The Manhattan City Commission met at City Hall Tuesday night and accepted a large land donation from the Kansas Department of Transportation.
KDOT first offered Manhattan a 99-acre property known as the VMI tract — located north of K-18 and east of the Scenic Meadows subdivision — with the condition the city does not develop the property back in February, but the commission rejected the donation by a 3 to 2 vote. City Manager Ron Fehr told KMAN earlier in the week that commissioners wanted another consideration of the offer after getting new information on the tract following that meeting.
Director of Parks and Recreation Eddie Eastes said they envisioned the most “reasonable public use for it is trail development.” He said they already have plans to construct three miles of new trail in the tract which would connect trails from Warner Park to the Stone Haven Park tract to the VMI tract and beyond.
(Read more: 1350 KMAN)