Proposal to demolish Judge Riddel Boys Ranch heads to commission

Sedgwick County commissioners will vote on tearing down the former Judge Riddel Boys Ranch next Wednesday.

The county’s bid board recommended approving two contracts to clear asbestos from the property and demolish it.

They recommended the county contract with H. Excavating LLC to demolish the buildings and recreational facilities, remove the debris and return the site to park land for the county’s Lake Afton Park. The vendor’s bid was $128,500 to complete the work in four months.

Absestos abatement would also be required to demolish the site under Kansas Department of Health and Environment guidelines. The county reached out to three state-approved vendors, who all submitted quotes. Major Abatement and Demolition Inc. said it could do the work in five weeks for $88,500.

Both bids were the lowest offers the county received. The funding for the two contracts, $217,000, would also be approved Wednesday.

Judge Riddel Boys Ranch, at 25331 W. 39th St. South near Goddard, opened in the 1960s. The county operated it as a youth residential center for troubled boys on behalf of the state. The ranch closed in 2014 after the Kansas Legislature decided not to increase funding as requested by the county.

“The buildings are in major disrepair and it would be cost prohibitive to remodel them and bring them up to code,” said purchasing agent Kim Bush. “The county has attempted on several occasions to sell or lease the property and has been unsuccessful.”

A 1966 federal grant also restricts the county’s options for the ranch property.

Demolishing the property could be decided on a split vote. Chairman Dave Unruh and commissioners David Dennis and Michael O’Donnell say demolition is the best option for the county.

“At one time, it was a very nice facility,” Dennis said. “Currently, it’s in a state that would require an awful lot of renovation.”

“I don’t know that we have a need for it…We’re taking care of those boys in other areas through our corrections department,” Dennis added, referring to alternative juvenile justice programs that began after the ranch closed.

But commissioners Richard Ranzau and Jim Howell would prefer not to tear the boys ranch down, saying the facilities could still find a second life through a nonprofit or other use.

“It’s a calamity of errors,” Howell said, referencing the federal grant and changes at the state level that led to the ranch’s closure. “This is the poster child of bad government.”

Howell criticized other commissioners for not being open to keeping the property for another county purpose like storage.

“The sooner this thing goes away, the happier they’ll be,” he said. “They just want it to be gone.”

This story was originally published July 7, 2017 at 12:17 PM with the headline "Proposal to demolish Judge Riddel Boys Ranch heads to commission."