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County finishes anticipated planning, zoning ‘bible’

By Joel Walsh - | Jun 19, 2008

A document that will guide development in Leavenworth County for the next 20 years has was approved Thursday by the County Commission.

The Leavenworth County Comprehensive Land Use Plan – nearly one and a half years in the making – is now complete.

The plan looks ahead to where future development in the county may occur and sets standards for how improvements to utilities, roads and services may be accomplished, focusing on economic development, transportation and infrastructure issues, land use, growth management, parks and recreation and housing and neighborhoods.

Among other things, it recommends:

¢ Using an inter-local agreement between the county and municipalities within the county to develop guidelines for residential and commercial development within cities’ urban growth management areas;

¢ Forming a public utilities commission in an attempt “to provide water and wastewater management appropriate to development” to municipalities within the county;

¢ Developing a “master plan” for the planned Interstate 70 interchange at County Road 1 in southern Leavenworth County; and

¢ Amending the county’s zoning regulations.

Citizen-volunteers of the14-member comprehensive plan committee, who – along with comments from over 600 public input surveys – were instrumental in drafting the new document, met Thursday with representatives of Ochsner, Hare & Hare, the planning consultant for the project, Leavenworth planning and zoning staff and county commissioners.

Commissioners thanked committee members for their efforts in revising what Commissioner Dean Oroke called “the bible when it comes to planning and zoning.”

In other business, the board:

¢ Officially ratified a $16.7 million contract that includes all construction costs for the County Road 1 turnpike interchange project with Perry-based Hamm Construction Inc. and the Kansas Turnpike Authority.

Hamm submitted the lowest of five general contractors’ bids that were opened at the KTA offices in Topeka on May 13.

¢ Revised the county’s five-year road construction plan with the Kansas Department of Transportation, the agency responsible for distributing federal funds to local entities.

Currently on the plan are improvements to County Bridge HP-52 on Dempsey Road between 175th and 187th streets, County Bridge E-45 north of Easton on County Road 13, the intersection of County Road 1 and Kansas Highway 32 in southern Leavenworth County and two bridges running over Stranger Creek on County Road 5 northeast of Tonganoxie.

Commissioners voted to add improvements to the intersection of 147th Street and Fairmount Road southwest of Lansing to the plan for fiscal years 2009-2013 as well.

¢ Approved, 3-0, the purchase of a 96-inch-diameter, 75-foot-long metal culvert at $12,972 from Salina-based Welborn Sales Inc. that is to replace a corroded culvert along Hemphill Road east of U.S. Highway 24-40 near the intersection of U.S. 24-40 and County Road 1.

¢ Unanimously approved accepting the low bid for sign materials from J&A Traffic Products, of Grain Valley, Mo., at $8,731.