By BECKY KISER
Hays Post
More housing planned for the west side of Hays received support from the city commission on Thursday.
A resolution and an engineering services agreement to establish a benefit district for 32 lots in the first phase of Covenant Estates First Addition were approved.
"Every time we do something like this, we get criticized, it's not the right type of housing," said Shaun Musil, commissioner. "But in my opinion, the developer wouldn't build it if they didn't think they could sell it."
The developer, Covenant Land & Developing Inc., has petitioned the city for street, stormwater, water and sanitary sewer improvements through the use of a benefit district.
Seventy percent of the costs will be reimbursed through special assessments, with the remaining 30% being paid by the developer. No city capital would be expended.
The engineer’s estimate for total construction costs of the improvements is $2.9 million.
Opioid Fund grant request
Don Scheibler, police chief, presented a request from High Plains Mental Health Center for a portion of the city's opioid settlement funds. The state distributes the opioid funds to municipalities, which are allocated for opioid and substance use disorder treatment and prevention.
The commissioner approved a $45,481 grant to purchase social detoxification treatment chairs and infusion pumps for the mental health center's new Crisis Intervention Center, which is under construction in Hays. The center will serve 28 western Kansas counties.
Wildfire resilience
During comments at the end of the meeting, Commissioner Reese Barrick talked about the need for a wildfire preparedness education program in Hays. He attended a summit in Hays last weekend hosted by the Hays Fire Department that focused on wildfire suppression in urban areas.
"We're the wildland/urban interface. If we have a big wildfire, like the Four-County fire four years ago, we could run out of water pretty fast in Hays," Barrick said.
He listed several ideas for wildfire mitigation in the city.
Those included encouraging a cultural shift in western Kansas for support of preventative fire burns, banning highly combustible red cedar trees, changes in how close trees and shrubbery may be planted to buildings, better protection of planned high-density housing, and a school presentation for students similar to the city's water conservation education program.
"It's a serious issue. I think it's one we actually need to start considering," Barrick said.
Mayor Sandy Jacobs suggested the topic be discussed during the commission's next retreat.