The Sedgwick County Commission will consider vetoing Goddard’s plan to give a developer $3.5 million in state incentives to build apartments at the Genesis Sports Complex, documents show. The commission’s May 8 agenda was published Friday afternoon, several hours after a Wichita Eagle report found $1.2 million of the incentive package would be used to fund a land transfer from an LLC owned by Rodney Steven II and Brandon Steven to an affiliated LLC with unknown ownership and unclear ties to Rodney Steven II. The land would be the site for 100 garden-style apartments near baseball and softball diamonds at the Genesis Sports Complex south of Kellogg in Goddard. It would be the second time Goddard has used state incentives to buy the 7.57 acre site for a developer. Three commissioners, the number needed to reject the incentives, have signaled their opposition to the Goddard’s plan: Republicans Jim Howell and David Dennis, whose district includes Goddard, and Democrat Sarah Lopez. Republicans Ryan Baty and Pete Meitzner said they were still researching the project Friday afternoon. “My job is to protect all taxpayers in the county, not just special interests of a few,” Lopez said in a statement. “Goddard could benefit from those housing units, but not on the backs of everyone else.”
Source: Wichita Eagle
