Court rules Save Century II petition is not valid, giving a win to city

A Sedgwick County judge threw out a citizens petition calling for a binding vote on whether to demolish the Century II and replace it with new convention and performing arts facilities.

Sedgwick County District Judge Eric Commer ruled Friday that the Save Century II initiative is void, delivering a defeat to a grassroots campaign to give voters more control of city-owned buildings such as Century II and the Central Public Library.

The judge said the city needs to take no further action to respond to the petition.

However, the city immediately put out a statement saying the Wichita City Council is “committed to giving citizens a voice about the future of Century II and the former Central Public Library building and has approved a policy calling for a non-binding vote that will help shape decisions going forward.

“We appreciate the robust engagement and advocacy on the part of many residents in regard to these buildings,” the city’s statement said.

“Disappointing”

Save Century II leader Celeste Racette called the decision “disappointing” and said the group will talk with its attorney about appealing the decision.

However, the grassroots group has depleted its coffers collecting signatures, and “the big question will be the expense to file an appeal,” she said.

She also criticized city officials for allowing the petition drive to gather 17,000 signatures without questioning the petition’s validity.

“I feel like No. 1, it’s been secretive,” Racette said. “We did have the Sedgwick County attorney telling us we had a valid petition back in January, so it appears the city is just working behind our backs to defeat any citizen attempt to have input.”

Legacy Master Plan

The Save Century II group formed in opposition to the Riverfront Legacy Master Plan, an ambitious proposal to tear down Century II and replace it with $1 billion-plus worth of new convention and performing arts facilities and private developments.

The plan also calls for razing the nearby former Central Library building, which would also have had protection under the intitiative.

The $700,000 Riverfront Legacy Master Plan was partly funded with city and county dollars and is backed by several of Wichita’s most influential business groups, including the Chamber of Commerce, the Greater Wichita Partnership, Downtown Wichita and Visit Wichita. It enjoys majority support on both the City Council and County Commission.

The coalition said that its plan, drawn up by the international design firm Populous, was driven by feedback from the community after holding four public open house meetings and gathering more than 5,000 community comments through various means, including by Post-It notes.

Save Century II

Save Century II’s organizers are Racette, a Democratic precinct commiteewoman and Republican leaders of the Wichita Pachyderm Club, Karl Peterjohn and John Todd. They were able to get more than 17,000 signatures because the issues they want to address cut across party lines, Todd said.

“This movement is about good government,” Todd said earlier. “Whatever party you’re in, you should agree that the people have the right to vote and the right to petition the government. We don’t have to accept whatever they try to ram down our throats.”

Although the group initially sought to block demolition of Century II, they said the petition drive was about more than buildings.

“We want to take back City Hall from the unelected officials, downtown boosters, golden boy developers and construction firms that make decisions for Wichita behind the scenes without any accountability,” Racette said before the decision. “You can’t vote out a developer. You can’t vote out a City Manager.”

Unelected officials haven’t been the only targets of the Save Century II group. Racette has been a harsh critic of the City Council, claiming they “rubber stamp” decisions made by outside parties.

“Only after a decision has been made, then comes the town halls and the meetings with ‘community stakeholders’ where they try to spin it. We weren’t going to wait for them to tear down our most iconic taxpayer-funded building to do something about it. We want a vote not a Post-It note.”

The initiative would have forced the city to hold an election before taking any adverse action against any prominent city-owned historically or architecturally significant building. By gathering more than 17,000 signatures from Wichita voters between January and July, the group thought it could force a new city ordinance on the November ballot.

After the group hand-delivered the petition forms to Wichita Mayor Brandon Whipple and the city clerk, the city filed a lawsuit in Sedgwick County Court, asking for the petition to be thrown out.

“Overly broad”

City Attorney Sharon Dickgrafe argued that the ordinance was overly broad and unconstitutionally vague and could force the city to hold an election every time it renovates any of its approximately 540 buildings.

Save Century II’s lawyer had argued unsuccessfully in court that the city’s Historic Preservation Board determines the historic and architectural significance of buildings and that voters are just as qualified as city officials to determine the whether a building is worth saving.

But the city said that voters aren’t qualified to determine the fate of city buildings because it requires a special knowledge and expertise. It said that the ordinance is “administrative” in nature and deals with decisions that “require specialized training and experience in municipal government and intimate knowledge of the fiscal and other affairs of a city.”

State law prohibits enacting administrative ordinances through the initiative petition process.

The judge agreed with the city on both points, ruling that the initiative petition was invalid because it had proposed an administrative ordinance. He also noted that the petition failed to define “historically important and architecturally significant” and wrote that, if necessary, the court would rule that petition was unconstitutionally vague and overly broad.

Non-binding vote

After the court challenge was filed, but before the decision was issued, the City Council approved a council rule that would require a non-binding vote before tearing down Century II or the Central Public Library. But the Save Century II group contends that’s just a feel-good measure that doesn’t give any actual power to voters because it can be overruled by the council.

The $1 billion plan to redevelop the river bank was paused after Spirit AeroSystems announced massive layoffs due to the Boeing 737 MAX grounding and the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

The plan has not yet been presented to the City Council for approval nor has the city outlined how it would raise money to to pay for a new performing arts center.

The coalition’s representatives have said they support a city-wide vote on the former library building and Century II.

But ... “the vote needs to be accompanied by a design and funding plan that makes sense for our future,” said Darryl Kelly at a recent City Council meeting. “And the plan needs to take into account the health and economic realities we find ourselves in.”

This story was originally published August 28, 2020 at 4:03 PM.