Mayor announces urban wetlands park in northwest Wichita (+video)

Wichita city officials announced plans Thursday to pursue an urban wetlands park as part of a public-private development in the Cadillac Lake area in northwest Wichita.

Mayor Jeff Longwell said developer Slawson Cos. will donate 40-plus acres of land adjacent to its planned Cadillac Lake mixed-use development, which the city will use to create a public nature area and park, along with stormwater retention ponds.

“This area will have very cool park amenities and some quality-of-life opportunities for all of Wichita,” Longwell said during his weekly media briefing at City Hall. “These are the types of things that are life-changing, certainly for west Wichita, and I think you’ll see people travel to come to some of these amenities.

“It’s very exciting – this would be a first-of-its-kind in the Midwest that we know of.”

Longwell said the land donation still needs to be approved by the City Council, which could happen as soon as next week. The commercial development is slated for a 31-acre tract of land near the corner of Maize Road and 29th Street North, near the Sam’s Club at 3084 N. Maize Road.

The adjoining 41 acres on the southern end of the tract, Longwell said, could include walking and jogging trails and a boardwalk, along with opportunities for other nature-related activities, such as bird watching.

Slawson, the developers behind the NewMarket Square retail center, purchased the 72-acre parcel from the Pracht family last year, according to Jerry Jones, the company’s vice president for commercial development.

Portions of the park and the commercial development could be ready as soon as fall 2016, said Longwell and Jones. The public access area will also include parking options for visitors and a fishing pond, officials said.

“We see this as a win-win situation,” Jones said. “The Pracht family owned the property for almost 100 years, and they’ve kept it well. Our interest in the land was primarily the Maize Road frontage area.”

One of the major benefits for both parties involves water management enhancements, which stand to aid the development and the city, Longwell said. Additional stormwater retention ponds – the city already controls some to the south of the planned park – will be housed in the wetlands area, which will serve as floodplain buffers for both the development and the city.

“To have a wetland inside an urban-suburban area is very rare,” said City Council member Bryan Frye, whose district includes the proposed park. “This property is home to a diverse collection of plant life and wildlife.

“Wetlands are disappearing at an alarming rate. We have an opportunity here to retain some.”

As part of the city’s 10-year capital improvement plan, $1 million has been earmarked for the planned wetlands park. Each part of the park project – trails, boardwalk, parking and other amenities – will need to be approved by the City Council and contracted out, according to city officials.

“This is a very long process,” said Wichita Park and Recreation Director Troy Houtman. “To keep the wetland status, there are several maintenance criteria that are required.”

Without the water management enhancements, Jones said the planned commercial tract wouldn’t be developable.

“This is a pretty big piece of the puzzle when it comes to tackling the city’s west-side flooding issues,” Longwell said. “What we know now is that these … facilities that we’re building do work very well.

“Helping to keep water out of the city is a big part of this project.”

This story was originally published August 27, 2015 at 1:34 PM with the headline "Mayor announces urban wetlands park in northwest Wichita (+video)."