The owner of a politically connected excavation company is set to foist his unused ranch land onto the city.
Two weeks ago, Cindy Circo and Terry Riley, who represent Kansas City's 5th District on the City Council, asked for $500,000 from the city's Capital Improvements Fund. The request said the money would be used for "park improvements" in the district.
The ordinance provided no additional detail. I've learned that the money will be used to build a park on land co-owned by Jim Kissick, the president of Kissick Construction. The city, Kissick tells me, recently agreed to pay $1,110,000 for 100 acres that he and his partners own. "It's a gorgeous piece of ground," he says.
It looks pretty from the road. Kissick's property abuts 75th Street in the portion of Kansas City that sits between Raytown and Lee's Summit. The area, split by Noland Road, is agrarian in character and in practice. People actually grow crops, keep horses and raise goats in this part of town.
Kissick and his two partners bought the property in 2006. The sellers, Clarence and Louise Butler, had intended to build a house on the rolling terrain, which reminds Kissick of Loose Park's graceful curves. The Butlers built a security gate but not the house.
The Butlers picked a fine spot to enjoy country living that didn't require a 15-mile drive to the closest gas station. But is the land a little too remote to be a good park?
In addition to being sparsely populated, the area is served by narrow, winding roads. The approach to Kissick's land from the west tapers to one lane as 75th Street passes under an old Rock Island Railroad bridge. Going east, the lane bends at sharp angles before it joins Noland Road.
Logistics isn't the only problem. The park, it turns out, doesn't have the overwhelming support of people who live in the Little Blue River valley. Last week, resident and neighborhood leader Dan Porrevecchio told the parks board that buying the Kissick property would be a "gross misuse of tax dollars."
Still, city officials are pressing ahead.
Circo says the east side of the 5th District has needed a park for a long time. "There's been no money spent in the Little Blue valley for decades," she tells me.
In Circo's explanation, the city is identifying land for the installation of a "park system" that would complement Jackson County's vision of a trail connecting Longview Lake with the Little Blue Trace Nature Preserve in Sugar Creek.
As for the purchase itself, Circo is vague. She says she doesn't know the acreage that the city would buy — she calls it "the 75th Street piece" — and she doesn't describe what the "park system" would look like or how it would function.
Instead, she speaks of land "being prepared for an opportunity," whatever that means.
The $500,000 represents money that has been allocated to the 5th District for capital improvements but hasn't been spent. Circo says the money accumulated when projects in her district came in under budget. Money to purchase the Kissick site will come from the fees that developers pay into the park system.
Circo says she's trying to give the community what it wants, and that's a park.
Residents in the Little Blue River valley would like the city to build a park. But not necessarily on Kissick's land.
Porrevecchio and others have asked the city to buy the Kansas City International Raceway. Porrevecchio says the drag strip, which is located near the intersection of Noland Road and Highway 50, is an ideal location for ball fields or some other recreational space.
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