The City of Emporia is now accepting proposals for the future of Quaker Park following the city commission’s recent action meeting Wednesday morning.
During that time, commissioners approved a pair of resolutions, the first designating the park as surplus real property. This led to the approval of the second resolution allowing city staff to begin the process to publish a notice of the proposed sale of the property.
Wednesday’s action follows a request from the Emporia Land Bank earlier this year seeking approval for the sale or transfer of the park to the land bank for future residential development. So far the land bank is the only entity to publicly express interest in the property.
With that in mind, City Attorney Christina Montgomery clarified Wednesday that the commission’s action does not bind the city to any agreements at this time.
The city will now publish two notices in the Emporia Gazette on March 9 and 16. Following the second publication, a near 30 day protest period will begin during which time residents can develop a petition in opposition to the potential sale.
The city of Emporia has provided an example petition on its website EmporiaKS.gov which became available at 5 pm Wednesday. Petitions will need 462 signatures from registered Emporia voters to be considered valid.
If the petition is deemed valid, Montgomery says the city will have two options for how to proceed.
The protest period will end on April 15. Click here for more information on the protest and petition process.
In other business Wednesday, commissioners approved setting a public hearing date of April 3 for the potential designation of the Emporia West Plaza at 1312 Industrial Road as a community improvement district (CID). If the designation is approved, a two percent sales tax would be imposed for all businesses within the plaza.
Those revenues will then be collected and used to fund roughly $2.6 million in renovations for the entire property including roofing and parking lot updates. According to City Director of Special Projects Tayler Wash, discussions on the CID status originated from the newest tenant set to occupy a space in the plaza, El Rio Bravo Supermarket.
According to Wash, the CID status, if approved, would remain in place for 22 years or until the needed amount of funding is secured. As for how the dollars will be divided amongst the businesses, Wash says that will be up to the plaza’s ownership team to decide.
Separately Wednesday, commissioners awarded the 2024 hazardous sidewalk program project to S.R. Coffman and Construction and approved an ERP software agreement with Tyler Technologies and Client First Technologies to implement software.
Commissioners then moved into their regular study session where they discussed adopting a revised compensation plan, rescheduling the commission’s April 17th meeting and a city-wide grant application.
The Emporia City Commission will next convene on Wednesday, March 20 at 11 am.
