New housing options coming to Topeka

New options for housing are coming to Topeka. Tuesday, July 30, Topeka’s City Council approved having accessory dwelling units (ADU) within single-family zoning districts. ADU’s are already legal in multi-family districts and downtown districts. This will allow for a smaller independent houses to be on the same lot as a single-family home. The goal for this is to fill gaps in the city housing market and increase affordability. “We’ll have standards related to size, so there will be size limitations,” Planning Division Director Dan Warner said. “We’ll have requirements that one of the two units has to be owned or occupied, so meaning the owner has to live on the property. We’ll have some design review then also one additional parking spot off the street is required for the ADU.” Warner says rules for these accessory dwellings will be getting published next week.
Source: KSNT 27 News

info2024-08-02T09:13:52-05:00August 2, 2024|News|

Reno County drug diversion offers some another chance

The Reno County first-time drug offender diversion program began at the beginning of this year. Since then, 21 people have been involved with the program, and only one has not succeeded so far.
“The best benefit is that they move away from drug use and become productive citizens,” District Attorney Tom Stanton said. “If they’re successful and become productive citizens, we’re not spending money on prosecution, arrest and detention, jail and court costs and so on. We don’t use jail as a sanction much in this program, so we’re saving money in the county jail.”
If people complete the program and its requirements, their case gets dismissed. “They don’t have to be explaining to employers, or housing officials or when they’re applying for student loans that they’ve got this conviction in their background,” Stanton said. “The goal is that we’ll be using the same resources to help them as we would if they’ve been convicted.” Stanton said they planned to have 50 in the program for the year, so they’re pretty close to where they expected to be now. He says one of the best parts is giving people resources to live drug-free lives. “They go through the programs, go through treatment, they’re going in a meeting with their community corrections supervisor, and they’re just doing the things that they need to do to move away from the use of drugs and to a more a more stable lifestyle,” Stanton said. “It’s just a great program for them. Same thing they would be doing if they were convicted, but the benefits are greater. We’re still holding them accountable. They’re still charged with the crime. If they fail, they’re going to be convicted, and they’re going to continue to be assisted by corrections, and now the community and the person is going to benefit from the program.”
Source: KSN-TV

info2024-08-02T09:12:25-05:00August 2, 2024|News|

Douglas County planning officials to explore potential rules for energy storage systems, data centers and cryptocurrency mining

After several requests from energy storage companies curious about expanding to Douglas County, the county’s Zoning and Codes division will start the process of drawing up specific rules for those kinds of uses — as well as high-tech operations that store data and mine cryptocurrencies.
Source: LJWorld

info2024-08-02T08:57:41-05:00August 2, 2024|News|

To find out where Lawrence residents don’t want cuts, the city has been using an online budget simulator tool

When it comes to balancing municipal budgets, those same tradeoffs come at a scale of millions of dollars, and with more far-reaching effects. To figure out how Lawrence residents would make those tradeoffs, the city government has given them a tool to share their thoughts online — an interactive budget simulator called “A Balancing Act.” Alley Porter, the budget manager for the city’s finance department, said the tool has given the city some information on what services residents value most as it has crafted its 2025 budget proposal.
Source: LJWorld

info2024-08-02T08:56:33-05:00August 2, 2024|News|

Osawatomie’s wastewater treatment plant is now complete

Improvements to Osawatomie’s wastewater treatment plant have been three years in the making, but the $2.5 million project is now complete, and council members recently toured the finished product. … City Manager Bret Glendening said supply chain issues delayed the project early on, and a few issues with the new UV units also took time to resolve.
Source: Miami County Republic

info2024-08-02T08:26:18-05:00August 2, 2024|News|

Surrounding cities that use Wichita water also working to conserve

Surrounding cities that buy water from Wichita, like the City of Derby, say they will follow Wichita’s lead when it comes to conserving. “When Wichita decides to announce, trigger going into stage two of their conservation plan, we go into phase two of our conservation plan,” said Derby City Manager Kiel Mangus. Like Wichita, Derby residents could face penalties if they don’t follow the rules, like limited outdoor watering.
Source: KWCH

info2024-08-02T08:18:14-05:00August 2, 2024|News|

De Soto expecting significant 2025 property tax reduction

Even before Panasonic’s $4 billion EV battery plant opens in De Soto, Kansas next year, city residents are already getting a better idea for how that massive investment will change their property values and property taxes. “We are in the extremely enviable position of being able to present to the public a 2025 budget that reduces the city property tax mil rate by a third,” De Soto City Administrator Mike Brungardt said.
Source: Fox4KC

info2024-08-01T09:39:46-05:00August 1, 2024|News|

Municipal Bond Trends for July 31, 2024

The interest rate table above illustrates recent changes in a sample of AA rated bond trades reported to the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s EMMA® system. Every issuer’s credit is different, and other financing sources may be available. To obtain comprehensive Financial Advisory services for your local government, contact your Ranson Financial Municipal Advisor, Larry Kleeman, or Henry Schmidt.

Henry Schmidt2024-08-01T09:28:42-05:00August 1, 2024|News|

‘Years in the making’ — 2 JoCo cities hope to link downtowns by trail

A new trail link may be on the horizon between the cities of Merriam and Shawnee. The two Johnson County cities submitted a joint project proposal to the Mid-America Regional Council, seeking up to $1 million to pay for a trail connection system that could ultimately link the cities’ downtowns. If approved, the cities would use the money from MARC to connect Shawnee’s Oxbow Trail to Merriam’s Turkey Creek Trail. Both trails are north of Shawnee Mission Parkway and are near each city’s downtown area.
Source: Johnson County Post

info2024-07-31T11:38:58-05:00July 31, 2024|News|

Municipal Bond Trends for July 30, 2024

The interest rate table above illustrates recent changes in a sample of AA rated bond trades reported to the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s EMMA® system. Every issuer’s credit is different, and other financing sources may be available. To obtain comprehensive Financial Advisory services for your local government, contact your Ranson Financial Municipal Advisor, Larry Kleeman, or Henry Schmidt.

Henry Schmidt2024-07-31T11:17:52-05:00July 31, 2024|News|