by Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow — The Wellington City Council voted 3-2 to annex a parcel of land southeast of the Wellington Wal-Mart during its regular city council meeting Tuesday night at the Council Chambers.

John Tracy

The parcel is a 590 by 850 square feet, i.e.10-11 acre lot, owned by Short Land Company LLC. The parcel of land will be annexed for a possible 96-unit apartment complex.

Council members John Brand, Jan Korte and Vince Wetta voted to pass the ordinance. Council member John Tracy and Jim Valentine voted against the ordinance. Council member Kelly Green was not in attendance.

The lot will now go to the City Planning Commission who will determine whether to rezone the property from i-1 light industrial to R-3 multifamily dwelling. If this passes then the council would discus the extension of utilities to the property.  

Tracy said he opposed the annexation because it was the first step toward providing Housing Development Incentives for the developer — a program that has burned the city of Wellington in years past.

In his blog, “As I see it” – Land Annexation (see full text here), Tracy said the city council established the HDI program allowing the city to help pay for the extension of infrastructure (electric, sewer, streets, etc.) into new housing developments. Prior to this, the developer themselves paid for the cost of infrastructure then recouped their investment throughout the sales of the lots.

“The theory is that the developer has less money invested and can sell the lots cheaper, making them more attractive to buyers,” Tracy said in his blog. “And while this theory looks good on paper, it doesn’t have a very good track record.”

Tracy listed three developers who took advantage of the city’s incentive program.While one development has done well in the sale of property, the other two have struggled – including one developer who has defaulted and cost the city more by reinvesting the property on a tax sale.

The name of the developer for the proposed apartment complex southeast of Wal-Mart was not divulged at the city council meeting. Wellington City Manager Gus Collins said the vote Tuesday only dealt with annexation and does not specify what the developer plans to do with the property thereafter.

Wellington Council member John Brand said that even though the city has had some issues with at least one developer in the past, it does not behoove the city to stop helping developers in the future.

“We can not be scared to move forward,” Brand said. “Passing this annexation (request) will allow us to move forward and allow us to make an informed decision down the road.”

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In other business, the council

•approved the construction of a new switching station to tie to the Westar transmission line by a 4-1 vote. The estimated construction of the line is $4.9 million with the city using $800,000 of its existing funds. This tie-in will provide a second connection to Westar and hopefully will cut down on the number of power outages in the community.

•discussed options on the state’s concealed carry law. Municipalities are supposed to inform the state of Kansas how it will handle the issue by January 1, 2014.

•discussed the latest news with four other hotel developers who have expressed interest in Wellington for a new hotel and how it relates to the proposed expansion of Oak Tree Inn, which is building a 110-room facility across from the current motel in 2014.

•heard from Helen Norris of Wellington Farm Bureau about Farm Week; and from a group of students about “Operation Beautiful” which emphasizes a girl’s inner beauty by not wearing pink or make up on Mondays.