you, Blade.

Uh good evening, Mayor, Commissioners.

My name is Blade Mages, a little bit 2000 hunting, uh, right across the street.

Um, just wanted to hit a couple last things you heard from our neighborhood.

Um, kind of think you feel like you know our stance on all seven points.

Uh just to reiterate the position of the neighborhood.

We we love the acacians.

Uh, they are a great source of joy in the neighborhood when the snow day happened this weekend.

Whoever hit the ramp on the table.

Are you here?

This guy knows what I'm talking about.

Somebody knows what I'm talking about.

Um they in many ways they're a great addition to the vibrancy of the neighborhood.

A lot of what's been communicated is either demonstrably irrelevant or demonstrably false.

Comments were made that you know things haven't affected the property values in the neighborhood.

If you actually look at 2015, the Bone Break House, which is one of the houses whose backyards that we would be turning into a parking lot, and yes, they've met the easements and requirements, but just to put it into context, that backyard would be about the distance to me and the fire alarm at that point.

That house actually decreased in property value by 1.2% last year.

I just kind of checked that when we were sitting in the back.

So uh we heard from the previous uh speaker that uh I come from a marketing and branding world, you know, uh how you position things really matters.

It sounds like a part of Acacia's competitive competitiveness to date has been the fact that they're smaller, has been the fact that they're maybe a little bit harder to get into.

Um you know, I I think that that could be leveraged uh even better, kind of sounds like that's what makes them appealing.

So growth seems antithetical to that idea.

Uh the only other note I guess I wanted to add um is really this the context of of the fraternity in and of itself and the members and the composition of uh the fraternity and these young men and who they are in their character, that doesn't have any consequence on the decision that's before you all tonight.

Uh really it comes back to these seven criteria, and ultimately the decision that you make will go on to affect that land use indefinitely.

And so I would just ask that we keep that in mind.

Um again, as it was mentioned just just previously, not a lot has changed with the house, and so we as a neighborhood do have fears that these might be great plans, but can any of these things actually materialize?

And then if not, and if the demographic cliffs that we do hear about coming, you know, actually come, where does that leave us other than with a pair of otherwise wonderful single family homes, which we do have a need for with no longer having backyards?

So thank you guys for your time tonight, and as Rex mentioned for allowing the democratic process to play out.

Appreciate it.

Thank you, Blade.

Gareth, are you?

Glad I'm on a first name basis with all of you here.

Sir, we will you will next.

Good evening, Mayor, commissioners.

Uh, my name is Garrett Baker, 209 Cop Drive.

I am the baker of Baker McMillan.

Um, I'm also the chair of the historic resources board.

I'm not gonna speak to either side of those.

I'm here as a private citizen at the moment, and somebody who has sat in a lot of these meetings before.

One key that I think kind of got glossed over during the planning board meeting, and city staff can correct me if I'm wrong.

That lot does not meet the minimum lot requirement sizes for another building to go in there.

Meaning that lot can only be a parking lot or grass, or a pond.

Which one?

The one that would be rezoned.

So I think the neighbors, and I would have the same fear if I lived in that neighborhood too.

What would happen if that addition didn't go through?

Well, nothing can go in there because the lot's not big enough.

So at that point, it would either have to go back to the residences or the um fraternity would have to move out.

And if that happens, somebody wants to move in and open up maybe a dentist clinic.

They can't build another building back there either.

So that would have to be a parking lot.

So I think there's been a lot of fear of what would happen if that addition or the parking lot didn't happen.

Um so I hopefully can kind of clear that up a little bit there.

Um just as kind of a history buff myself.

The historic resources board does not oversee planning matters.

That's why we have the planning board.

Um whenever the commerce bank came up, that was not in a historic district, so there was nothing we could do.

Um and again, that was more of a planning thing than anything.

Then if we're also going to be considering history, um, if the fraternity is being asked to move out to another house, um, what happens to their history?

They're the longest serving resident in that neighborhood.

Um so if we're going to be considering history, consider the historic person that has been there.

And then I also come from a very small town.

Um it was 1,200 people whenever I left there.

Now it's down to 1100.

People stopped investing in that.

We're now a main street community, and now people are starting to reinvest again.

So if you think of kind of that neighborhood as a small community in and of itself, you have one of your neighbors going to be considerably investing in that neighborhood.

Otherwise, is it just going to maybe go down, lose residence, lose interest in that area?

So those are just my personal comments.

Again, not on behalf of the firm, not on behalf of the historic resources.

Thank you.

Thank you, Eric.

Sir, did you want to make a remark?

Yeah.

My name's Don Dawes.

I live at uh 420 Rosalok Place, Manhattan here.

I'm proud to stand before you and uh brag a little bit about the case of fraternity.

I was one of the first members that lived in two zero zero five hunting fraternity house.

So that kind of tells you how old I am.

Uh I've had the privilege of watching case to continue to go and uh uh through the years of the organization and uh supported support a lot of the uh familiar things around the campus and also the neighborhood up there.

Uh the request before you tonight, uh the rezoning uh proposal is not simply just add on to the house.

What it is is going to uh uh add on to uh cache, improve safety, provide much needed space for educational programming, and continue to foster a more uh more active uh citizens.

As alumnus from the decades ago, I could say this uh evolution represents exactly what we hoped the case would become.

A living, growing part of a community fabric.

I urge you to see this modernization not just as a physical project, but as an investment in the next generation of leaders who will go on to serve the city and beyond.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Thank you.

Um else who would like to make any remarks?

President like to rebut any uh public comment is now closed.

Uh would the applicant like to make any final comments.

Commissioners, I'll remind you this is the last opportunity to ask questions of the applicant.

Thank you, Mayor.

Uh simply we appreciate the dialogue that has occurred this evening.

We appreciate uh everyone's interest in seeing uh this project proceed.

And uh Gary, make any further comments at this point, and if we uh need to stand for questions, we'll be glad to do so.

Thank you, Bruce.

Um, just a few clarifications, I guess on numbers.

We originally the house was designed for 47 people.

We want to get to 52, that's with an addition.

Um, so that's the number with um I don't know where 20 and all these other numbers came from.

So um currently we've got 37 living in-house because we've reconfigured rooms.

So uh what else?

D did a cursory research of the assessor's office records for the last four years.

Um our neighbors' property values have increased 19 percent over those four years, according to the assessors.

Uh Zillow shows a 10-year growth of 67% in property value in our neighborhood.

So I don't know that uh property value is an issue.

I do have a handout.

If you do not have this information in your packets, I'll be glad to distribute that for your use.

That's so question or clarification while you're there, either to you or the city folks.

Uh I want to clarify the parking requirement in this zone for a fraternity.

It's my understanding it's 75% of the members you have to provide parking, or is it 50% that you have to provide on site parking?

I will also let staff answer that, Commissioner, but there is a dual criteria there, but as I understand the criteria that is being used is 50 percent of the occupancy in the house.

50 percent.

Yes.

Yeah, John, is that uh accurate?

Thank you, Bruce.

Thanks, Bruce.

I had one more, I had a question for Bruce.

Um so is it true that this land would not be it would it's too small to actually build on, build a house on or build any sort of structure?

At this time, this parcel, and that's what we're referring it to as a parcel.

There is no uh access to a right-of-way at any location on this parcel.

So to build an individual building on this parcel, and staff can correct me if I'm wrong, there is no public access other than the existing Acacia lot.

So my my question would be can the addition be added into this area, this university overlay area or the proposed parcel?

Can the building itself, is that your question, Commissioner?

Is it is the parcel only going to be allowed for grass or parking lot?

At this time, the planned use is for expansion of the required amount of parking.

Yes.

At this time, Bruce, but can it be in the future?

You just said at this time it's planned for just parking.

Yes.

But is it possible in the future it could be rezoned again or something into anything?

That I imagine it could be.

I don't know, Commissioner.

Okay, really, because right now the size of the building that we are proposing maxes out the other components.

It's a domino effect.

Okay.

Does that make sense?

Yeah, that makes sense.

Um I have a question.

I'm a little concerned about um how are we going to retain runoff from that?

Because I look at it is paved surface that's running right into lead school, and I don't see any detention ponds or retention ponds or there is, and and Paul Parrish with Olson Engineering is here this evening to address that question.

But there is a uh retention detention pond.

It is within the parking lot area that is being expanded.

And uh and we we can provide a uh a diagram to you if if necessary.

Staff has that information.

I mean, I'm looking at everything.

This is just the handout that I prepared before the meeting.

But it's the other stuff I looked at, I just all of the planning board information packet.

If you have the planning board packet information, it shows the detention pond.

Yes, ma'am.

Okay.

And and so can you just tell me where the dependent detention pond can we bring up a site plan?

Or do we not have I don't I don't have a site plan?

Uh detention is an underground facility.

It's not an open air pond.

It's under the parking point.

No, no.

It would have an open, it would have a grading to accept water.

It would be occupied.

Sorry, it would be sloped to retain the or take the water and then put it into the city system.

Okay.

It just looks like we're paving an awful lot that's going to run onto Lee School.

You know, I'm sorry, but that's what it looks like.

This has been designed by Olson Engineering.

Paul Parrish is here to address that question.

So it's an underground detention.

There's inlets that would accept the water from the parking lot, and then it drains.

I'm sorry, can you speak up?

There's inlets in the parking lot that then send it to the underground detention system.

Into the city sewer system, then.

No, there's no stormwater area.

It actually drains to the east.

It drains east?

East.

Yeah, it's an underground detention chamber.

Underneath the parking lot.

So there was a lot of things.

Correct.

There's a existing drainage through the wall to the east that is where it would be collected.

Is that able to handle a real heavy rain?

Yes.

And it actually would be there's additional requirements for the water quality.

Thank you.

So it's a it's a series of tubes under the parking lot.

Basically storage, I'll call them storage tanks that eventually drain.

So what's the capacity of those tanks?

The total capacity, I don't have that.

Like if we had a six-inch rain on top of it, what would happen?

It would be less than currently when it exits.

Yes.

Commissioners, I would caution us against getting into the design or what is going to be built.

Um just as a reminder, we don't consider that when we consider rezonings because once it's rezoned, uh we really don't know uh what could go there.

But one of the golden rules is infrastructure.

And you know, number adequate stormwater.

Yeah.

I would adequacy of services and infrastructure, and I'm concerned about the infrastructure.

I understand.

I would just caution.

And the water that has to go someplace.

Commissioner.

I mean I'm sorry.

Yeah.

This design has been reviewed.

If I'm not sure, okay.

Um, I just didn't see that that was brought up.

So um that's fine.

If I can interject real quick, I've dealt with this on a lot of different projects working with my own towns and other towns we build in.

So it's an underwater system, and then so what the engineer does is they calculate in a hundred-year rain event or yeah, about a hundred-year rain event, so a worst worst case scenario.

We calculate how much water is going to fall in that area, and then we have to provide enough volume to capture all that water, and then have it re have it be released into the storm system in a in a no greater of a volume than what would have been put in there if it was still left unpaved.

And so what what our designer is doing is actually retaining even more water than what would fall.

So the the discharge to the storm sewer system is actually less than what it is in its current format.

So we're actually improving the uh the uh the demand.

We're we're decreasing the demand on the infrastructure, therefore we're uh actually increasing the adequacy of the existing infrastructure that the city has.

So is that help?

That helps a lot because you know we really do have some issues in that part of town.

I understand it's a had Tecumseh and some of those streets.

You know, we have solved many of those issues, but it still gets flooded.

Yeah, and that's why we'd want to be really thoughtful about this about being able to retain all the stormwater that would fall on the um because usually when you get uh peak demand, it's right after a heavy rain when the systems demand or you know overflowed, and so then the idea with these systems is that you take in a bunch of water do a retention area and then slowly leak it off into the system once the main event's gone past.

Thank you.

As well, Commissioner.

The city's stormwater uh management office has reviewed this design and has approved it.

Okay.

Okay.

I didn't see the uh one last question, Bruce.

Uh without this rezoning, you could still build the parking lot.

Is that correct?

You just couldn't add on to the building.

They go in tandem.

And so if we there's no reason to build I think the I think there would be reason to build the parking lot because you have 37 members and you have 20 parking spaces.

We as I mentioned a moment ago, this is a domino effect.

And so the the purpose and the use of this parcel is to accommodate the added space for the building.

Yes.

Commissioners, any more questions for the applicant?

You had questions.

Mr.

Fox, the parking ratio is 0.5 per bedroom within the OUF and within a certain range of campus.

And then the other question that I can answer definitively is well, not definitively, but the rear setback in this district is 25 feet.

So you have an 80-foot span, you probably could fit a building, but then you have the reciprocal issue of how are you going to park it if you build a new building?

I mean, I think as Mr.

McMillan said, you can't do one without considering the other one.

And at some point we say you need to put parking in.

Well, we refer to this as a parcel, but it really isn't a separate parcel at this point.

It's part of the fraternity lot.

So it's all one big lot.

It is.

It's just this parcel we're having to rezone.

So yeah, it's it's just an extension of the OUF over the remainder of the parcel that was replotted.

What's the current maximum population for this uh lot?

Uh we don't calculate things that way.

I'd have to run some numbers.

I just don't know that off the top of my head.

And how much more would it you think it'd be if this was a again, Andrew?

This is uh we're not meant to be considering the purpose of the expansion.

Um commissioners, do you have any other questions of staff?

Uh Katie.

Um did you don't want to weigh in on that historical resources board?

Um like the the Yeah, they don't have jurisdiction over rezoning.

It might have been nice to run up past them and hear their opinion, though.

Okay.

Thank you, John.

Sure.

Um does cities at one time we anticipated that we would be completed with the HRB.

However, due to some delays in the process, it was determined that the last board that we would approach would be the HRB.

Had this session been held last commission meeting, we were scheduled to go to the HRB on the 26th of January.

Since it was postponed, we do not yet have a rescheduled date for the Historic Resources Board.

We need to get that established after approval of this this evening.

My apologies, Bruce, for not being here.

I um was stuck in an airport for a very long time.

We we know that, and we're sorry that occurrence.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I do think though you came to us in in the in August, and I wish we'd gotten the historical resources board did not meet for a couple months because there was nothing on the agenda, as I understand.

So it's really our fault as a city not to get you heard.

Okay.

Um staff, any additional comments for the commissioners.

All right.

Katie, would you just come up one more time and remind us of our options regarding motions and commissioners?

I'll point out that this is in your uh binders.

So I think I I wanted to show this slide real quick.

Um this is the slide that shows sorry, that's really small in just a second.

Um see if that's any better.

This is the slide that shows the differences in this zone with the rezoning.

So the permitted uses in the OUF, those are the differences if the rezoning was approved.

I'm just referencing this back to the city manager's comment that what we're reviewing is the change in the zone and the possibility that any of these uses could be permitted.

That doesn't mean that the lot is appropriate for all of them, they can meet all the other requirements.

That this is the evaluation.

Then you're taking the information that you've received tonight and in the staff report and any other information that you've had and applying it to the factors we've had on the screen.

So reviewing these uses and the information tonight, these are your statutory options.

The votes that are up there do include consideration of the valid protest petition at this phase in the process.

Um because the MUAPB did not pass the rezoning, adopting the recommendation, which sounds weird because it was a tie, but the if you did number one, that would not rezone this parcel.

It would remain the same as it is now.

Number two is overriding, that would be rezoning the parcel as requested by the applicant.

And number three is to remand it back to the MUAPB.

As an extra note there, the statute does say to give guidance back to the planning board as to what information you want them to consider or obtain for you to reconsider it.

Thank you.

Commissioners, any discussion you'd like to have amongst ourselves.

Well, I'll start us off here.

Uh first of all, this is my four-week anniversary setting at this chair, and you've really put me between a rock and a hard place.

Uh on the one side, uh, we've got a the architect of this project is a good friend.

I have breakfast with him every Wednesday morning.

Uh the house mother of the house is a good friend.

We serve on the zoo board together.

The Acacia fraternity was the very first fraternity I ever had any contact with as a high school kid back in 1971.

But I am also a supporter of uh older single family neighborhoods, and and I've witnessed and been a part of encroachment of uh non-single family development into those neighborhoods.

So I just touch on some of these factors we're supposed to address uh regarding number one the existing use of the property.

Uh I just written down here the sky despite the current platting of the site, the existing use of the property is the backyard of two single family residential properties in an RL zoned area.

That use would be eliminated with this rezoning.

Uh, with respect to number two, the consistency with the comprehensive plan.

Uh the plan for that neighborhood is RLM, uh, so uh low to mid-density housing in a single family type neighborhood.

Um prior to the acquisition of the two residential homes at 2015 and 2023 hunting.

The fraternity had 37 members and provided 20 parking spaces.

So they had 17 cars uh potentially out in the streets.

Uh you know, when they have uh, you know, you your members took it on yourselves to acquire the two houses to the west.

Uh by doing so, you you added eight members, uh, those houses probably at most provide four additional parking or four car spaces, so you put a few more cars out in the street.

Uh with the authority of this rezoning, uh it doesn't solve that issue at all.

It it may even add to the parking in the street.

Um I know you put in there that your fraternities proposed bylaws uh require that freshmen park over in the K-State parking lot.

Uh I don't I don't see that as enforceable in in any manner.

Uh certainly uh RCPD couldn't do anything about that.

Uh K State Campus couldn't do anything about it.

If if your guys don't want to park over there, they want to park in the street.

I don't see that there's anything you can do about that.

So in short, for number two, this rezoning brings uh 15 to 20 new residents to the neighborhood, and as many as uh you know 20 uh 15 to 20 additional cars.

That's a big change.

Um adequacy of services and infrastructure.

Uh uh I I didn't see major issues there, but character of the neighborhood, including the zoning uh uses of nearby properties.

Um staff reports make no comments as to the advisability of adding 20 new high density housing residents to the existing stable neighborhood and how that would affect the character of the neighborhood.

Um I I certainly believe it would be impacted adding uh 15, I'll say new new residents.

Uh compatibility with the proposed zoning district nearby properties.

Um as I said, it'll allow 15 to 20 new residents.

The increased capacity will likely result in longer delivery times for goods and services to the house, which will result in longer street blockages by delivery trucks.

Um I think one of my biggest concerns is that you you've shown that you'll acquire you can acquire neighboring properties to expand.

So what's to prevent the next step, and that is to purchase 2050 J Court, uh, which provides then physical access from your parking lot over to J Court and further expansion of your site into the neighborhood.

Um so as I see it, this this is a gradual expansion of a multifamily development into a single-family uh well-developed neighborhood, and it's uh it's just something I I can't support.

Uh you know, if you really want to help the neighborhood, you'd go ahead and build the parking lot, you'd fix up the two houses uh and provide more off-street parking for your your members and make it easier for them.

I'm I'm sure those 15 that park in the streets would prefer to park on your own site.

So you know that would that would go a long ways towards uh improving your relationship with your neighborhood, I'm sure.

So those are my comments.

Go ahead, Karen.

Um first of all, may I say I do really respect acacia, and I wish you were an animal house fraternity that I could be upset with or anything like that.

But I know I've worked with students.

I I was the assistant to the dean of the library, and so I had all kinds of acacias and others, and there are some fraternities that really stand above, and you do.

Second, Tim Lindemuth pointed out um how the neighborhood could work with fraternities, and the two fraternities across the street from Tim have been very good.

He's the president of Eugene Field, and I'm the president of City Park West, and we've done things with those fraternities.

Having said that, I think it's really important that we keep the balance.

We have to make it a stable neighborhood, as someone who lives in the older neighborhood area, it's important to keep the right balance.

Too many students, too much parking, things go back and forth.

Um I agree with with Larry on the characteristics and the compatibility.

And I would say to the balance issue.

Um while the the two fraternities that Tim pointed out have been exempt exemplary.

The ones on Sunset have not been quite so exemplary, and there really are significant problems with parking on Fairchild Circle.

Laramie Street from 18th Street up has really gone from owner-occupied to rentals that are well kept up.

So you know, I just feel that we have to protect that that very tight balance, and I would have to um acquiesce to what the planning board said.

Jim.

Well, I'm not as eloquent as those two.

Fox I do not see anything in the proposal that is offensive Acacia was there early that doesn't mean they win neighbors came late that doesn't mean they win everybody knew what they got when they got it and so my consideration is as to the three points that have been made um I don't see any real concern compatibility if anything Acacia owning the one house for sure has been an improvement in the neighborhood they cut all the trash down the trees down cleaned it up it actually looks like a home and not a hovel having said that I believe they're entitled to have the modifications so I would probably intend and will propose the acceptance of the uh request the ordinance change but um I need to remind Acacia your neighbors there said a bad word about you and that's to your credit um house mother I assume having had a fraternity experience with a house mother that was probably of your ilk it was a godsend to have you around and I'm disappointed a lot of fraternities authorities don't have house mothers anymore because they need to be taught manners they need to be taught how to play bridge and how to be pleasant gentlemen okay I'm sorry how many of you guys know how to play bridge all right but they do know manners and how to set the table properly so I guess the question is um services and infrastructure it appears the plan is it address every one of those issues the compatibility of the the zone um there aren't many parts of this town that are what they were when either of the properties on either side of the street were built and so consequently that is part of the price we have in a changing society so um contrary to Mr Fox and apparently uh vice mayor um there will at least be one positive vote for the process to get it approved we have to have a turn um so I I would pretty much echo Larry um I I just think overall that the neighborhood already has is already congested and I think adding more will make it make that problem worse and so for that reason that's how I'm gonna vote commissioners do we have a motion for one second I guess I need to say because of reasons two consistency with the comprehensive plan and five compatibility of the proposed zoning district with nearby property mayor I think we're gonna address this Katie are you just given this the issue well I wanted to show the options because if the motion that's going to occur is not to approve the rezoning that's not featured in the AIS it would be number one would be the motion if you do not want to rezone the the motion that you would make would be to adopt the recommendation to deny the rezoning in the AIS the action item is to approve ordinance number um to approve the rezoning so I'm just supplying you with another motion if that's the way the commission the motion the commission wants to make sort of a two negatives to make a positive yeah yeah so if you want to if we want to follow what the planning board said we would be number one number one.

Madam Mayor I'd like to make a motion that the commission adopt ordinance 7813 rezoning portion of 2005 Hunting Avenue from low density residential to RL with University French overlay um can I just clarify Katie can we vote on this motion first.

Just hang on sir just no if if you if you have recused yourself if the question was if you can second you can no no no I no I didn't do we use the language that you just proposed in this option or do we use the language that is on our agenda and vote in opposition to it.

It's okay if it gets a second to take that vote.

If you do not want to rezone, you would vote no.

If you do want to rezone, you would vote yes to that motion.

And then if that motion fails, another motion can be made.

Okay.

Do we have a second for Jim's motion?

Well, the motion would fail for lack of second.

So I may whether we adopt the MUAPB's recommendation by a majority vote.

I'm just reading on option number one here on the second.

Commissioner Von Lintel.

Yes.

Mayor Adam Track.

Abstaining.

Commissioner McCullough.

Yes.

Commissioner Fox.

Yes.

Commissioner Morrison.

No.

Motion carries three to one to one.

Thank you all for your presentation.

Thank you for your very civil uh participation tonight.

Mayor Adam Chak.

Uh, I recommend we take a five minute recess.

Uh Trey.

Could you do me a favor and close the doors?

Isn't that his name?

Thank you.

We will reconvene and begin with item D on the agenda, which is to consider Manhattan Housing Authority's sunflower flats project.

Oh, sorry.

Thank you, Mayor Commissioners.

Sunflower flats, the action taken on that project last year, has realized they weren't able to start construction and close on the property in the time frames identified in the prior agreements.

Again, traditionally, we probably would have had this on consent with three new commissioners.

The item being so much debate and discussion over the last three or four years.

It just wasn't by the initial dates of January 31st.

Questions.

Well claiming four weeks of partial experience.

I'd like to have readers digest version of what the whole project was and what it's to accomplish in house it means finance.

Just readers digest.

I mean, I've got information.

I kind of looked at it, but it is somewhat confusing.

It is.

I'm gonna let Aaron really give you an overview of the 62 unit housing.

They have leveraged uh quite a few resources.

Uh obviously approach the city about the use of the city parking lot at Fifth and Pierre.

It's been that way for quite some time.

Uh and that was uh on the cusp of changing, and we believe it will be changing soon.

Aaron Ross Powell Good evening.

So the project itself is uh essentially replacement housing for Garden Grove 1 and 2 because of the floods in Labor Day of 2018.

Though those residents will be moving into Sunflower Flats.

Um Sunflower Flats is set to close next Tuesday.

We just missed the window by about 10 days.

Um so that is the the holdup.

There was a change in guarantors, and that put us back about three weeks, and we didn't hit that window.

But the the simple version is it's replacement senior housing for garden one and two, located downtown, five stories, 62 units, subsidized through federal and federal uh low income housing tax credits and state 9% tax credits, along with abode.

Um the abode construct or abode grant was delivered to us or awarded to us through the Department of Commerce, Kansas Department of Commerce, as a um one of the ARPA uh COVID uh projects for senior housing, and that was 1.5 million.

So the total project is right near 17 million and we have it fully ready to go, just need to close on it on next Tuesday.

And and Commissioner, I would just add that um additional delays were incurred due to the six-week federal shutdown because um I wasn't so concerned about I was just wanting to make sure I had a concept of who what why when and where this project is, and apparently there's not a replacement for Carlson Plaza.

No, Carlson Plaza will be across the street.

We're gonna call that Sunflower Crossing.

So this is Sunflower Flats, Sunflower Crossing will be across the street.

We've applied for tax credits to rebuild there, and you'll you'll get a full briefing on all of that as we get closer.

Yes.

Okay.

Yep.

All right.

So this is basically a housekeeping issue, in my opinion.

If we uh concur, we've been shepherding this project through the process of much of the last year.

Um I think Aaron has done a great job with uh jumping through all the hoops that were necessary to obtain the supplemental funding to to bring this forward.

So um I will uh make and so commissioners, we need to do this in two motions.

So I will move that the we authorize the city administration to finalize and the mayor and the city clerk to execute a land transfer and development agreement with Manhattan Housing Authority and Sunflower Flats, owner LP, and authorize the mayor and the city clerk to execute other related documents.

Second.

Thank you.

Chelsea, would you call the roll?

Mayor Adam Chak.

Yes.

Commissioner McCullough?

Yes.

Commissioner Fox.

Yes.

Commissioner Morrison.

Yes.

Commissioner Von Lentel.

Yes.

Motion carries five to zero.

Thank you.

Um I will also move that we approve resolution number zero two zero three two six-a, authorizing the transfer of city property to the Manhattan Housing Authority.

Second.

Chelsea.

Commissioner McCullough.

Yes.

Commissioner Fox.

Yes.

Commissioner Morrison.

Yes.

Commissioner Von Lentel.

Yes.

Mayor Adam Chat.

Yes.

Motion carries five to zero.

Thank you.

All right.

We will be moving along to item E, consider construction contract.

Uh Highlands at Grand Mayor, Unit 4 Improvements.

ST 2509, WA2509, SS 2509.

Yes, Mayor, Commissioners.

Brian Johnson, Director of Public Works, City Engineer.

Public Works actually has two items for you tonight.

The first one is this construction contract for a subdivision out in Grand Mirror.

This is the last piece of the several subdivisions that have been occurring in this area over the last couple of years, and it's this parcel right here.

This piece will be the final piece for water, storm, sanitary, and streets to connect the future Willis edition, the current Cypress and Village, prior village editions with Grand Mayor Parkway and the East Side over here, the other parts of Grand Mayor at the Highlands.

These petitions were approved in September or October of last year.

They include street, water, sewer, and paving.

The developer is also the general contractor, and that is why we're bringing forth this construction contract to you to turn them loose for public infrastructure.

With that, I will stand for questions.

That's a great question.

So we've we've talked to the county about it historically.

That is actually a township road, so there's some townships that's not you can't even get through though, can you?

Oh, yes, we can.

Oh.

Yeah, there's a there's an easement up here for a future connection.

But it's a township road, and we can't just connect to it without some discussions about who's going for what?

It's in the long-range plan, it's in the Grand Mayor long range plan, but until we get across this parcel and then across this parcel, those discussions are out in the future.

We did do a study about three or four years ago, a connection study that looked at the connection Grand Mayor Parkway back to Marlatte and kind of what that route would look like.

So we do have some preliminary concepts of what that route looks like.

Okay.

Thank you.

Sorry for getting off the No, that's okay.

It's a great question.

So does Grand May Parkway extend far enough north to connect with this McBrain?

Yeah, right.

Okay.

Here.

Okay.

Anything else?

Other questions for Brian?

Is there any comment from the public on this action?

Do we have a motion, Commissioners?

Well, item E, I'd move that we approve awarding of a contract for 1,373,829 if they're that accurate for 50 cents.

Yeah.

So Schultz construction for the Highlands at Grand Mayor Unit 4 improvements.

All right.

Second.

Is this the Manhattan Area Housing Partnership?

No.

That's that's a different there is a subdivision out there that is, but it's not this one.

Okay, thank you.

This connects the dots.

I knew Schultz was doing that.

Yeah.

Yeah.

This connects the dots between the two.

This is the centerpiece.

Chelsea.

Commissioner Fox.

Yes.

Commissioner Morrison.

Yes.

Commissioner Von Lentel?

Yes.

Mayor Adam Chak.

Yes.

Commissioner McCullough?

Yes.

Motion carries five to zero.

Yay.

We're just zipping along here.

Yeah, I'm going to say real quick.

Uh if I could just make a comment.

Um this is something that we were tradition traditionally have put on the consent agenda, but just with the new commissioners, uh, we put it on general.

So just as we kind of work through some of these items, um, keep in mind that the option to put them on consent is out there, and we would ask staff appreciate feedback if you would like to see items like this moved back to the consent.

Thank you.

Thank you, Daniel.

Item F on tonight's agenda, consider contract amendment number one and agreements for 5th Street and Leavenworth Street pedestrian improvements projects.

PD 2102.

Yes, Commissioners.

Uh, Mayor, again, Brian Johnson, Director of Public Works, City Engineer.

This project actually goes back quite a ways.

It's probably 12 to 15 years old.

Public Works received a lot of complaints in this area about lack of pedestrian ability to get to the post office and out of the post office, as well as to be able to get to the housing authority on the northeast corner.

Uh there's three items to this one.

The first piece is a design services amendment for a request for a bus stop paid for by FHATA.

Piece two is an agreement between the city and FHA ATA that details that funding and how they're going to pay for us and reimburse us.

So this project goes back again, like I said, about a decade ago, uh due to multiple pedestrian complaints about access at the intersection.

Public works identified a project by 2012-2013, but we didn't have a funding source.

So we put it on the shelf.

And then about 2022, community development was kind enough to offer us some CDBG money if public works could fund the design.

So real quick.

So again, Northeast Corner.

Bus stop is going to set somewhere in this area here, some bowl-outs here.

Fall of 2022, design begins.

23, we had field check completed, 23.

October 23, we started looking at a bus, possible bus stop there.

Then August 25 had the FTA grant award for FHATA.

This is what the improvements would look like.

You can see we've narrowed down that intersection.

We put in better ADA ramps that meet current ADA design, and then we have a crossings or much shorter because of the bulbouts.

In order for the bullbouts to work, we have to add storm sewer system.

Remember downtown, everything's running from west to east.

Everything's going from 17th Street trying to get to 3rd Street.

So we got to put some inlets on the west side to help pick up that water, and then also on the north and south lakes.

So this is the bus stop concept, little bump out here for future ATA buses or whatever buses would uh go there and pick up residents, take them to their doctor's appointments, those sorts of things.

Again, the professional services agreements with the original 80,000 in city funds.

Everything you're looking at tonight, there's zero dollars from the city in it.

It's all C D B G or it's all FHATA.

Zero zero additional city dollars.

Here's kind of the spreadsheet of what it looks like again.

We had the original 80, but now everything else is between C D B G and the FTA grant, 5307 dollars.

So with that, I will stand for questions.

If you should have any.

Um usually with eight with ADA um dollars, we have to have some match.

So there's no match.

I mean, when we did the intersection at points and Juliet and Adabus came up with a whole lot of dollars for us.

So there's no attabus is just doing the whole thing.

I mean Correct, yes.

That's really great.

Yeah, so these are $5307 or a little bit different than I think what you're talking about.

Uh these are dollars that they get back every year.

That must be nice.

Yeah.

Yeah, I think they get around, is it $350, Karen?

I believe it's about $350 a year.

They get back from federal government and they can spend it on pedestrian improvements.

Yeah, it is on that.

It's just that the match is a very good question.

Yeah, we don't pay for the match.

Okay.

Correct, yes.

Yeah.

Yeah, because I thought they usually got 90%.

You know, yeah, the match is being paid through CDB.

So our investment in ADABUS at 200,000 plus a little bit, is really comes back to pay their own way.

It's almost an exact wash.

Yeah.

It's almost to the dollar a wash.

I'd make a motion and we approve item if noting that I'm aghast at the total cost that taxpayers pay, not us, but taxpayers generally pay 1,11,570 for this.

But since we only are having the cough up 80,000, I move that we approve that.

Okay.

Um Commissioner Morrison, would you be so kind as to read the entire action statement?

Oh, sorry.

Is there anyone from the public who would like to make a comment?

Okay.

Uh Commissioner Morrison, would you please read the entire motion?

Oh, all right, never mind.

Our city manager says you don't have to.

Second.

Okay.

Chelsea.

Commissioner Morrison.

Yes.

Commissioner Von Lentel.

Yes.

Mayor Adam Chak.

Yes.

Commissioner McCullough.

Yes.

And my I just noticed that Kansas gets back a dollar eighty-five for every tax dollar they send to the federal government.

Commissioner Fox.

Yes.

Motion carries five to zero.

Thank you.

Item G on our agenda tonight.

Consider the Prairie Paws Animal Shelter Renovation Project and Servicement.

Good evening, Mayor.

Commissioners.

Just as a little bit of background.

Prairie Paws has been operating the city's animal shelter for the last couple of years.

They are in a position where they'd like to extend that contract.

And they've also approached us about a renovation upgrade within the facility.

So just as a bit of background, in June of 23, we were authorized to seek proposals.

Prairie Paws was selected and we started negotiations and they began operating the animal shelter in December of 2023.

It is a city owned facility, as I mentioned.

They are responsible, Prairie Pause for utilities, maintenance and specific projects.

They may request funds from us for larger maintenance and construction projects.

We have participated in others in the past, including a roof.

Initially, we did agree to some transition services fees, core service fee of 350K, and then an escalator in years 25 and 26.

They do retain donations.

So we've negotiated an agreement through 2031.

We have an annual fee that's capped with no escalator at 367 and some change.

They have approached us about a physical upgrade to the site.

If you've been in the shelter, it's beyond the entry.

So they have a $353,000 project they'd like to do within the site.

We have basically proposed to split that.

We have also went to our on-call service program.

This is a policy that was adopted back in 23.

We went through an open process to select project management.

We had four firms locally apply, and the commission approved those in 2024.

He said McCown Gordon is next.

Riley Construction.

Riley was brought to us by Prairie Paws.

They have an a relationship with Prairie Paws and past work that has been done at the shelter.

Uh and we have put these two things together to come up with a project just under uh $400,000.

Our share again, $176 being paid from the trust fund.

We would pick up the 27709 out of the general fund general services portion of the budget for professional services.

This evening, looking for the mayor and the clerk to execute agreements with Prairie Paws for that operations and lease for the next five years.

We would look for a funding agreement with Prairie Paws to participate in this improvement out at the animal shelter.

And then we would also look to authorize the manager to execute the service agreement with McCown Gordon for project management.

I'd be happy to answer any questions.

Is that management fee just a percentage based on a perceived?

I think Zach's in the audience, he can speak to how McCown got to that total.

Um we are asking them to be out on the site on a weekly basis, meeting with Riley Construction, monitoring the project from a perspective of anything that may go wrong or anything that needs to have clarity in terms of hey, we found this problem.

Now what would you like us to do?

Ripping out physically the kennels themselves, they may run into some subgrade issues, issues we're just not aware of because they can't see them.

They know they've got a drainage issue.

Uh they are Riley is approaching that.

Um as a reflection back into the policy, we typically hire that professional service.

We are not experts in vertical construction.

If the commission didn't want to hire McCown, I would be looking back to Aaron and having probably Alfonso or someone on his staff helping us with this project.

Uh but these are the types of projects that the policy was created for for us to oversee vertical construction areas where we just don't have a tremendous amount of expertise or time.

So that's why the on-call service was created.

I just was curious.

You said you had four different companies, you kind of rotate through them, and there must be some kind of a preset fee structure for I don't believe there's a preset, Brian.

They just react to each project.

There's a preset qualification before they apply for it.

Right.

Yeah, and like I said, Zach, he can come up and speak to his fee.

I would assume before they brought you the project for 200 and some thousand, whatever it was, somebody had drawn up some plants and somebody looked at them and somebody thought they were competent.

Uh I don't know the current people, Riley Construction, but I know of them over the years.

Do they need to be supervised for $27,000?

It's a I've watched projects of less go awry, even in this building.

And we've wrestled around with issues with a contractor in our auditorium in the foyer as we were working with the Peace Memorial folks who raised a lot of local money.

We didn't have a ton of skin in the game in the foyer.

Um, and we were gonna manage that.

We ran into a lot of issues.

Managing on-site vertical construction, again, you don't have an expert in this organization for it.

We typically hire to make sure what the contractor is telling us is valid.

Well, does the city have a backside protection if they find something that's another $20,000 that we don't pay?

Or are we stuck with half of the new 20?

If they find something they didn't anticipate, we'll have an expert on site to that validate and verify that is actually the case.

If it comes back and prairie pause and the city agree that it's something that needs to be taken care of, we'll be back in front of you all to see how you'd like us to proceed.

So we've gotten a bid from Riley.

We really don't know what we're getting other than we can see a concrete floor and some kennels, and everybody's shooting crafts on the rest.

They know that drainage system backs up on them.

They want to replace that, and the kennels themselves don't function.

The ones they have identified to be ordered would function a lot better.

And I think Prairie Paws has some experience with the kennels that they've picked out in other facilities.

And so they utilize this other than whatever the general maintenance and responsibilities are, they're using the facility that they were given by us under some theory of lease.

They are leasing the site, yes.

And do they pay for the lease or is it a dollar a year?

We pay them to operate our shelter.

The question was do they pay rent and answers?

No.

No.

And we do pay them for operating it.

There's 376,000 in the future.

Okay.

If you'd like to get into the challenges of running an animal shelter, I'd be happy to have that conversation with you at some point.

No, it's just interesting.

The priorities of animal care seem to exceed cost of child care at times in humanity for other things, but we got to take care of the lafuzes, I understand.

Thank you.

Um Commissioner Morrison, I'd suggest that you look at the Prairie Pause report that's on our SharePoint site to have an idea of how many animals they are handling on a routine basis.

To move forward, I do think I keep thinking that we should do a better job of making sure people get the rabies shot and their tags because that would go a long way to helping us pay for the Prairie Paws.

And we we don't really follow up with that.

And I see no reason why the vets in town couldn't help us with that.

You go get your regular shots for your dog, and you could just get your little tags in.

With AI, we can do it.

Yeah.

Go ahead.

I would move that we authorize the Marin City Clerk to execute a new service agreement with Prairie Paws Animal Shelter and Inc.

for animal shelter operations and lease of the animal shelter facilities.

Should I do all three of these?

I don't think it's we can actually do a single motion for all three items.

If you just want to say uh there's there's a motion to a approve the prairie pause animal shelter renovation project and services agreement.

We can do it with one motion.

So moved for all A B and C listed here.

Second.

Second, second.

I don't know if you have any public comment.

Oh, sorry.

Oh anybody for public comment on the prairie pause.

Thank you.

Chelsea, can you call the roll?

Commissioner Von Lintel.

Yes.

Mayor Adam Track.

Yes.

Commissioner McCullough?

Yes.

Commissioner Fox.

Yes.

Commissioner Morrison.

Yes.

Motion carries five to zero.

Thank you.

Moving right along.

Item H.

Consider the purchase of robotic mowers and equipment.

Good evening, Mayor and Commissioners.

Um today uh I'm bringing back uh the robotic mowers for uh steel and pipe supply ballpark.

Um this item was tabled at our last legislative uh and had some uh uh questions about you know what these machines are and how we are implementing them.

So first, these are the uh the four machines that we are purchasing as robotic mowers.

You have the 520 EPOS, that's kind of the small area mower that's does half an acre a day, a little over uh the 550H, which is one of our primary machines, does about two and a half acres a day.

These are the ones that you're gonna see in the outfields at uh Twin Oaks Sports Complex.

535 all-wheel drive uh is uh one that we're bringing on that we've identified to be able to mow slopes, um, and then the Siora 546.

That's our large area mower.

You'll see the current deployment out at uh uh Annenberg Soccer Fields, uh, and we use those to cut uh large areas.

Uh cutting widths are identified below the 520s and the 550s are 9.45 inches.

Uh the 535s at 8.7, and the Sioras are the 26.8.

Some of the uh other amenities that are included in this purchase are uh mower fence door.

This is a uh a door that is triggered by the mower that opens up and allows the mower to pass through a fenced or gated area.

Um, and then when the mower comes back out, we have a nice secured uh fence line.

So, in particular for ball fields, this is really important because the last thing you want is gaps in your fencing uh for balls to get through.

The APOS reference station.

So a lot of people may understand these to be a guide wire mower.

There is a guide wire option.

We tend we use the EPOS, which is a reference station GPS locate.

Um, so they don't have a guide wire, they are uh we travel them out, we map the area and they mow from there, and then uh to the right there is a picture of the charging station.

Our initial per trip purchase, uh, this was the first thing we did.

It was our test case was to go out to Annberg and purchase two Sioras at Soccer Main and Soccer South.

The five 550s that cut the four ball fields at Twin Oaks and the interior of that complex.

And then Collie has two 550s that cut the outfield.

So the Ott joint maintenance facility also had a project running alongside of it, and to mow out in front of that facility.

We did add one that mows inside the fencing of the JMF and one that mows outside.

So the grant that was received that was the 117,000 no match grant.

And I I recognize we paid 117 because we had a mower in there that ran us over that 117,000, but the grant itself didn't require a match.

So this is what was purchased and brought in last fall with the idea that there would be a deployment this year.

So we're adding the all-wheel drives to Annaburg to cut in kind of those ditch area spaces.

Bless you.

One's the all-wheel drive to help mow the slope.

And then the 520H in that area as well.

The depot, Blue Earth Plaza, Douglas Park, Colorado Park, Griffith Park, Steel and Pipe Supply, which is before you today.

So these are the existing ones we have.

And then we were looking to add the ones today.

And then Truth Park and Norville Field.

23 mowers in total out of this will be deployed next year.

And what's highlighted there is what is currently contracted mowing, and we are estimating that we're going to save about $36,000 over the 10 acres.

So what are the types of contract mowing that we do?

So we have defined eight service levels in that contract.

Number one being improved athletic fields.

We do not contract, we do that in internally.

Improved park is the second highest level of care.

High traffic right-of-way, riderway flail, open space, vegetation management, levee, and weed control.

And typically the amount of mowings that are required reduce as you go down that list.

Overall mowing contract is 191 locations, 295 acres, and has a budget of 239,000.

In 2025, our actual was 203500.

Again, I want to be clear preliminary numbers, so those haven't been finalized.

But uh and the reason for that is we actually did not get the contract approved, so we had a little bit of a late start on it.

City Parks portion of that.

Our budget was 79,948.

In 25, our actual was 59584 again because of the late start.

And we have contracted 94 acres, almost 95.

So, Aaron, sorry, your previous slide had 10 acres.

Is that the amount that would be saved by using the robotics?

Yes.

So 10 acres with 36,000 because what we're doing is removing level twos, which are that improved higher maintenance area and putting robotics in there versus the mowings that are once a month every three weeks to maybe it's only annually.

So again, athletic fields, that's our highest standard of care.

It requires two to three mowings per week from a traditional mower.

Um must be maintained at two inches or lower.

Natural turf surface uniformity is key for playability.

Um it's also safety and injury prevention.

Our athletic fields are a primary economic driver for the community.

They do serve a large economic impact.

And then parks, our second highest standard of care.

Typically, one mowing a week try must be maintained at 2.5 to 4 inches.

Uh you can have some deviation in the uniformity of the ground, but not the finished cut.

So these are the requirements that are kind of put into that contract and what the expectation is from our contractors when they mow these types of areas.

Also, parks are a big economic driver, and think of Blue Earth Plaza, where we get a lot of events and uh tourism coming in.

So here are kind of the other service level levels.

Again, it drops as you go two weeks for high traffic right away.

Um, you go to three two to four times a year for open space.

Uh vegetation is kind of annually.

We kind of spoke about that.

Um, that could be goats, so goats could be mowing that uh eventually.

So levee, we're doing one to two mowings a year typically, and then we're doing spray.

So traditional mowers, our inventory, we have four sixty inch with a bagger, we have a uh a single 72 inch with a bagger, those two operate at our cemeteries, uh or those two sections, and then parks are three seventy-two inch, those have baggers, are three eleven-foot mowers, those are our typical athletic field mowers.

Um, and then the one 14 inch also can be used on bigger open spaces such as soccer fields.

Uh we have a slope mower and a small area mower.

The uh Toro 4000 D is kind of that athletic field parked mower below and has an 11-inch deck, and we'll cut it said 11 inch or 11 inches inch.

Oh, excuse me, 11 foot deck.

Yeah.

And actually, you'll need to unlock your iPhone first.

I didn't know that was talking to me.

And that was my city phone.

Um Aaron, I was struck.

Sorry, when you gave us the dimensions of the automated mowers, some of them were only eight.

Eight inches.

Nine inches, and twenty-six.

And we're that's a big shift.

Yeah.

Um I'll kind of get into that.

So maintenance, these require daily cleaning, uh, fueling, fluid checks, and inspections.

Uh hourly maintenance uh requires fluid changes such as oil, hydraulics, uh, you know, uh blade sharpening, etc.

Um, they have a lot more moving parts, a lot more things can go wrong over the lifespan, and we mainly road to locations, so we drive them over the road, which is even harder on those machines, um, and then they're tailored to towards locations based on the type of cut that we're doing.

So robotic mowers.

Blade changes every two to three weeks, and this is a good picture of a blade.

Um, this is one for a Siora.

Uh to imagine one for a 520 or 550, they almost look like those old school shaving razor blades.

Um we get huge packs of them.

Uh we do weekly cleaning, uh, we do wheel replacement as needed.

Um, this is uh it's not a new technology, but it hasn't been around long enough to establish a really good hard deadline on when those batteries will need to be replaced.

So the the running estimate right now is every three to five years.

Software updates as needed, uh, usually annually.

Um they do require winter storage inside.

Um fun fact about these is the ones in Annenberg, assuming the fences are open, you can call them to the maintenance shop to work on them and then send them back to their docking station.

So we don't actually have to go to each location and service them.

You can bring them in, service them, and send them back out.

Bring them in a workload.

Yeah, into a shop location.

So we have we have a slide.

Yes, yeah.

We're not traveling them out to JMF.

It's it's it's literally the shop that's at Annenberg, you can call them in.

They will drive themselves to the shop, you can do your maintenance performance, and you can send them back.

So these mowers, these robotic mowers mow all the time, and that's the difference.

Is we start the mowers at 11 p.m.

at night, and they mow overnight and through the day.

And it's continual mowing except for when they're charging or when we've got it blocked out for usage.

So the smaller deck size, even though it's smaller, it runs longer and more frequently.

So a charge time on a mower, give or take, is about 30 minutes, 30 to 45 minutes.

The bigger ones take a little bit longer.

Um looking at both, just comparing them based on athletic fields, which is our highest care of maintenance.

The 4000 D is a hundred thousand dollar mower.

We would need to trailer it if we are strictly looking at a single replacement versus these replacement of the robotics.

Five to ten year lifespan, nine point six acres an hour is what they suggest.

The reality is you cannot move that fast when you're making turns unless you're in big open spaces.

So it does go back down to that more like six acres an hour, but that doesn't count the time in between fields.

Uh estimated about 2.2 gallons uh per hour of work, uh, a 40-hour week operation for 36 weeks.

The annual cost, again, about 10,100 a year if you broke out that initial cost over the mower over 10 years.

But that's not each mower.

Yes.

For the traditional Toro, yeah.

Yes.

Typically need an upsize truck if we're going to trailer it around.

That increases your gas and fuel consumption.

Routine maintenance is about $3,500 a year.

Think about oil, blade maintenance, hydraulic fluid.

Staff member is about $30,000 a year.

That's at our starting wage of 210.

That includes travel mowing and the maintenance.

And then our annual costs, we're looking at about 45,000 384.

Robotic mowers, again, pricings vary on sizes.

I have them all here.

The big ones are right around 25,000.

The others are that four to five thousand dollar mark.

Same lifespan, five to ten years.

Sorry, Aaron, the uh you have includes supporting hardware is that the docking station and the correct EPOS, and so one EPOS station serves multiple mowers.

I think you can actually put like 40 of them on one.

Realistically, your your coverage you wouldn't get to that many.

So but they they do support uh a large number of uh mowers on a single EPOS system.

Do you have a traffic jam when all four of them show up at once?

No, though they're good little robots, they go in order.

So as you can see, the price differences the Cioras, which are the big ones, uh, are the more expensive ones.

Uh the acreage varies, I kind of covered that earlier.

They use 75 kilowatt hours a year.

So uh mows daily for 36 weeks.

Uh we do require a staff member about eight hours a week, and that's to bring in those blades and do the checks, and we do want to keep them clean.

Um we've had good experience even with our traditional mowers about maintaining them very very well and making them last past their lifespan.

We anticipate the same with these.

So we would be looking at seven Sierras, which include the uh steel and pipe supply ballpark, uh, 21,550Hs, 535 at the ballpark as well.

Annual cost of the mowers breaks down to about 28,000 a year.

Our routine maintenance is about 1820.

So back on that, that's 28,000 for all 360.

All of all the ones listed down here, yes.

So per mower, it's so in this particular model it's 28 mowers.

It breaks down to that 28,000 based on the type of mowers that we have in there.

Um so uh electricity works out in total about 24 uh 240 dollars a year, and that's for all of them.

Basically about 11 dollars a year per mower, is what it breaks down to.

Staff member again, uh little over $6,000 annual cost $36,000 is is the estimate.

So it's about $9,000 savings over the traditional in the long term.

Um if you start adding things like salary escalation in that, especially if you're having to put somebody on that mower over time at 40 hours a week, you're probably looking at that 44,500 in additional salary dollars spent over a 10-year lifespan.

So it's a difference estimated at 106,000.

So, how many people do we get to lay off so we can use a colony?

We've already done it.

So we've reduced our park staff force by 20% over the past two years, and so we don't actually have the person on that would need to mow CECO.

So we we were intentional about this, and I'll I'll kind of get to the design piece.

So we do want to be strategic, right?

Automated mowers are not made for everything.

Um athletic fields, open parks, open areas are good deployment areas.

The more you put things like trees and a lot of uh amenities in their way, they actually don't work way.

So, for example, cemetery, they will not work in a cemetery because you have too many things out there and they're just not efficient.

So cost savings, primarily the savings is the reduction of staff and consumables in fuel because even though fuel's cheap today, it's not always cheap.

Um reduced maintenance.

The biggest thing for us is they have a much higher quality of cut just because they are so consistent, and if you think about especially on an athletic field, that grass is the same height every day, which is very consistent.

And if you think about especially on an athletic field, that grass is the same height every day, which is very consistent.

Tournaments love that.

I think our there is an appreciation from our existing uh leagues that have now seen the difference out at Annaburg and TO.

Um they don't call in sick, they can mow in the rain, they can mow in the irrigation, they run overnight when the facility's not being used, and they provide that consistent cut.

So here's a kind of a picture of the seco dugout.

And this is where we designed those mowers to be docked in this storage area.

So there is actually shelving in here as part of our storage, and these mowers actually dock in the base of that, where we showed that door would be right here to where they automatically deploy themselves out to the field and cut overnight.

And so this is kind of uh the top view in that dugout looking down at that storage area.

So again, the the item before you the cost is $67,500.

Uh it is paid from the quality of life sales tax.

We did design the facility for this.

We do have some of those mowers already.

And um we are looking for that high-end cut, especially at Seiko in the steel and pipe ball uh ballpark.

A lot less maintenance on these, and that allows us to take the resources we have and deploy them in other locations.

Now I know I don't have a slide, and I know I mentioned it yesterday, but just so we have it uh, because I know Commissioner Fox, she asked me for what that fund balance was.

So revenues generated to date uh 27,000 or 27,879,585 dollars.

We've expended 25,825 dollars, 825 and 1 dollar, leaving us a current balance of 2,54,584 dollars.

Now, what's that been spent on?

Trails to date, $685,897.

The rec centers in total were $17,818,432.

The CECO project to date is $7,320,672.

That totals $25,825 and $825,000 and one dollar.

Yesterday you mentioned how much money you hope to get in already spent for our obligation.

Yeah, so that the forecast remaining is uh we anticipate for CECO 10,221,110.

Trails, so that was Marlatt, Warner Park, and some of the others that we talked about.

We have 2,419,063, excuse me.

Our total forecasted expenditures are 12,640,173.

We do have uh some reimbursements coming from USD 383 and the USTA and USTA Missouri Valley grants, which total we will inject that fund with 582,005, and then the tax generated revenue, and we're assuming a one and a half increase.

We've seen up to four, but we want to be conservative, is uh ten million four hundred and thirty-five thousand nine hundred and fifty-three.

So a total forecasted revenue of 11,7,958 dollars.

As I said yesterday, that's a lot of numbers.

What's the net?

What's a lot of yeah?

Is that a positive or a negative balance?

We are at a we are currently at a positive.

Okay.

That leaves us with an anticipated positive uh net of 432,369 dollars.

Okay, and we'll put this on paper for you.

I just didn't have a time to get it in the presentation.

So other questions.

Commissioners, just so you're aware, when we educated on that sales tax, it was eight and a half, eight and a half, eight and a half, and two.

So we were eight and a half at each of the rack centers, which Aaron gave you a number, 17 million.

And we we knew being 10 years out or eight years out of seco, eight and a half million probably wasn't gonna get it done.

But two million for trails, which Aaron highlighted at 2.4.

We'll go to three total.

Be close to three.

We're real close.

Seco's the only one that obviously just waiting eight years to start construction.

You really didn't know what it was gonna cost, but eight and a half was the bogey for all three of those major initiatives, plus the two million in trails when we were educating in 2016 and 2017, just FYI.

And had we built in 2020, it probably would have been close to that number.

Yeah.

So I I feel like your your cost comparisons here are they're not something's askew with the traditional mower.

You look at one very expensive mower and show what it costs per year with your robotic mowers.

You're looking at all of the mowers.

So are are all of these mower doing the same job as one 100,000 mowers?

That would be the comparison if we used one mower to cut all athletic fields.

We currently have uh three of those.

Now you have more than one of these big mowers.

Yeah, so we currently have, and so part of this is the replacement plan.

And actually, what we're doing is cycling one out in order to use these.

I feel like in the end that you're you're saving more than what you're showing on paper here.

Well, I would rather save more and tell you I'm gonna save less, but then show you that I save more.

That usually works.

The other way does not work out well for us.

No, it doesn't.

That doesn't.

So the the 23 mowers in your in your page here labeled robotic mowers.

23 mowers is mowing 10 acres.

You're tell back up there.

This one, yep.

So the 2023 are doing 10 acres?

No, the highlighted ones there are taking on that contracted 10 acres to reduce the contract, which sorry, I put it on two different pages.

That wasn't smart of me.

But which would reduce what we have budgeted uh that 79,948, our our anticipated reduction in that is 36,000 because the places we're putting them are that high level of care, which costs us more in a contract, just as it would pay a staff member to do it.

Right.

So these four we're getting you're wanting to buy now will be at at CECO.

These are these the yeah, the ones that are in this item are specifically for CECO.

These have already been purchased as part of that grant.

Where was the grant from uh it was federal grant, the EECBG grant, uh, and it had to do with uh electronic efficiencies, and because we were uh we identified the electric mowers, and the original grant required uh them to be deployed in a Justice 40 area, um which you can see that we're doing quite a bit of that, and and it had a requirement there, and so we thought it would be a good one to qualify for and we received it.

So you're still gonna need for the cemeteries for City Park.

Yes, you're still gonna we won't get away from traditional mowers completely again.

These we're looking at sp specific deployment areas.

Yeah.

Um what um how receptive was the park and recs department when you presented this?

How receptive?

I mean the board board.

How receptive was the board?

Uh that has been one of our uh move MHK goals, which they adopted and approved uh both years we reported it back.

We didn't specifically give them this report.

I didn't I did not give them this particular item because it was part of that bigger move MHK automation and but we didn't have numbers with that.

I mean, okay.

Okay.

I mean, they knew about the grant.

They knew about this piece for sure.

Uh the other one was uh done earlier.

So my only other comment, I know these are new, and with these additional four, you'll have 36 of these things running around.

I can't imagine it just one staff member one day a week maintaining all of those, monitoring them and chasing them down and it seems like a lot, but again, it helps when they come to you and you don't have to chase them down.

So we'll we'll look for a report next fall on how they did.

Um so just like just so when you talk about like how you go about sharpening blades on a on a range wing that has at least nine blades on it, and the time it takes to get that up, even the decks come up that it's it's actually not too hard when the decks come up the way they do.

Uh these you take a little power screwdriver and they pop off and pop on, and you're done with it in a matter of minutes.

So um blade changes more frequent, but easier to do.

Do we have GPS or something on them if somebody comes in the night?

Yes, yeah.

So if you decide that you want to take one home, then uh we're we're gonna send some friends of ours to show up at your doorstep and talk to you about it.

And um at your house.

So yeah, they're GPS located.

We actually know if you touch them.

Okay, thank you.

So we get a notification.

Andrew, do you have a comment?

I think I'm good.

Uh Commissioner Stuy have a motion.

So I was very skeptical about this in the beginning, but it if it saves what it looks like, it looks like it ought to be a good deal.

So I know it's experimental and see how it goes.

So I would add move that we approve the purchase of Huscavarna robotic mowers and equipment from on site or site one landscape supply for 67,487 fifty-five.

Second.

Mayor Adam Chak?

Yes.

Commissioner McCullough, yes.

Commissioner Fox.

Yes.

Commissioner Morrison.

Uh no.

Commissioner Von Lintel.

Yes.

Motion carries four to one.

All right.

Thank you.

Aaron, moving right along.

Item I on the agenda tonight is to consider the purchase of portable pitching mounds and field protection for steel and pipe supply ballpark.

Yeah, so this is part of the FFE of outfitting the park and sorry.

FF and Yeah, so that all the equipment that goes into it, the extras that's not part of the construction.

So, like everything from tables and chairs and furnishings and yeah.

Um, I'll just run through these really quick.

Uh, you have a six-inch mound, an eight-inch mound, and a ten inch mound.

Um you're probably like, why do we need so many mounds?

Well, it they're different sizes.

It's hard to tell from the pictures, but those are different size players that are on those mounds.

Um, and I'll just give you an example for my own family.

My son is actually taller than I am, uh, and he was that way last year.

And if he tried to throw off a six-inch mound, he's gonna overstep it.

So he needs to be on a 10-inch mound.

And so these are not included, but uh, these are what we would bring out during tournaments based on level of play, uh, and we would select the uh appropriate mound based on that age group.

So uh to kind of put it in perspective, six and under works pretty much from uh 10 U and down.

Uh you can even get in to some 11U, 12U, you're pushing it, 12U, 10, 11U, 12, you should really be using the eight inch, and then uh anything above that should be using a 10 inch.

So what you're saying, the field isn't playable without these, not for baseball.

And we knew that, but we didn't provide for it earlier.

We yes, we knew that, and this is the intention was to always purchase these.

This was discussed when we this has been discussed before.

You commissioner Commissioner Morrison, do you mean instead of like a permanent mound on the field?

Do you mean instead of like putting a permanent mound on the field?

Yeah, so the reason is this allows us to use that for softball or baseball.

It allows the flexibility to move the mound based on the distance because each one of them has a different distance.

So it ranges on baseball from 46 feet for the youngest kids up to 60 feet six inches for the for the oldest kids.

Do we where do we store them?

I mean, so that's that picture of that dugout with the other shelves was designed.

Now they really heavy.

I mean, how do we move them?

So you can kind of see we intentionally buy you can kind of see this line right here.

They come in two pieces, so we can actually separate them so they're a bit lighter, and they do lock into each other pretty well.

So we we intentionally buy the two-piece to make them easier to move and store.

One man bigger that move.

Probably not one, two, two could.

One could one could move it from position on the field, but um, especially if you get in the bigger ones, they're they're a little awkward to carry.

It's not that they're heavy.

Um I've carried a full-size one with another person over 400 feet, and it wasn't challenging.

And they they're they literally call it porter light for a reason.

So doing this, have we restricted the enjoyment use of the public of that pole park?

What do you mean?

If I take my 10-year-old kid out there, he ain't gonna have a pitching mount.

Can we go play ball on it anyway?

So the the fields themselves will be secured and available either through the program or rental.

Um they're not necessarily always open to the public.

The warm-up area in that space uh, which has eight batting cages and five pitching areas, uh, would be available to the public, generally speaking at all times, except for things like tournaments and program nights.

So again, more protective equipment.

Um the on deck circle, uh, the pitching mound protector, and then the softball pitcher's mat.

Again, this is to help increase the longevity of the turf that is on the field, so we do not have to come back and replace that as often.

These implement these types of things are used for highware areas.

So as a softball team practices, they'll roll that mat out rather than using the field itself, and it protects the turf under it.

Same thing with pitching mound protector, of course.

The on deck circle, anytime you have games helps uh provide uh additional uh protection against uh heavy use in a particular spot.

Catchers mat batters mat, same thing.

Again, we're trying to reduce how much we have to cut turf out and resow it together.

Uh that becomes very expensive, and um it's just better if you can keep it as one continuous piece longer.

Um and then the particular reason why we like portalite is the spike tech.

We've tried other companies, and it ends up sliding on the turf.

And so uh Portalite specifically has the spike tech that digs into that turf and prevents that sliding.

In fact, at Annaburg last year, we had a different brand, and the high school softball coach wouldn't use it because it kept sliding as our pitchers tried to pitch off of it.

So we knew this existed, that's why we're uh kind of particular about this particular iron.

So backing up to that.

Yep.

That that batters mat looks if you have a runner coming from third and he slides a little too early.

Not for gameplay.

Oh, it's not for gameplay.

These are not for gameplay.

These are for everything else.

So gameplay you'll play on that surface.

Okay, and it's meant to protect that service while we're doing practices and not having games.

Wow.

So yeah, we'll those peel off, and then the exception to that would be obviously the on deck circle.

Yeah.

So total cost 69,31940.

Uh, again, this is paid out of the same quality of life sales tax fund.

These numbers were included in the numbers I rattled off earlier.

Um, and it the intent is long-term protection of the facility and uh particularly using the spike tech to uh be a safer substance.

Questions?

Well, it's all pretty fancy stuff.

Might as well be playing ball in your living room, you know.

Come a long way from dirt fields, so uh agreed.

Uh but I have seen had experience with the mounds.

I mean, I have grandsons, they've come up through the grades, and the mounds get a little bigger as they grow older, and with the artificial turf, I guess you have to have those.

So it you'll see us use those even on a uh uh skin surface.

I mean mound built-in mounds are kind of a thing of the past because just because it's restricts the use of that particular field against any and all.

So the infield is also artificial, correct?

Yes.

The outfields are natural grass.

Oh, okay.

Any other questions for Aaron?

Is there any public comment on this item?

All right, seeing none, do we have a motion?

So which one are we here?

So I would move uh we approve the sole source purchase of portable pitching mounds and field protection for the steel and pipe supply ballpark from port portal light pitching mounds for 69,31940.

Second, uh Chelsea, we have a motion and it has been seconded.

Will you call the roll, please?

Commissioner McCullough?

Yes, Commissioner Fox.

Yes.

Commissioner Morrison?

No.

Commissioner Von Lintel.

Yes, Mayor Adam Chak.

Yes.

Motion carries four to one.

Okay.

Aaron, we have one more item for you.

Consider the purchase of a mobile digital screen.

Would you like to present this item?

So one of the things that we explored and we we saw this at national conference, and we intentionally went and looked for it because of some of the things that we want to try to do this year from a programming standpoint.

This item is what they call a max 169 digital screen.

It's a digital screen on a trailer, 16 by 9.

So think of that as a big TV.

It's fully outfitted with the production box, the speaker assembly, the on trailer generator, and signage package.

So literally to deploy this, you drive it to a location, you drop the drop the trailer and balance it out and raise the screen.

It has an 11-year warranty, five years for labor, but 11 years for parts, free freight, and it has the GSA purchasing agreement discount on it.

So why would we want something like that?

What is it?

That's just a cooperative purchasing, kind of like Source Well.

So community events is ranked as a high priority.

It has the PIR rating of 152.

And so we really see this item really enhancing existing events, our festivals, our tournaments, our concerts.

It could be races and it could be parades.

So and then really want to deploy it in new events.

Now, long term, we're the easiest thing to do is movies in the park.

And so we really have this intent to try to bring more community special events.

We believe that this is an easy pickup to start doing that through movies in the park.

This year in particular, one thing and why we're interested in this year now is because we'd like to do World Cup watch parties.

And so we've already worked with some of our uh there's a local group that's talking about the World Cup and what to do with it.

Um, and one of the things we've come up with is when the US opens their uh tournament play, uh, and I'm not trying to bag on the US, who knows how long they'll make it in that tournament, but we want to be there on the first day.

We've actually got one of our local soccer groups that wants to host a small tournament, and then we would do a watch party at the end of the night.

So really kind of this year the it was identified to do several World Cup events.

Where we would like to do somewhere between three and four, but we also want to add in the dive-in movies, potentially drive-in movies, or just movies in the park.

We uh there are other items that I think we would bring along with programming and quartering like e-gaming, um fitness classes.

There was a watch party on Points Avenue last year for K State, those are opportunities.

Um of course there could be certain STEM events, things like that, and what I have in my head is maybe a local version of BattleBots that you could then display.

So it's really this bigger enhancement uh to our existing festivals, existing concerts, tournaments, but also allows us to expand our programming.

Uh I will my suggestion is we don't do enough of this as parks and rec as these community-style events that are kind of free to the public.

We do have arts in the park.

It's not like we don't have anything, but I'd like to see us expand that.

And so, kind of what is the financials look like on that?

The revenue opportunities or sponsorships and advertising.

We do uh anticipate generating about $18,000 in revenue through those uh sponsorships and advertising.

An annual expense uh would be about 14,720.

If you break that trailer over that 11-year cost, then and add about $6,000 for that.

Looking at the lifespan, you're you're gonna subsidize this by about $71,000.

So that's a cost recovery rate of about $74.

Typically in these types of events, um, so that's kind of their ROI on this.

Um typically in these kind of events for cost recovery where we would place them for a community event, we're trying to recover around zero to 30%.

Zero to 35.

So I think this exceeds that as a piece of uh the event.

It does cost, and that's included in there rights to things like movies.

They're anticipated about $1,500 a movie, and I've done that in my past work.

Uh so there is a cost to put events on with it.

Um it is considering uh what it could bring, it is relatively cheap at 107,000.

I know that doesn't sound cheap to people.

Um, but we've done a lot of work in parks and rec over the past year to reduce costs.

So the subsidy piece of that, uh, which actually wouldn't come out of the general fund, because what we're proposing is we pay for this out of special parks and rec, which is the alcohol fund, alcohol by the drink.

So it doesn't affect the general fund, but even if it did over the past two years, we've reduced our subsidy by over a million dollars.

We can easily absorb this with still being within the window that we even talked about this weekend.

So I think it's a good addition.

It comes out of special uh parks and rec fund, which is liquor by the drink, so that's what would actually purchase the trailer, and so then it would just be the operational cost within the general fund, and we would absorb that in our normal operations.

Aaron, the um expected revenue is that from ticket sales to events, or is that from selling that umgug of beer that we talked about?

Sponsorships and advertising would be that 18,000.

If we start ticketing for events, that changes the licensing on what we're displaying, and typically it's exponentially more expensive on the licensing.

We're better off to your point trying to do advertising and sponsorships.

Um let me just wheel back up.

It doesn't show it in this one, but there are actually two wings that go on here that are panels that can be sold as a sponsor.

And and so those are the opportunities for revenue.

I do believe there's a and I and know of you're doing it.

That's an un of several entities that we would be looking to partner with to try to bring these new events on.

And so I think there's opportunities to help fund this through that, and that's where that 18,000 comes from.

Do I do I remember when you um demoed this that there was also a crawl across you could do a crawl across the bottom of the screen?

Yes, so it it really it's a HDMI cable into a computer.

So any kind of uh you're getting out of my wheelhouse with audio visual, but any kind of uh setup that you would want to do where you could run a ticker across the bottom, uh that was uh an opportunity.

I think about movies and the ability to show advertisers prior to the start of the movie where it's rolling through.

Um so that would be kind of that advertising piece, and then the sponsors are the more bigger that are permanently uh displayed on the the unit.

I I really liked the modular construction of this.

Um I don't know if anyone else in the commission had a chance to take a look at this, but the screen is composed of multiple small units, so should there be any damage to a single part?

Um it's doesn't require replacing the whole screen, it's one of those components.

Aaron, have you talked with Eric Norris at the library at all about possibly using this?

I I haven't, but I think we would I think the intent for us in the immediacy is the World Cup events.

Sure.

With movie and backed with movies in the park, but I think we're open to exploring all the parts.

You know, I could see using it at the everybody counts event, having it at down at the Douglas Center, having movies down there.

Um commissioners, I don't know if you all saw we did receive a letter of support in our emails from Gina Snyder at the downtown uh business district uh very much endorsing this for possible events at Blue Earth Plaza at the mall plaza, if that should become redeveloped as it's hoped.

She did uh express some reservation about not having events on points such that traffic would be closed off, which I thought was a fair uh when her and I talked, we talked primarily about Blue Earth Plaza and that kind of area.

Um I mean, wouldn't it be cool to have this at the um the tree lighting to have better different perspective on the drones flying and to be able to show them as well?

I think the tree lighting has so many people probably be difficult.

I can see the problems with you know trying to ticket this, because you know it's a big screen.

How are you gonna stop people from you know?

Um, and I do think that the World Cup, you know, particularly the opening one in Kansas City with Algeria versus Argentina.

I mean, those are two soccer giants, and they have two of the sock best soccer players in the world, and and I know people can't get tickets to it.

So what what did the park and recs board say about this?

So ironically, we were bringing this to the commission quickly because of a proposed discount.

Um what happened in between there?

They honored the discounts and it got delayed.

But originally there was a about a $17,000 discount if we had moved quickly on it prior to the end of the year.

What happened is Muscow Lighting actually bought out Insane Impact.

And so, but they continued to push that discount forward.

So this was actually just pushed, so it never went in front of the park board.

Aaron, you've got a board that's very supportive.

You've got to come to us telling us that they really want this.

I mean we have to look at all kinds of different things.

That's it's very difficult for me.

Okay.

I have a more worthless question.

I see it's on a trailer.

You're not gonna come back and say we need to buy a truck to pull it, do you?

No, we currently have a uh we have a three-quarter ton that would pull this.

And the second one is do the annual expenses include the driver and the setup and the maintenance of the the deal, or is that gonna be another add-on we pay?

The the annual expenses include the staff member that it takes to set it up and run it.

The labor for hauling it out, putting it up in the franchise fees for the soccer games, is that including the expenses?

Uh yes, as a general, not necessarily the World Cup.

Uh we don't have a good beat on that.

Uh when I program that out, I used what I knew with movies, which was $1,500, a licensing fee.

That change that's an average that changes depending on what kind of movie you get.

I would think if you aren't charging for things, if I can see it on my TV at home, like the World Cup.

They have they have very specific rules in the World Cup themselves are very out of bed about enforcing it.

Yeah.

Um in fact, not even certainly don't use their logo or say that without their permission.

My guess is that they're gonna be about twice as expensive.

They're changing the neighborhood, the name on Arrowhead.

Um what about funds perhaps also from the CB, the convention and visitor bureau uh amount of money that we you know we pass out every year?

The convention and visitors bureau.

The T T G T V C Yeah, the visit Manhattan uh yeah, we give them, you know, um we have quite a pot of money there, and and they use it well.

I'm not saying that's not, but I would just think that this would be an attraction that you know some of these small towns around.

I do think Trey is here from Visit Manhattan.

Yeah.

Uh that we'll speak at the same time.

I mean, are you proposing that we lease this to other communities?

Are you proposing that we ask them to pay for part of it?

I'm asking them to pay for part of it, in that it might bring people to um to Manhattan to see.

You know, if I'm living in Womago and you could can show me Algeria versus Argentina, I'd drive over.

Um at least if I'm a soccer model.

Well, it's not in their budget for this year.

I don't I I think it's uh I don't think it would be appropriate to ask them to cover this expenditure.

We have already authorized their um that budget.

Well, I think they could play part of it, but okay.

So I guess I with all of the needs we've talked about for the last two days, uh all the expenses that are facing us.

I have a really hard time.

Uh uh right in my mind, a hundred and seven thousand dollar TV on wheels.

Um you know, and this bid, I mean, we're paying forty-two thousand dollars just for the trailer to drive it around.

Um I I just I've been generous on the I've been generous on the mowers and what do you mean the the trailer is trailer frame?

It's part of the bid here.

It says trailer frame 42,500.

Oh yeah, sorry, yes.

Yes, yes, yeah.

I'm with you now.

Um but that but it's a specialized trailer that also has storage for the the spare parts for the cables that are needed, um additional equipment, those wings that that Aaron mentioned.

You know, it's not just uh stock trailer that you would purchase.

Well, no, I wouldn't think so.

So I I just I have a hard time with this one.

Would we feel more comfortable if it was coming from the quality of life sales tax?

I don't I don't believe that would qualify, would it?

No, probably not probably the quality of life sales tax was specifically for the um the the trails, the CICO park improvements and the rec centers.

Aaron, can you remind us what the um special alcohol sales tax like or buy the drink um that has specific uses for parks and rec too?

Can you please um spell that out for the commissioners?

Yeah, so I uh well I'll tell you how we generally use this fund is for items of a capital nature um and some reinvestment.

I mean we do trail maintenance out of there, we do some of those other things.

Um but we we certainly um uh have the capacity to take this on uh within that fund.

Um it's uh it's gener it's identified by the state just like there's a portion that they talked about today at the retreat that the commission has discretion on of where they can take that.

The city keeps a portion of those alcohol sales, and that's the special parks and rec fund, and it has to be used in some sort of form for parks and rec that typically has to do with improvements or equipment purchases such as this would qualify.

So it generally does not support operations as far as like paying for people, things like that generally.

And and the funds are available now for this purchase.

Again, I mean, I I just ran some math.

Like again, it comes out of that fund, so this is kind of this isn't the equivalent, but when you consider the fact that uh if you look at it from a subsidy standpoint, if we were purchasing it out of the general fund, uh it would basically be point if at a 7200 a year subsidy, it would basically be 0.1% of our subsidy.

If you looked at it, if you even doubled that to more like 14,400 a year, it would be 0.19% of our subsidy.

Not even of our expense budget of our subsidy, the actual tax dollars that runs it.

Now, everything we're talking about we're purchasing out of special parks and rec.

So it actually doesn't like it doesn't affect the general fund, but just to kind of put that in perspective of how that falls within there.

Again, I I'll reiterate we were over, we have saved in the general fund over a million dollars over the past two years compared to where we were in 23.

And so I don't approach these things with light hearted as far as just spending willy-nilly.

In fact, I'm very much the opposite.

And so I see this as an investment in our community.

Cost recovery has increased prices in certain areas.

There are areas where we need to impact our community in ways that allow them to come out and participate in things in free.

And I'm 100% behind our scholarship fund.

Again, I think that's allowed uh people, and I believe you've got that report.

But adding events like this, not only is it desired from the community as highlighted here, but it allows for us to attract visitors to town, but also gives our locals something to do within town.

So I do see this as a huge value add for the next 11 years.

The fact that it's warrantied for 11 years gives me a lot of confidence.

I think you have some really good points.

And um I was in Casa Robles in California one time for a wedding, and um they have in the city park, everybody comes in their jammies, and they show a movie, and it was really wonderful to see the whole the whole community, you know, um, show up and just do a family thing together that's free.

Yeah.

Commissioner, I'm glad you brought that up because I ran movies in the park in Garden City, and we used an inflatable screen and a projector.

And one of the challenges with that is we had to wait till 9.30 at night.

And typically what we show is movies geared towards youth, um, just because you get into too much trouble, you get into PG 13 and R, obviously.

So part of what the detractor from attendance was is because of the late hour, they would not keep their kids up.

When it's a screen, and we tested this out in direct sunlight, we could start that at 7:30 and be done by 9.30.

And so I would anticipate we would see more participation because we're falling in that bedtime hour, which uh I will tell you as a dad is extremely important, and I'm sure most of you know that thank you, Aaron.

Uh I will once again ask if there is public comment.

Yay.

Let's see.

Good evening, Madam Mayor and Commissioners.

Madam Mayor and Commissioners.

I'm Trey Kuhlman.

I'm the External Affairs Director for the Manhattan Area Chamber of Commerce.

This is my first time speaking before you.

And this is day 22 at my current position.

So go easy on me.

Um but I wanted to note that the uh Manhattan Area Chump of Commerce and our visit Manhattan team is very interested and would love to collaborate uh with uh numerous event planners um and actively promote the use of this screen and attendance of the screen for events if uh you were to go forward with this purchase because this would enhance um the quality of life and the overall experience of events in Manhattan for both its residents and visitors alike.

Um and with that that's all I have to say.

I know you all have had a very long and rigorous day, and to echo the um Commissioner Von Lintel.

I hope you get well and rested sleep.

Thank you.

I have a question.

Yes, the chamber's so excited about it.

Are they willing to pay half of it so they have access to it because he's wanting to sell advertising?

Hell that'd be the best advertising we get if you pay half of it.

Now, Commissioner McCullough, this uh Christian Morrison, this is day 22 for me.

I cannot speak on budget matters.

Uh I don't know that well enough at this time.

I'm still on training wheels, um, so I can't answer that.

Commissioners, do we have a motion?

I have a motion.

I move that we approve the purchase of a mobile digital screen from Insane Impact for 107350.

Second.

Ms.

Chelsea.

Commissioner Von Lintel.

Yes.

Mayor Adam Track.

Yes.

Commissioner McCullough.

Yes.

Commissioner Fox.

All right.

Yes.

Commissioner Morrison.

My all right is no.

Motion carries four to one.

All right.

Do we have a motion to adjourn?

Sorry, sorry.

Oh, do we have a briefing?

Anyway, I I feel like I have talked to you well enough the last two days.

Thank you.

I do appreciate your time that you've spent the last two days.

I appreciate your time and attention this evening.

Um day 28.

Um, and you are certainly not getting paid by the hour.

So thank you.

Truly appreciate it.

Um do we have a motion to be a motion, I thank you.

Okay.

All in favor.

All in favor say aye.

Aye.