Developer: Criticism of city help for Riverside project is misplaced | Commentary
Dale Goter likes to comment on alleged “sweetheart deals” with regard to development in Wichita and the Riverside patio homes in particular.
In his numerous commentaries published by the Eagle, he bashes the City of Wichita and one of our local business leaders, Dave Burk. It is unfair to single out Burk.
River Trail Village is being developed by a group of local people. They are Jerry and Lisa Jones (myself), Dave Wells, Mike Strelow and Burk.
It’s interesting that Mr. Goter doesn’t mention everyone involved.
We are proud of our Riverside project. The property is zoned for high-density multi-family. We could have built 350 apartments there. Instead, we had meetings with the residents of Riverside.
The result is a 40-home community nestled into a corner of Riverside. We think this fits the neighborhood better than a high-rise apartment building.
River Trail Village is a huge improvement over the building formerly on the site, which at one time provided very useful social services but had, unfortunately, fallen into disrepair and was bringing homeless and drug activity into Riverside.
We worked with the City to establish a Tax Increment Finance district for this development. TIF is a state program that helps cities across Kansas promote infill development.
The reason for the TIF program is because infill development is much more expensive and difficult than developing on the edge of town, so most developers avoid infill projects.
Typically these projects have very old sewer, water & other infrastructure that create significant challenges.
The amount of the Riverside TIF funding is $725,000. This is not a “handout.”
It funded the sewer and water installation, Amidon sidewalk, as well as public parking for the City bike path trailhead. The TIF will also provide significant funding for bike path and riverbank improvements from 13th Street down to Central Avenue and back, both sides of the river.
These TIF improvements align with Wichita’s Urban Infill Strategy which was created by the Urban Infill Advisory Committee. This committee was made up of Wichita residents and neighborhood leaders and was adopted in 2019. TIF funds are a useful tool available to anyone who wishes to pursue an infill development project.
This is hardly a “sweetheart” deal for the developers. Home prices in Wichita and across the US have gone up dramatically since the creation of the TIF district in 2021. This does not increase our profitability due to the dramatic increase in construction materials and labor costs.
However, the increased home values result in a tremendous upside for the community in excess TIF funds that can go into River Corridor improvements or go toward other community needs.
Remember downtown Wichita in the late 80’s & 90’s? Dave Burk’s development of Old Town was the catalyst that led to the current vibrancy and momentum of downtown Wichita. This turnaround was made possible through individual risk-taking, hard work, vision and was helped by City incentives. Its transformation is one of Wichita’s great success stories!
Why bash developers who are helping build our community through their projects and their support of community organizations?
To suggest that this is a “sleazy scenario”, the developers “don’t have a moral bone in their bodies”, and that our elected leaders are “bobbleheaded” is blatantly wrong. Goter, a former City of Wichita employee, clearly has an ax to grind with the City of Wichita and is personally targeting respected leaders in this community.
Remember when naysayers and apologists used to dominate Wichita’s civic identity? We have a few left, but for the most part, those days are over.
Wichita has developed into an awesome vibrant, livable city and we are proud to be Wichitans. To quote Theodore Roosevelt, “it’s not the critic who counts, credit goes to the person in the arena.”
Thank goodness for those Wichitans in the arena.
Lisa Jones is a partner in River Trail Village.
