Notify property owners of proposed land use changes

There ought to be a law against what happened to John and Cecial Yarbrough, who had no notice or input concerning plans for their Wichita home to be sandwiched between parking lots for a new church and school. Credit legislators including Rep. John Carmichael, D-Wichita, for exploring what went wrong and pursuing potential changes in state law.

The Eagle’s Dion Lefler has reported the alarming facts: How the Catholic Diocese of Wichita won approval from the Metropolitan Area Planning Commission and the City Council, with no public hearings, to wrap a development around the Yarbroughs’ property on Chautauqua between North 13th and 14th streets. How the map provided to council members failed to show the gap for the Yarbroughs’ home in the boundary of the subdivision. How the elderly homeowners were not notified of the “replatting” to allow construction and cede part of Chautauqua Avenue to Holy Savior Catholic Church. And how the city maintains that neither state law nor city code required individual notice to homeowners outside the plat boundary line.

The best outcome for the Yarbroughs at this point would be an agreement on the sale of their property to the church. They have said they need more than the offered $78,000 to find a comparable house. A deal would give Holy Savior more flexibility to use the site and realize its bright future, as it improves a core Wichita neighborhood.

But the issue for city officials and state lawmakers is broader – closing whatever local or state loophole allowed approval of such land use without notification of a property owner so directly and negatively affected. The system that failed the Yarbroughs must be fixed.

For the editorial board, Rhonda Holman

This story was originally published October 22, 2015 at 7:07 PM with the headline "Notify property owners of proposed land use changes."