NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The next step in the island annexation to allow water to be run to the proposed new industrial park south of South Hutchinson happened Wednesday, as the annexation of the parcels was found to not negatively impact growth of other cities in the county by the Board of County Commissioners.
That was the only issue before that board. The actual annexation now goes back to the City of Hutchinson. Mayor Jon Richardson spoke to the board.
"The City of Hutchinson's role in this is, we have a resource that's usable for marketing a property like this for industrial use," Richardson said. "It's more of what we can bring to the table. We can bring that water to the property, or just to say we can for marketing the property for industrial use, we have to go through this process of annexation."
Richardson spoke to the board about his intent when they see the question again.
"There are processes down the road in regards to how that property is developed, to have public comment, public input and buy in for the city planning and zoning and city council on how that property gets developed," Richardson said. "There are further tools for the public to come to the table and voice their opinion."
This all came up as a result of questions from Karen Drake, who lives in rural Reno County adjacent to the proposed site. It's still too early in the process to know who any potential tenants for an industrial park might be, but the intent of the annexation is to let Hutchinson and Reno County be in the game on larger projects overall.
"Over the last three years, the sizes of projects that we're looking at in the state of Kansas, that we get an opportunity to see and submit Reno County on were becoming larger in scope," said Hutchinson/Reno County Chamber of Commerce CEO Debra Teufel. "They were requiring larger acreages, which makes one think it's larger industry."
The next step would be the formal annexation of those parcels and only those parcels. That will be on the City Council agenda soon.
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