Wichita City Council to hear final four strategic planning studies

City Manager Robert Layton and his staff will present the final four strategic planning studies during a Tuesday workshop at City Hall.

The workshop will follow Tuesday’s regular 9 a.m. Wichita City Council meeting.

The final four topics include water supply planning, passenger rail, affordable housing and pavement preservation.

groundwater recharge and recovery project

Another involves completing the two remaining phases in the recharge and recovery project, at an estimated cost of at least $300 million.

a multistate effort to bring the Heartland Flyer

Wichita is seeking up to $3 million in Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grant funds to complete environmental studies on the Heartland Flyer route connecting Wichita with Oklahoma City on the I-35 corridor. The plan would close a 185-mile service gap from Oklahoma City to Wichita and could potentially connect the Heartland Flyer with the Southwest Chief, which now stops in Newton on its way to Kansas City.

Completing the environmental study would produce a “shovel-ready” project, making the return of rail service to the area eligible for more federal funding.

Both would answer another problem the council wants to address: the damage to neighborhoods created by lots vacated when substandard housing is removed but not replaced.

Tuesday’s workshop is the second in a two-part series designed to give council members a price tag for what they consider necessary city improvements.

Last week, council members got a price tag of a little more than $800 million for an economic development fund, quality-of-life improvements to the city, improved bus service and a roof for every homeless Wichitan.

Plans call for decisions on the eight studies by the end of this month.

This story was originally published May 11, 2014 at 10:19 AM with the headline "Wichita City Council to hear final four strategic planning studies."