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City approves development agreements for truck stop, Nextlink

Two development agreements for new businesses to be located north of town were approved by the Concordia city commission during its regular meeting Wednesday at City Hall.

The commission approved a motion to authorize Mayor Mark Matthew to sign a development agreement with 4 Kids Properties, LLC for a proposed truck stop to be located at 2087 North 145th Road with an estimated and probable cash and in-kind contribution by the city of $15,000.

Also approved by the commission was a motion to authorize Matthew to sign a development agreement between the city, Cloud County, CloudCorp and Nextlink Internet for the construction of a 4,000 square-foot retail, distribution and warehouse facility in the North Development Business and Industrial Park.

The commission met in two separate executive sessions for 20 minutes for the purpose of discussing confidential business data that included city manager Amy Lange, city attorney Justin Ferrell, 4 Kids Properties manager J. Trost and Charlene Trost prior to approving the development agreement.

As stated in the agreement, 4 Kids Properties desires to support local and regional interstate commerce by adequately servicing large over-the-road truck and delivery vans with a truck stop, convenience store, fueling station and restaurant.

The facility will be located on the west side of U.S. 81 Highway just south of Union Road.

It is stated in the agreement that the city believes the proposed development will adequately serve the target market and will provide benefit to the city through increased job opportunities for citizens, increased property, sales tax and fuel tax revenue.

The agreement requires the developer to start business operation by December, 2020 and provide employment for a minimum two full-time equivalent employees as well as cover all operational costs of the building and property maintenance of the site, payroll, utilities, property taxes, sales tax, insurance, etc.

The property must be annexed into the city limits and re-zone to a C-2 (restricted commercial district) or C-3 (general commercial district) to provide for the desire use for the property.

The city’s commitment to the agreement includes providing a tap to city waste at no cost to the developer; waive tap fees for connection to city water, sanitary sewer and natural gas; provide and install up to 400 feet of six-inch natural gas line in a trench prepared by the developer; provide sanitary sewer tap and service line connection up to 20 feet from the sanitary sewer line; and assist the developer with the annexation and rezoning process.

CloudCorp executive director Kim Reynolds presented the development agreement with Nextlink Internet to the commission during the meeting.

Nextlink, based in Hudson Oaks, Texas, announced in May that it was expanding its operations to Concordia and the surrounding region in northern Kansas.

One of the largest rural internet providers in the United States with operations in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and Illinois, Nextlink provides high-speed internet and voice services in rural areas and small communities.

Nextlink uses a mix of fixed wireless and fiber-optic network technologies to deliver services to under-served residential, business, education and public sector markets.

Under the agreement, Nextlink agrees to purchase the property for the facility; cover all costs of building engineering, soil borings, site preparation, driveways and parking, building construction and landscaping; start business operations in Concordia sometime during year 2021; employ approximately eight people full-time with an average wage of $15 per hour; cover all operational costs of the building and property maintenance of the site, payroll, utilities, property taxes, insurance, etc; and promptly pay local property taxes due annually.

The estimated cost of the Nextlink development, excluding operational costs, is $500,000.

The city commitment to the project, with an estimated cost of $16,000, is to waive building permit fees; fully cover the costs of water and sewer taps; fully cover costs of paving the site entrance portion located on the public right-of-way.

The estimated total of the city, county and CloudCorp cash payments and in-kind services for the Nextlink development is $50,750.

In other action taken during the meeting, the commission approved a bid from Hood Heating, Air, Plumbing, Electric of $6,818 for the installation of a new HVAC unit at the wastewater treatment plant administration building.

The new unit will replace a 2002 unit.

The city received two bids, and accepted the lowest bid.

Reappointment of Steve Richard and Jason Rourke to four-year terms on the Airport Advisory Board was approved by the commission.

Richard has served on the board since 2008. Rourke has served since 2016.

The commission approved reappointing Tammy Britt to a three-year term on the Board of Zoning Appeals.

The term of Cami Thurner has also expired. She was unable to renew her commitment to the board.

Monte Wentz, chairman of the Brown Grand Theatre board of directors, presented the commission an update on the Seating the Next Generation fundraising campaign to replace the 94-year-old seats at the theatre.

Wentz reported that the total cost of the project to install 473 new seats is $233,184. As of Wednesday, $216,966 has been raised.

The theatre will be closed in the final week of July or the first week of August. The new seats will be installed in early September.

Rows of the old seats will be sold at a cost of $100 per row to help raise funds.

Concordia police chief Ric Fredrickson reported to the commission that during the Click It or Ticket campaign, which was May 18-May 31, there were 65 traffic stops made with 41 seat belt citations issued. There were 22 tickets written for other offenses and three drug-related arrests.

Concordia Blade-Empire

510 Washington St.
Concordia, KS 66901