Beautification of the city will be an early goal for the new Junction City Area Chamber of Commerce CEO Dennis Beson.
“I think we need to put a little shine on the community. We need to also instill Junction City pride. Everybody needs to take a little time to look around, not just at their property, but their neighbor’s property and perhaps what’s happening downtown. ” Beson noted one of the first things he saw in the city was great potential, saying “the people just need to take a little closer look.”
Beson plans to form a committee to work on this effort.
The Metropolitan Planning Commission in Junction Cityhas delayed action on a special use permit request for the Junction City Baptist Church until the board’s meeting in September.
The site for the proposed church would be on a six-acre location just north of the Armour Eckrich plant on the southwest side of the city.
During a meeting Thursday night at the Municipal Building, MPC Board member Mike Watson, moved to table the request. “Motion to table this until the next meeting when you come back with a little more information. It’s not that we’re opposed to it. We’re just ignorant of what you’re going to do. We need that information.” Church representatives were in attendance.
The church began in Junction City four years ago. The past two years they have met at the convention center in Junction City.
The special use permit is expected to return to the Planning Board in September once Church officials submit more detailed information on the project.
If you haven’t driven by, or don’t use the parking lot as a shortcut, you might not have seen that a whole section of the Manhattan Town Center Mall parking lot is currently fenced off.
Jeff Sutton, marketing manager for Manhattan Town Center, took some time out of his day to tell us about what was going on.
“We are in the process of tearing down the old Sears store,” Sutton said. “We’re planning on demolition taking a couple months for complete tear down of the old Sears building. There’s not an exact date set, but it takes a little time to get it all down safely.”
Rumors have been flying in Manhattan about a possible IMAX Theatre going into the mall, but so far these rumors have not been confirmed.
When asked what was going into the old Sears location, Sutton told the Post that there has yet to be a formal announcement. We speculate an announcement will probably not happen until paperwork has been approved.
According to the National Weather Service in Topeka, typical August weather can be expected through the weekend with highs in the lower 90s and mostly sunny skies. Rain chances return to the forecast for next week.
Early This Morning: Partly cloudy. South winds up to 5 mph.
Today: Sunny. Highs around 90. Southeast winds up to 10 mph.
Tonight: Mostly clear. Lows in the mid 60s. South winds up to 10 mph.
Saturday: Sunny. Highs in the lower 90s. South winds up to 10 mph.
Saturday Night: Mostly clear. Lows in the mid 60s. South winds 5 to 10 mph.
Sunday: Sunny. Highs in the lower 90s. South winds 5 to 10 mph.
Sunday Night: Mostly clear with slight chance of showers and thunderstorms. Lows in the upper 60s.
Monday: Partly sunny with slight chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the upper 80s.
Monday Night: Mostly cloudy with slight chance of showers and thunderstorms. Lows in the upper 60s.
Tuesday: Partly sunny with slight chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs around 90.
Tuesday Night: Partly cloudy with a 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Lows in the lower 70s.
Wednesday: Mostly sunny with a 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the lower 90s.
Wednesday Night: Partly cloudy with a 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Lows in the upper 60s.
Thursday: Mostly sunny with a 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs around 90.
Students returned for the 2015-2016 school year in Chapman USD 473 on Thursday for a half day of school.
Lacee Sell, Superintendent said that the first day went,”absolutely perfect, it was almost like we didn’t even have a break.”
“Things have just become so routine, and that’s so helpful when you have the same consistent families year after year, as well as, principals and district director.”
At the end of Thursday the district had 1,122 students enrolled, including the three pre-schools within the district. That is up from around 1,070 last year. Sell did say that this years kindergarten class is larger than years past.
“Our kindergarten class is right at 108 students, and that’s going to be one of our largest class sizes next to our sophomores that I believe are at 106.”
This year the district did bring in 13 new teachers across the district, and a new principal at Chapman Elementary School, David Warner.
“We had to hire two new positions in regards to our class sizes. Just last Friday, as a matter of fact, we hired a third kindergarten teacher at Chapman Elementary. We have 58 students in kindergarten, so we needed to hire a third teacher to separate and lower those class sizes.”
Fall sports practices will begin on Monday, August 17th and the first day of classes for the Wee Lads and Lasses pre-school will be held on Monday, August 24th.
The location of Saturday’s “Float Your Boat” cardboard boat races put on by the Junction City/Geary County Convention and Visitors Bureau have been moved to the swim beach at Flagstop RV Park in the City of Milford.
The move is due to the blue green algae “warning” status for Zone A at Milford Lake, which includes the Milford State Park swimming beach, the original location of the races. Under the “warning” status the state park swimming beach is closed.
Flagstop RV Park is located in the City of Milford which is located in Zone B. Zone B remained in a “watch” status, which still allows water contact.
“The race will still be conducted in very similar fashion,” said Connie Hall, Director of the Junction City/Geary County CVB. “There’s plenty of room to have it there, there’s plenty of parking. Just so people know that Flagstop is graciously opening their gates, so people won’t have to pay to get in.”
The races will begin at 2 pm, boats must be on site between 11 am and 12 pm. Public display and judging will take place between 12 noon and 2 pm. No Pre-registration required, and no entry fee is required. Boats can be made only out of cardboard and duct tape.
The blue green algae “warnings” for Zones A and C, and the “watch” for Zone B at Milford Lake will remain the same following the results of samples collected on August 10th.
Photo Taken on August 12th from the K-82 bridge at Wakefield, Zone C. (Photo Courtesy Corps of Engineers)
RJ Harms, Corps of Engineers Project Manager at Milford Lake explained that cell counts did improve greatly at the Milford State Park beach area, but north winds moved the algae concentration across the lake to the East Rolling Hills area where cell counts and toxin levels were above the “warning” level, keeping Zone A under a “warning”.
“Zone B was still ok, a little bit elevated but not up into the “warning” status. Zone B includes the Milford Beach area, Acorns Resort, Flagstop, all that area is in Zone B so that actually looks pretty good. Then Zone C remains high, as typically does here at Milford. We have some pretty high counts in Zone C, up by Wakefield still,” said Harms.
As a result of the “warning” status in Zone A, designated beaches operated by the Corps of Engineers and Milford State Park will be closed until further notice.
With the “Warning” status body contact with the water (swimming, skiing, tubing, jet skis) will be strongly discouraged but wording on the signs provided for 2015 will not prohibit the activity.
Harms did confirm that Saturday’s “Float Your Boat” Cardboard Boat Races put on by the Geary County/Junction City Convention and Visitors Bureau should go on without any problems at Flagstop RV Park in Milford, which is in Zone B.
“As far as the samples they took Monday, we don’t have any issue with toxin levels in that Zone B area, which is around again areas such as Milford, Acorns and Flagstop area. We’re hoping and crossing our fingers that will remain that way through the week and we’ll have a good weekend up there for the event.”
The Cardboard Boat Races will kick off at 2 p.m. from the Flagstop RV Park swimming beach. Flagstop will be opening their gates and will not require any admission charges.
The Walmart Neighborhood Market currently under construction on Junction City’s west side is expected to open November 11th.
It was announced during Thursday’s Economic Development Commission Advisory Committee meeting that Walmart officials were in Junction City last week and informed EDC staff of the opening date.
Ben Kitchens, EDC Chairman explained,”November 11th is the date that they came in and told us. The new manager wants to be a part of the community and really looking forward to giving the west side of Junction City some shopping opportunities, in terms of food and things when they’ve had to drive some distance in the past.”
The proposed 41,000 square-foot Neighborhood Market will include a pharmacy and fueling station and is being built on the southeast corner of Highway 77 and McFarland Road. It is expected to create up to 100 new jobs.
The Junction City Economic Development Commission Advisory Committee is recommending to move forward with a proposal to contract with Market Alliance to develop a “top notch” Economic Development website.
Last month the committee sat through a webinar with Market Alliance to see what they have to offer, and Market Alliance came back with a proposal this month. The cost of the website was set not to exceed $29,500 and will be expected to be complete in six to eight months.
A professional website is important for when site selectors begin considering your city according to Ben Kitchens, EDC Chairman.
“We have found over the last two or three years with our discussions with site selectors that most of the time you get noticed by your website, and more importantly you get eliminated for lack of a website,” said Kitchens.
Content of the website is also important as Kitchens explained it should show all available land with an interactive map showing utilities, electricity availability, water availability along with pictures.
It will take a lot of time to collect all of the data needed for the website and Kitchens said the EDC is looking for community support.
“This has got to be a community effort, our staff needs to get out and get people involved to help compile this.”
Both the City and County have a lot of the data already available through different programs, but it will take time to compile that data to include it in a 21 page website.
All persons included in this post are innocent of crimes until proven guilty in a court of law. Courtesy Photos.
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