Cowley County residents want the U.S 77 corridor between Arkansas City and Winfield to develop in an orderly manner that preserves a quick and safe avenue of travel between the two towns, says a consultant with a firm that studied the corridor.
“We heard that a lot when we talked with people,” says Brian Comer, of HNTB, a firm that conducted the study as part of state and local efforts to develop the U.S. 77 Corridor Management Plan. “People don’t want the highway to become another Rock Road.”
Comer says Rock ? with its traffic jams and multiple driveways ? is a Wichita street name that came up frequently when HNTB talked with Cowley County people about development along 77. While the corridor may be an attractive location for commerce, many commuters were interested in keeping traffic flowing.
“I think it’s vital that mobility be maintained,” Comer says.
But increased development is likely along the corridor at some point, he says, and there must be a plan for balancing economic growth and smooth traffic flow.
Comer addressed about two dozen leaders from Cowley County, Strother Field and the cities of Arkansas City and Winfield during the presentation of the management plan Wednesday. The state helped to fund the project which is focused on formulating a plan for development along the entire corridor from Winfield to the Oklahoma line.
The $250,000 corridor study and the plan developed from it was paid for by the state with contributions from the Ark City, Winfield and the county.
The plan ? if adopted by the funding parties ? would provide a guideline for development and also identify projects in need of funding. Those projects would include addressing safety concerns at troubles spots at locations like U.S. 77 and Kansas Ave. in Ark City and the entryway to Strother Field.
The plan for the corridor offers a 50 year-outlook that includes completing bypass work near Winfield. Funding for all these projects is non-existent at the moment, but local officials are hopeful that having a strategy in place will increase the likelihood that the state will fund them.
Interest in a corridor plan spiked in 2004 when Wal-Mart considered a spot just south of Winfield, near 77, for a new SuperCenter. Wal-Mart officials wanted a stoplight to slow traffic along the highway near the store’s entrance.
The state denied the request pending a corridor study. Wal-Mart later picked another location for the store, which has since opened.
But local governmental leaders have forged ahead with developing a plan for the corridor. Winfield city manager Warren Porter says that without guidelines ? which include land use regulations and zoning ? the Kansas Department of Transportation will remain reluctant to approve requests from businesses or developers that might impede traffic flow.
“KDOT was going to stop development along this corridor,” Porter says. “But they’re agreeing to certain uses, if we can show them a plan. This is the one way to facilitate development.”
With that plan must come tighter regulations. Along most of the corridor there is little or no zoning at all. The cities of Arkansas City, Winfield and the county have agreed to a half mile area of zoning to each side of the corridor in accordance with the plan.
Recommendations included in the study also call for a joint oversight committee that would handle requests from developers interested in new construction or expansion projects along the corridor. The cities or the county would retain the final say on such projects but the joint panel would help build consensus, Comer says.
For county commissioner Gary Wilson, zoning and increased regulations are not necessarily good things. He says a number of his constituents, especially those in the rural areas not far from the corridor, have concerns.
“I’m no proponent of zoning that’s for sure,” he said. “But I can get behind it and sell it if it makes sense, and this seems to make sense.”
Comer says the corridor represents one of the rare instances when zoning can actually increase development options. He backed Porter’s contention that with no plan or regulations, KDOT is simply content to allow little or no development.
Ark City Mayor Dotty Smith says having the plan in place long ago might have served to organize the development that already exists. Part of the plan would be making sure projects fit in with other businesses in the area.
She offered Cowley Cinema 8 as an example. The theater opened three years ago and is the only retail business along the corridor.
“I think it (the theater) is going to seem more and more out of place as time goes by,” she said. “I think some planning could have helped in that instance.”
No action was taken at the meeting.
