by Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow — The old eight-member Wellington City Council approved the rezoning of the Wellington junior high building from a R-1 single family unit to a R-3 multiple family facility thus giving developers the go ahead to turning the old education facility into a multi-family apartment complex.

USD 353 recently sold the building on 9th and A Street to Garrison Properties of Overland Park, Kansas for $150,000 (see story here).

Gary Hassenflu, owner/broker of Garrison Properties, told the council first-hand Tuesday the company plans to invest $8.5 million in construction costs to build 42 housing units.

“This is more money per unit than an average sized home,” Hassenflu said.

The complex will look similar to The Harvester Lofts in Wichita near Old Towne, which was once a former International Harvester Building.

The average size of the units will be 600-700 square feet for one bedroom apartments; 700 square feet for two-bedroom apartments and 1,100 square feet for three bedroom apartments.

Hassenflu stated the auditorium can be used for various community groups. The gymnasium will be turned into apartments.

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Building new wells 

With the two-year drought, the Wellington City has been studying alternatives for water sources. In its last act, the old council voted to allocate $100,000 from the utility fund to do a water well study. The study will allow the drilling of eight test holes in a designated area and to determine the amount of quantity and quality of the water available.

The study will also determine the projected future supply based on certain usage of the city.

Wellington City Manager Gus Collins said the lake level at Wellington Lake is at 47 inches below normal which is much better than in January when it was 72 inches below normal level.

Collins attributed the rise because of the recent rains and pumping from the Chikaskia River.

He said one boat ramp at the lake will be reopened for fishing boats probably in the next week.

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John Michael Montgomery

The official count to the Montgomery concert held April 5 was 1,136 people. The funding for the concert came from the city $2,000, Wellington Recreation Commission $2,000, and $500 from the architect and contractor. The rest of the cost was the responsibility of the promoter – LS Media.

The city and chamber split the proceeds of the beer sales and the WRC had the concession sales.

In a memo to the council, Collins said “we did not capture our costs, but gosh, what a grand re-opening to the Memorial Auditorium,”

Collins suggested that Memorial Auditorium board will need to review the process of the fee structure, the rental of the facility, etc.

The council also needs to determine whether the building needs air conditioning. The estimated cost to do so is between $250,000 and $300,000.

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In other business, the council: 

• passed a resolution to condemn and demolish properties at 906 West 17th, 300 East Mill and 308 South Olive;

• discussed the construction of a sidewalk which will be built on the south side of East Highway 160. The sidewalk will run from east of Woodlawn to Boundary Road that runs north of McDonalds Restaurant. The school board recently approved the use of its right of way to build the sidewalk.

•was updated on the Vandenburgh project. The road construction will begin once the sewer is in place. The old asphalt from the highway will be milled up and used in various city alleys while the road gets converted to concrete from H Street to U.S. 160.