Save Century II loses in bid at state Legislature to protect Wichita buildings
After a lengthy hearing in Topeka, the state Legislature won’t be taking action to save Century II and the former Wichita downtown library.
The Save Century II group argued their case for state intervention before the House Local Government Committee.
Save Century II members Celeste Racette, John Todd, Karl Peterjohn and Walt Chappell were asking lawmakers to require a binding public election before any decisions are made to tear down the historic buildings to replace them with a sweeping redevelopment of the Arkansas River front where they stand.
They led the committee through the history of the buildings and argued that they tried to save them through the initiative process, but were stymied when the city sued claiming their petition — which got more than 17,000 signatures — was invalid.
The committee adjourned without voting to send their bill to the full House, which means for all practical purposes that it won’t get a vote this year.
Wednesday’s meeting was the last opportunity to vote on it before the deadline to advance the bill to the floor, said Committee Chairman Kent Thompson, R-Iola.
Members of the committee appeared to side more with City Council members Brandon Johnson and Bryan Frye, who testified against the bill along with Kansas League of Municipalities attorney Amanda Stanley and former Rep. Jason Watkins, lobbying on behalf of the Wichita Regional Chamber of Commerce.
The bill opponents argued that it would improperly take control away from the City Council.
“Fundamentally, I do think this is bad public policy,” Stanley testified. “It is the antithesis of home rule.” Home rule is the process by which the state delegates power to lower levels of government.
Johnson and Frye said the city is committed to holding a non-binding advisory election before taking any action to demolish the buildings.
“I think any elected official worth their salt . . . is not going to go against the will of the people,” Johnson said.
That’s not good enough, said Racette, who formed the Save Century II group to counter business interests who want to remake the riverfront.
“The non-binding vote if we do have one needs to be specific about keeping both buildings, and it needs to say that they can’t be leased or adversely affected,” she said. “Because they may let the vote say do you want to keep it, and we vote yes, and they say we keep both buildings, but then they rent it out like the ice rink center and it gets run-down, broken and decrepit.”
Specifically, House Bill 2233 would have required an election before a city could sell, demolish or otherwise dispose of a public building of more than 80,000 square feet, if the building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
It was the latest attempt to prevent the city of Wichita from demolishing the iconic blue-roofed performing arts building that Racette’s father, the late Vincent Bogart, had a hand in building as a mayor and City Council member in the 1960s.
The bill also would have protected the adjacent former Wichita central library building, which has been vacant since May of 2018 when the city replaced it with the Advanced Learning Library. A week ago, the city announced that the ex-library would be pressed into use as Sedgwick County’s primary clinic for distributing vaccines for COVID-19.
No other buildings in the state would have been affected.
Last year, Century II backers succeeded in getting both buildings listed in the National Register.
But both buildings also sit squarely in the path of the proposed Riverfront Legacy Master Plan, a $1 billion-plus redevelopment concept that would include new convention and performing arts centers and a variety of private businesses on the east bank of the Arkansas River south of Douglas.
The legislative bill echoed a local initiative the Save Century II group tried to put in front of voters last year.
Despite being hampered by COVID stay-home orders and mass-gathering limits, the group gathered more than 17,000 signatures on a petition to force an initiative vote, substantially more than the 12,554 they were told they needed.
But as the petition neared the verge of success, City Hall filed a lawsuit and got the initiative disqualified on the grounds that the fate of city buildings was a matter of administration, not policy.
The city argued in court that voters are not trained nor experienced enough “to make rational choices regarding the maintenance of such buildings.”
Stanley made a substantially similar argument Wednesday, saying some issues are not appropriate to put before voters and need to be decided by experts.
The Riverfront Legacy plan is backed by a variety of business interests in the city, including the Chamber, Downtown Wichita, Greater Wichita Partnership, Visit Wichita, Wichita Community Foundation and W, formerly Young Professionals of Wichita.
They say the plan is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to replace the aging auditorium with cutting-edge convention and performance centers, businesses and open space that would dramatically boost commerce and improve the quality of life in the city’s core.
The city and county governments chipped in $100,000 each to help pay a consultant $700,000 to draft the plan.
It appeared to be headed for easy approval early last year, but has been on hold while the county and city grapple with the health and economic aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This story was originally published February 24, 2021 at 1:19 PM.
