A housing project in the works for months can now move forward after the Great Bend City Council Tuesday night approved Housing Opportunities Inc.’s rezoning request for its planned Quail Cove development in the southwest part of town. 

Housing Opportunities Inc. is purchasing real estate from Pamela Lewis, who has joined in the request to rezone the property, city officials said. 

Some in the neighborhood were worried about how this would impact water drainage and that their properties may flood. However, modifications to the project calmed those worries.

“I feel like the engineers have addressed our concerns,” said Mark Mingenback, noting this has been a while in the making. “I have no objections.”

“I just want to thank you all,” said Jane Smith, adding she said she felt the city listened to them, “The whole process has been interesting and enlightening.”

Quail Cove is a $4 million 12-unit HOI development adjacent to the current Cherry Village apartments for seniors and those with disabilities. Located at Parrish Court in the Cherry Village Addition, the new facility would target those 55 and older and would be income qualified. 

The project included constructing Parrish Road within the development that would serve the new structures, as a cul-de-sac. As of now, the only access will be off of Eisenhower on the south edge with no plans to extend Parrish through to Broadway on the north side.

The matter was considered at the Jan. 26 Planning Commission meeting and the commission voted to recommend the City Council approve the rezoning from multi-family residential to Planned Unit Development (PUD). as requested by HOI. These are similar, except a PUD allows for homes to be closer together and for smaller lots, making it better for projects like Quail Cove.

To assuage concerns of neighborhood residents, the Planning Commission further recommended that the city develop and follow an effective maintenance plan for the drainage ditch carrying the water to the north and that HOI address the safety concerns about the three retention ponds to be located on HOI’s real estate.

Since the hearing before the Planning Commission the Director of Public Works has developed a Quail Cove Ditch Maintenance Plan. Additionally, HOI has modified its development plan to include a six-foot-tall chain link fence around the detention ponds.

Also, Kaw Valley Engineering of Salina developed a drainage plan to better accommodate the flow of water out of the area. There were worries that the water would backup and flood the neighborhood.

Some history

The Planning Commission had held an earlier public hearing on Sept. 28, 2020. That meeting was attended by about 20 people and complaints were raised about the rezoning for several reasons, including drainage, loss of property value for neighboring properties, an increase of taxes on neighboring properties, and the placement of the type of housing in the neighborhood.

Nonetheless, the commission recommended the rezoning be approved. But, the day after the hearing, city staff requested HOI provide the city with a drainage study for the property. This was to determine the effect of the drainage on the downstream properties bordering the drainage ditch on the west side of this property. 

However, on Nov. 2 of last year, the council sent the matter back to the Planning Commission after many in the capacity crowd at the Events Center meeting room expressed concerns. The issue had been on the Oct. 19 council agenda, but, HOI requested delaying action.

Staff asked the study be submitted to the city’s contract engineer (Professional Engineering Consultants of Wichita) for review. This has since been completed.

The new plan calls for three retention ponds to be built on the west edge of the site. These would catch run-off surface water.

In January, 2020, the council endorsed the application for tax credits to aid in the project. Each unit in the property will have the following amenities: washer, dryer, dishwasher, microwave, refrigerator, attached single car garage, garage door opener, trash pick-up, storm shelter, lawn care, snow removal and keyless entry.