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Wichita City - District Advisory Board 3 - District 3 Advisory Board Meeting 08/07/2024
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District 3 Advisory Board Meeting

Documenter name: Zariah Perilla Best

Agency: Wichita City - District Advisory Board 3

Date: Aug. 7, 2024

See more about this meeting at Documenters.org

 

 

  

Notes

Almost every member was present for the meeting with the exception of Amaya Williams (A youth member who doesn't affect voting), Jessi G Wigdahl, Richard Anthony Ruth, Ariel Kirk and Geneva Chambers. The meeting started with a moment of silence for a fallen firefighter.

Matt Bolen, the battalion chief firefighter started his community update discussing the recent death. There's a service for firefighter Ty Voth at Park City Arena and then he will be buried at Whitewater cemetery. Bolen then discussed fire safety protocols like updating carbon monoxide detectors and not having hazardous living spaces, etc. If you need updated appliances there are people to help provide safety through the Wichita safety department and handouts were also distributed at the meeting. Chief Bolen then updated the public on firework related fires and he said there was a decrease in injuries from the previous year however mortar bombs still caused significant damage to many individuals and even though they are legal, there is still a huge safety concern that they are trying to crack down on.

The second speaker was Officer Wesley Jensen who touched on the fallen firefighter giving their condolences. Officer Jensen updated the community on the current recruitment class having 36 incoming officers who graduate in November. For the coming month the police’s main focus for their officer’s is how they are coordinating with schools for safety awareness for after school programs and other things that might leave children vulnerable. The largest crime reported is larceny and is still rampant and he warned about not leaving your personal property in cars.

The third speaker is a representative from the public library named Robin Dauster. She rapidly fired information from anything recent to upcoming events happening as far out as February at many different library locations and honestly didn’t stick around for questions. So here's what I got; There's a Local author panel happening, then an Author expo. The Library expansion is happening at a few different locations, and a Red cross blood drive is happening soon. Recurring events include an all ages game night, community craft circle, Doc & talk happen apparently every month and the movie they're going to watch at the Doc & talk is the “Book Keepers”. Experience Passes are 7 day passes at different community wide locations  and get you in for free at places like the zoo, Botanica, and others. With all of this, she didn’t necessarily promote the events.

There were 13 community members in the audience with only 5 empty seats. This was a “packed house” for these meetings as pointed out by District 3 CSR (community service representative) Becca Johnson and I feel the representative could have spoken more. There were some board members such as Michael Loop who were attempting to lure out more information with questions and anecdotal sentiments but not much was made from it. I felt these events are interesting and important and she rushed through them which doesn’t necessarily encourage me to attend them.

Works and Utilities representative Gary Jansen, Director of Public Works, spoke out and gave fair warning that he did not provide any written notes or documents so I tried to capture as much information as possible. The current water restrictions are probably a hot topic as Jansen considered starting off with them, and he was correct so he started with all the other stuff.

The main treatment line is getting old so they are relocating it. Starting in September they will be coming up the main boulevard and will move through residential areas. All of that will continue well into 2025. Pavement preservation on George Washington Boulevard will happen in September. Odor Control impact will be seen in 2026 by updating their water treatment by “adding lids.” District specific is the dirt street paving project which will include Poplar, Pattie, and Waco. The focus will be on dirt streets near schools and will be working well into 2026. Poverty levels will also be taken into account into where they will be working first. The New Transit facility is being built and will be finished near the Riverfront Stadium in 2025. The East Kellogg freeway expansion next year which will then connect to K-Dot. Funding is through highway expansion funds.

The meeting then went back to the Water restrictions. Jansen explained that the lack of rain is reminiscent of the 2011 drought. The Cheney Reservoir is the main water source which is fed by Colorado and it’s not getting better. Last year we entered Stage 1 of conservation and now we are in Stage 2. This limits the public to one day a week watering and District 3’s day is Wednesday. “It’s not ideal but we are all trying to make this work together.” he said but “In three days we have already noticed a difference and we hope this trend will get further.” Now they don’t currently have people “hunting” people down who break the rules but they want people to be educated on its importance and they will start with a warning and could increase the penalty into a daily charge of what they think will be $50. They did say however this is a community issue and so if one wanted to report someone’s misuse they can through the app or website at Wichita Save Water. There's also mandatory “well” signage that can be printed out or picked up at local neighborhood resource centers starting this saturday. Stage 3 will likely  result in an increase of fines so they encourage people to abide by the rules mainly to protect long term public water supply.

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New Business: Multi-family residential district by east Lincoln and south Clifton.  Duplexes are being requested to be built.

Kimberly Weigh spoke on behalf of many members in the area and they are opposing this motion because it’s a hazard. They say the blind spot is already bad enough and adding Duplexes will make it worse. There is a petition to stop the building or alter the building plans. She came with the reviews of the hire on construction crew, the noise complaint concerns, knowledge of the area etc. This is a passionate concern and had a back and forth dialogue from the owner and petitioner which goes against the traditional standard which CSR Johnson had to put an end to.

Dee Jones: “I’ve seen three people die on that curb, some had been drinking, I’ve never had to make so many 911 calls since I moved in during 2004.”

Robin Smith: “I can't imagine what family would be smart enough or stupid enough to rent this property… I see nothing but danger”

CSR Johnson denied Teresa Castanda’s request to record the meeting via zoom.

Member Janet Johnson before the vote started declaring in front of everyone that she is approving the petition due to low amounts of cheap housing.

Member Paul Davis and Janet Johnson were the only ones in favor of the motion of the protective order of the alleyway.

Vote was ultimately Denied with only Janet Johnson disagreeing later.

The City Council will have the final decision but it’s split recommendations.

Summary

 

Follow-Up Questions

 

 

If you believe anything in these notes is inaccurate, please email us at documenters@citybureau.org with "Correction Request" in the subject line.