Claycomb defends Riverside housing development, says it protects neighborhood

Amid allegations of showing favoritism to a team of developers, Wichita Vice Mayor Cindy Claycomb defended providing city incentives for a housing development in Riverside, saying it could be worse.

The housing development in question would add 40 homes just north of Sim Golf Course in the Riverside neighborhood, an area previously occupied by the abandoned Booth Hospital. The developers, Jerry Jones and Dave Burk, who have also received city incentives on projects near the new Riverfront Stadium, are asking for up-to $1.7 million in tax increment financing, or TIF, to support the new housing development.

TIF districts capture new property tax collected in an area and allow the city to put the money back into that specific area for infrastructure improvements. Although the city has used TIF financing on several project across the city, the Riverside development is the first place the city of Wichita would use the incentives on a housing development.

In Riverside, the $1.7 million could be used to build streets and water/sewer lines for the development and to spruce-up a walking and biking trail along the Arkansas River.

“People ought to know that — if the property is not developed with these single-family homes — someone else could purchase the property from these owners,” Claycomb said. “And they could build an apartment complex, they could put a wireless communication facility on the property, they could put an asphalt plant or other commercial or industrial uses on this property with no zoning changes. So this use of single-family homes protects this neighborhood from more aggressive or more industrial uses.”

Improvements to the trail along the Arkansas River from 13th to Central would include lighting improvements and a trailhead near 13th and Amidon.

Claycomb, who is the Council member for the Riverside neighborhood, said she has received “numerous complaints” over the years about trash, graffiti and camping on the property.

Riverside residents and city activists oppose the development, saying the housing development will take away green space in an area that is densely populated and add traffic to an already congested neighborhood. The city recently blocked left turns at the closest exit onto 13th Street at Perry.

The TIF project has not yet been approved. On Tuesday, the City Council voted to hold another public hearing after the city negotiates a development agreement for the project. Wichita Mayor Brandon Whipple was the only council member to vote against considering the project.

“Everything about this project smells of yet another giveaway,” said Michael Carmody, a Riverside resident. “Nothing about this project is right for Riverside. Nothing about it is right for the taxpayers of Wichita at-large.”

Carmody also objected to the area being classified as “blighted” so it could qualify for TIF funding.

“It’s a huge stretch of the imagination to deem this land, which is literally both cleaner and safer than nearby Riverside Park, blighted. And there’s only one reason anyone would do so — to get the taxpayers to foot the bill for a development that degrades the quality of life for everyone in the area using a public financing system that is intended to do just the opposite.”

Dustin Arbuckle, another Riverside resident, said one of the best things about Riverside is the open green space around the neighborhood, including north of Sim Golf Course where the houses would be built.

“The idea of cramming 40 houses onto this amount of space for me as a resident is something I am highly concerned with,” Arbuckle said. “If we’re going to add this much additional traffic ... I see that as being a problem because we don’t have the infrastructure for it.”

Council member Bryan Frye also defended the project. He said the property is privately-owned and taxpayers aren’t directly funding the project.

“There is no new tax dollars put on the public,” Frye said. “It is the incremental value of the property as it increases in value that is captured to use for this project.”

Celeste Racette, a community activist and leader of the Save Century II group that is often critical of the city’s development deals, said TIF-funded projects don’t come directly from the city’s general fund, but they eventually cost all taxpayers in diverted funds that would typically go to schools, roads, swimming pools and parks.

Racette questioned a land swap by the city that gave the developers prime riverfront property on the other side of the Arkansas River in exchange for $15,000 and a small parcel of land near the housing development that will eventually become a city street.

“If these private developers believe there is value to be found in building houses on this site, let them take on the risk themselves and don’t give them taxpayer assistance,” she said.

This story was originally published November 10, 2020 at 6:02 PM.