(The following story by Kevin Wright appeared on The Kansas City Star website on June 25, 2009.)
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Gardner City Council opened the door Monday for Edgerton to expand it city limits all the way to Gardner’s southern boundary.
The council voted 3-2 in a special meeting to rescind all agreements for the BNSF Railway intermodal and logistics park. The resolution will force the council to de-annex the land in July and begin from square one with negotiations.
But The Allen Group, one of the principal developers in the project, is not interested in starting over with Gardner, said Bill Crandall, Kansas City president of The Allen Group.
“We (had) an agreement that was negotiated in good faith,” he said.
The Allen Group and BNSF must move forward with the project, Crandall said.
BNSF had put the intermodal project on hold because of the economy. The project received new life with the recent announcement that the Kansas Department of Transportation was trying to obtain $50 million in federal stimulus money for construction of the intermodal hub.
The Allen Group met Tuesday with Edgerton officials to begin talks on possible annexation of the hub and park.
Edgerton City Administrator David Dillner said it was just an initial meeting.
Pete Heaven, an attorney representing BNSF, said Gardner’s decision would not prevent the intermodal from developing, but he was disappointed to see almost two years of negotiations and work wasted.
Monday’s vote was the culmination of a two-year battle between pro- and anti-intermodal forces in Gardner.
Although voters approved annexation of the intermodal land by 72 percent in 2006 and the council approved the annexation, financial and project agreements 18 months later, opposition forces were able to obtain a majority on the Gardner council in April elections and brought the issue back to the table.
Councilman John Shepherd said there were too many unanswered questions about infrastructure costs such as improvements to Waverly Road, sewers, wastewater treatment and electricity, which made the city financially vulnerable. He said he could not support the current agreements and wanted to renegotiate. Council members Dan Thompson and Mary Peters agreed with him.
Council members Todd Winters and Steve Hale said the agreements were solid and the intermodal project would expand Gardner’s tax base, which relies on residential property taxes. Both council members said the other council members were just making excuses so they could nullify the agreements and prevent the intermodal from becoming part of Gardner.
Monday’s decision sends a bad message to developers, telling them Gardner is a difficult city to work with and that the council does not keep its word, Hale said.
Mayor David Drovetta said the decision could set Gardner’s economy back several years.
“All (developers) will know is that we said — ‘no,’ again,” he said.