December 10, 2002
Richard Dvorak, who has been helping with efforts for a better
decision regarding the Blue Valley High School parking lot expansion,
has the following news to report:
The Blue Valley School District will abandon the parking
lot proposal for the Blue Valley High School
that would have created 128 parking
spaces by demolishing the nearby Blue Valley Church
of the Nazarene.
John Fuller, Vice President of the Blue Valley School
District Board of Education, reported to Dvorak
that there were too many unanswered questions and
gray areas concerning the contracts for this parking lot
proposal to move forward. Fuller indicated that the
school district administration would abandon this proposal.
Dvorak Raises Significant Issues
Mr. Dvorak raised several issues about the project:
He uncovered that the Blue Valley School
District was offering to sell five acres of district property
located at 165/Antioch to the Blue Valley Church of the Nazarene for $90,000.
Many in the community questioned the low asking price
for this land and the financial feasibility
of this project during a time of budget constraints.
Mr. Dvorak asked why the 5 acres had not been put out for a competitive bid.
He also questioned the deed restrictions
that applied to the parking lot acreage. The land was originally part of the adjacent neighborhood and a search showed the deed restrictions had never been released.
Protest Petition Effort Successful
Richard and Sherry Dvorak also ran a protest
petition against this project, collecting signatures of
owners of approximately 30% of the surrounding
land located within a 1,000 feet of the proposed parking lot and highschool.
A protest petition only has to have 20% or more in order to be valid and thus require
a super majority of county commissioners to approve
a project. The protest petition is currently in the process
of being validated by the county.
Kansas City Star Confirms Scrapping Of Parking Lot
The Kansas City Star has also been busy looking at
this project and contacted Dvorak recently for his
views on this proposal. Later today, in a follow up phone
interview with Dvorak, "Star" reporter Barbara Hollingsworth
confirmed Mr. Fuller's statements to Dvorak from at least two
separate sources within the district offices about the District's
decision to scrap the proposed parking lot expansion.
Zoning Board Did Not Recommend Project
At the recent Oxford Township Zoning Board hearing
on this proposal, the board issued a "failure
to recommend." This issue would have been headed
to an upcoming Board of County Commissioners hearing. However,
it now appears the project will soon be dead.
--Reported for NeighborhoodNet
by Shirley Phillips December 10, 2002.
[return to top] |