Dearborn
has plans to sell
city
park, lake area
by Ivan
Foley
Landmark editor
Dearborn's Dean Park and the city lake near it could
be on the market to potential buyers in the not too distant
future.
At a meeting of the town's board of aldermen Monday night,
Mayor Marvin Landes said the process of selling the city
lake and accompanying ground near it would be more complicated
than selling the Dean Park.
The lake property consists of 28 acres and will be sold
separately from the 2-3 acre tract on which Dean Park
sits.
In the sale of the lake property, the city would need
to find a willing buyer, agree on a price and present
the deal to voters for their approval.
Selling of Dean Park would be less complicated, state
officials have told Landes, because there is not a body
of water involved in that parcel. The city could strike
a deal with a buyer and sell the park ground without voter
approval, the mayor said.
"We'll need to get the land appraised," Landes
said this week when asked if the city had an idea of an
asking price for either property.
The sale of Dean Park would be done after the city has
developed a new park using the $300,000 granted to it
by Platte County through the county's half cent sales
tax for parks.
Alderman Delba McAuley continues to investigate the possible
land acquisition for a new park. She has said her goal
is to acquire 40-50 acres of land and put in a new ball
field, soccer field and walking trails.
Sale of the lake wouldn't be done until the city has
completed its connection to the Kansas City water system.
Kansas City is expected to have its line to Dearborn completed
later this month, then Dearborn will need to have a vault
pit installed and finish the connection to its system.
The vault pit is expected to cost $60,000. Landes said
he would prefer to take some of the money from the eventual
sale of park ground and pay off that $60,000, rather than
borrowing that amount from Kansas City and paying interest
on it for 20 years.
The city will still be financing more than $700,000 over
20 years from Kansas City to pay for running of the line
to connect the town to Kansas City water.
Also at Monday's meeting, it was explained city voters
in April will decide the fate of a half cent sales tax
question. The half cent tax would be in addition to an
existing one cent sales tax that's been in place since
1984.
It is estimated the new half cent tax would raise an
additional $15,000 annually. The city has been in a financial
crunch and needs the tax "to offset some things,"
Landes said, including helping to pay for the connection
to Kansas City water.
Dearborn's board recently okayed a 50 cent per thousand
gallon water rate increase to help pay for the connection.
Landes said the government agency that originally financed
the city's existing water plant must still OK that rate
increase.
Dearborn has experienced problems and high expenses in
running its own water plant in recent years, and the city
plant will eventually be shut down once the city starts
using Kansas City water.
In another matter, the city gave its approval to an animal
ordinance that calls for Platte County Animal Control
to pick up stray animals within the city. It also sets
regulations in regard to vicious animals and different
breeds of dogs.
The contract for animal control service still has to
be approved by the county, Landes said.
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