BY CORIE LYNN
Thursday night’s City Commission work session saw a number of reports and updates from the Hays Parks Department.
The first report, however, was an update on Grow Hays housing projects from Executive Director Doug Williams.
At present, there are three housing projects in development: the Rural Housing Improvement District housing project, the Housing Rehab Program and housing development in the City of Ellis.
According to Williams, the first project will see an increase in activity in the next few weeks. In the first phase of the project, four developers have committed to building four homes over the next 18 months, and the streets for the housing area should be completed by April.
The second project is one that has been in the works for a while, with two home rehabilitations currently ongoing.
“Housing Rehab Program is a program that was sponsored by the Hansen Foundation,” Williams said. “They gave us a grant for $400,000 with which to use to loan out to people who can buy a home in need of repair, fix it up and then resell it with some caveats.”
These caveats, he explained, include selling the rehabilitated home for less than $155,000 and selling the home to a homeowner.
The final project sees housing developed on Ellis lots previously owned by developer Doug Shaw. The hope is that new housing would attract employees and young families to the area.
“[Mark Hess] is going to take over with the intent of putting in the streets developing this property to not only sell lots to individuals but also for some employee housing, which he has had a problem with in terms of attracting employees and having the proper housing for them,” Williams said.
Before concluding his update, Williams spoke on a prospective project that would build a retirement community in Hays.
At present, Grow Hays is working with HaysMed to consider land behind the medical center as a location for this community. The community would include housing, a multigenerational community center and allow residents easy access to the nearby doctors and clinics.
“We believe that [retirees] represent an opportunity for us,” Williams said. “We want to make sure we not only keep the ones we have, but we believe that Hays is a pretty good place to live, and if we had the right things in place, maybe some retirees would want to move here.”
Though this project is still in its early stages, Grow Hays and HaysMed are ready to create a design for the site, research the project’s feasibility and establish roles in the development and maintenance of the community.
The remaining reports centered on Parks and Recreation, the first being from Hays Director of Parks Jeff Boyle.
According to Boyle, the pool dropped 16,000 participants this past summer. This put the City at a loss of $119,144.
Bickle-Schmidt likewise saw a loss as tournaments and events were cancelled. Boyle explained that part of this loss was due to the complex not collecting gate fees this past summer.
Hays Parks is also looking to continue installing multi-use trails on the east side of town near HaysMed. At present, there are already 2.7 mi. of paths installed and the department has taken bids for the installation of these new paths.
The final discussion of the evening centered on the topic greenspace and was led by Hays City Manager Toby Dougherty at the request of Mayor Sean Musil.
“The reason the mayor asked to put this on is that he heard some concerns from some residents in the area about, if the ARC Park achieves their full concept for their layout that there will be a lack of true open space in this park,” Dougherty said.
Plans for the park include an accessible playground, splash pad and baseball field, all installed on the current greenspace of Seven Hills Park.
As the commissioners and Dougherty discussed the issue, Musil explained that he wasn’t opposed to the park but was aware the Seven Hills greenspace is frequently utilized by kids and adults alike and that sports teams have difficulties finding greenspaces to hold practices.
Possible solutions included allowing the baseball field to be used as a practice field as well as identifying other greenspace locations across town.
“I love the ARC Park,” Musil said. “I’m excited about it, but it is concerning to me losing open space because it’s not just kids that play up there.”
Following this discussion, the work session concluded with a brief word from Vice Mayor Sandy Jacobs on the closing of Gutch’s Bar and Grill.
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