4.19.2006
In other action, council members v oted 9-0 to approve a $5.855 million budget and an accompanying resolution authorizing a project to improve S.E. Croco Road between S.E. 39th and 44th streets and at its intersection with S.E. 45th. Financing is to involve $4.16 million in federal funding, with $1.017 million coming from landowners in a city-formed benefit district, $339,000 from city general obligation bonds and $339,000 from Shawnee County public works money.
Tim Hrenchir can be reached at (785) 295-1184 or tim.hrenchir@cjonline.com.
2.14.2006
Couty OKs $5.8 million budget for Croco widening
By Tim Carpenter - The Capital-Journal
Shawnee County in 2008 will widen Croco Road between S.E. 39th and 44th streets and improve its intersection with S.E. 45th.
County Commissioners Vic Miller, Ted Ensley and Marice Kane voted 3-0 Monday to approve a $5.85 million budget for the project, which will turn the two-lane road into a multi-lane urban arterial with sewers and sidewalks.
In that area, the western half of Croco is in the city and the eastern half is outside the city.
The federal government will pay $4.16 million for the project, with $1.017 million coming from residents of an improvement district and $339,000 each being paid by Shawnee County and the city of Topeka.
Money from the city and the improvement district are being provided as part of an agreement through which more than $1 million in federally provided county funds is going to the city for a $2.2 million project to improve the intersection of S.W. 29th and Fairlawn Road.
2.7.2006
City, county OK funds for projects
Topeka's 'worst major intersection' saw 17 accidents in 2005, records show
By Tim Carpenter - The Capital-Journal
Shawnee County commissioners agreed Monday to commit more than $1 million in federally provided county funds to a $2.2 million city project to improve S.W. 29th and Fairlawn Road.
Commissioners Vic Miller and Ted Ensley voted 2-0 -- with Commissioner Marice Kane absent -- to approve an interlocal agreement authorizing the move after they heard acting city manager Neil Dobler describe the crossing as Topeka's "worst major intersection."
Topeka police records show S.W. 29th and Fairlawn finished third among city intersections in accidents last year, with 17. Ensley said he often drives through the intersection and considers it to be "especially challenging" on weekdays at about 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.
Monday's move was part of a trade in which the Shawnee County Commission and Topeka City Council recently approved interlocal agreements through which the city will accept money for the Fairlawn project while helping finance improvements on S.E. Croco Road between 39th and 45th streets, including the intersection of S.E. 45th and Croco. The western half of Croco Road in that stretch is city property and the eastern half is county property.
The Croco agreement calls for the city to commit $339,000 in general obligation bonds and to establish a benefit district to bring in $1.017 million for the project. The overall price tag of $5.855 million also will include $339,000 in county money and $4.16 million in federal funds.
County engineer Tom Flanagan said the agreement that commissioners approved Monday pledges the county's 2009 Federal Surface Transportation Fund obligation authority in the amount of $1.048 million toward the work at S.W. 29th and Fairlawn. The city will be the lead agency for the Fairlawn project, which comes at an estimated overall cost of $2.206 million. Dobler said plans call for the work to start and finish in 2008.
Plans for a $2.2 million project in 2008 to improve S.W. 29th and Fairlawn Road call for these changes:
• Motorists going north on Fairlawn will receive two left turn lanes to enter westbound S.W. 29th instead of one, as they have now.
• Drivers going east on S.W. 29th will receive an exclusive right turn lane to go south on Fairlawn.
• Drivers going west on Interstate 470 will receive two right turn lanes to enter northbound Fairlawn instead of one, as they have now.
Source: Neil Dobler, acting Topeka city manager
Tim Hrenchir can be reached at (785) 295-1184 or tim.hrenchir@cjonline.com.
1.11.2006
Sewer Condemnation Request
The City Council voted 9-0 to approve an ordinance initiating condemnation proceedings to acquire easements for water and sewer lines to serve the first of two RockFire at the Lake subdivisions, which are to become the site of homes and businesses on 409 acres northeast and northwest of S.E. 45th and Croco Road. Council members amended the ordinance Tuesday evening to require that city staff members be instructed to seek to minimize any negative effects the work might have on property of The House of the Lord Church, 2531 S.E. Wittenberg Road.
Tim Hrenchir can be reached at (785) 295-1184 or tim.hrenchir@cjonline.com.
12.29.2005
Internal sewer improvements at RockFire have been completed.
11.9.2005
Topeka City Council votes 9-0 to initiate eminent domain for sewer and water easements to the RockFire at the Lake subdivisions, northwest and northeast of S.E. 45th and Croco Road.
10.05.2005
Internal sewer improvements at RockFire at the Lake have commenced.
8.11.2005
RockFire rezoning - Pebble Creek Active Adult Community
Topeka City Council members on Tuesday night agreed 9-0 to rezone a 23-acre area in southeast Shawnee County's 169-acre RockFire at the Lake development for the Pebble Creek gated community for adults 55 and older.
The community would be just west of S.E. Croco Road and about 2,000 feet north of S.E. 45th Street.
Tuesday's decision gave the council's seal of approval to a July 18 move by the Topeka Planning Commission, which recommended that the city require RockFire to meet one of three requirements to resolve access problems, with one of those being to provide a second entrance.
Earlier this year, RockFire developers agreed to a plat calling for the Pebble Creek area to have two separate entrances. Developers subsequently were unable to acquire land to the north that would provide access to S.E. 41st Street, where one of the entrances would have been located.
Soon after the July 18 planning commission meeting, developers proposed a secondary, emergency exit road onto Croco. Topeka planning director David Thurbon said he thought that solution would suffice.
7.26.2005
Exit road slated
RockFire to add route out of gated area to satisfy city
By Tim Carpenter - The Capital-Journal
Developers of a proposed gated community in Topeka said Monday they believe they have come up with a solution to public-safety concerns raised by the Topeka Planning Commission.
Anthony Santaularia, regional manager of the RockFire at the Lake development, said an exit-only road would be added to the project's site plan to ease apprehension among some commissioners about having only one road in or out of the Pebble Creek gated community for adults 55 and older at S.E. 45th and Croco Road.
Santaularia said the secondary road wouldn't carry routine traffic. It would allow for a right-turn only onto Croco.
"It's meant for emergency exits, in the very, very rare case when there is any type of emergency," he said.
David Thurbon, Topeka planning director, said addition of the second exit might satisfy commissioners worried about the safety of people residing in the Pebble Creek townhomes and condominiums. The main entrance and exit would remain elsewhere on Croco.
"It looks like a solution to me," Thurbon said. "We'll have to see it and review it with the engineering department."
RockFire is a 169-acre development for which street and sewer construction is expected to begin in August.
The 23-acre Pebble Creek community would be part of the development's second phase.
Earlier this year, RockFire agreed to a plat calling for two separate entrances to the Pebble Creek area. RockFire subsequently was unable to acquire land to the north that would provide access to 41st Street, where a second entrance could have been located.
That placed the Pebble Creek project in jeopardy and led to debate at the July 18 planning commission meeting about alternatives. Commission members voted 5-1 to recommend the city council approve zoning the area for a gated community but stipulated access questions had to be resolved for the project to proceed.
Thurbon said he wasn't worried about how the issue would fare when city council next considers it.
Tim Carpenter can be reached at (785) 296-3005 or tim.carpenter@cjonline.com.
7.19.2005
Rockfire hits roadblock
Access issues hamper gated portion of S.E. development
by Tim Hrenchir - The Capital-Journal
Efforts to develop a gated community geared toward people 55 and older in the RockFire at the Lake development appeared stalled Monday after the new Topeka Planning Commission approved a rezoning but added requirements the developers didn't want.
"It's off the table for now, until we get something else worked out," said Jes Santalauria, a partner in RockFire.
The development was among items discussed in the first public hearing of the revamped planning commission, which conducts public hearings on planning and zoning issues before sending recommendations to the Topeka City Council.
The city council on May 24 dissolved the 12-member commission and replaced it with a nine-member body in which some members must have expertise in planning or land development.
The council on June 19 endorsed Mayor Bill Bunten's seven appointments to the commission: Mark Boyd, Joselito "Ping" Enriques, Michelle Hoferer, John McGivern, Fred Sanders, Kimberly Scott and Ralph Skoog. McGivern later chose not to serve, leaving three seats unfilled.
Planning commissioners during an orientation meeting last week elected Skoog chairman and Hoferer vice chairman.
The commission took up multiple planning issues Monday during their first public hearing session, which lasted more than three hours and 15 minutes.
Jes Santalauria, Karl Capps and Shane Hack are developers of the 169-acre RockFire at the Lake project, for which construction is expected to begin later this year at the northwest corner of S.E. 45th and Croco Road. Santalauria said the development's second phase is to include a 200-unit, gated active adult community encompassing 23.5 acres. City records indicate the center line for that property is about 2,000 feet north of S.E. 45th and Croco. The community would have one entrance on Croco on its east.
Mike Engler, architect for Bartlett and West Engineers, said Monday that RockFire agreed to a plat earlier this year calling for the community to have two separate entrances, but developers were unable to buy land to the north that would give them access to S.E. 41st Street.
City staff recommended the city consequently require RockFire developers to either:
• Provide more than one entrance to the community;
Or offer one entrance but not build any structure more than 500 feet from Croco Road;
Or offer one entrance but limit the area more than 500 feet from Croco Road to 200 vehicle trips per day, as determined by the city engineer.
Boyd made a motion to rezone the area for the gated community while requiring RockFire to follow one of those conditions. Planning commissioners voted 5-1 to recommend the city council approve that move. Sanders cast the dissenting vote, saying RockFire was a "great subdivision."
Tim Hrenchir can be reached at (785) 295-1184 or tim.hrenchir@cjonline.com.
7.18.2005
Rockfire -- Persevering
The trials of the RockFire developers are an argument for city-county consolidation
Capital-Journal editorial board
Considering what they had to go through to get RockFire off the rocks, Jes Santaularia, Karl Capps and Shane Hack ought to be avid proponents of consolidation.
Actually, we don't know where they stand on the proposal to merge city and county governmental functions, but the men behind the RockFire at the Lake development, a modern housing subdivision charted for the Lake Shawnee area, had to maneuver through a confounding maze fraught with political debate and duplicative city and county regulations before they began to see the light from the other side of the jungle.
The initial stages of development were slowed by a controversy between the city and county as they worked through annexation of the site. Eventually, those negotiations came to an agreeable end. Now the trick is to keep the development on track.
"Every day someone's working on RockFire, either meeting with city council members or the mayor or public engineers on the status of RockFire, to keep it moving forward," says Anthony Santaularia, regional manager with RockFire.
The city has said sewer and water hookups will be completed by March. Construction will begin this fall on houses, a recreation center and streets within the subdivision.
The developers envision a subdivision that eventually will have lots for 287 home sites, as well as commercial areas for neighborhood shopping.
Sounds like it's going to be nice. We hope the developers won't have to face too many more bureaucratic headaches.
7.14.2005
By Morgan Chilson - Special to The Capital-Journal
Project pulls through maze
Construction about to begin at housing development near Lake Shawnee
After surviving the many political and practical challenges that go along with creating a complex subdivision, the RockFire at the Lake development is again moving forward.
The first phase of the subdivision includes 169 acres southeast of Lake Shawnee and incorporates 110 lots for housing.
The initial stages of development were slowed by controversy between the city and county as they worked through annexation of the site. But now that part of the negotiation process is concluded, and it is time to think about construction.
"Every day someone's working with RockFire, either meeting with city council members or the mayor or public engineers on the status of RockFire, to keep it moving forward," said Anthony Santaularia, regional manager with RockFire.
His father, Jes Santaularia, and Karl Capps and Shane Hack are the developers of the project through RockFire Development LLC.
(Ann Williamson/The Capital-Journal From left, Jes Santaularia, Karl Capps and Shane Hack are the developers of the RockFire at the Lake development, shown here at the RockFire scale model.)
The subdivision includes 169 acres southeast of Lake Shawnee. Lot prices start at $18,900. The city has said sewer and water hookups will be completed by March 1, 2006, Anthony Santaularia said. Construction will begin this fall on streets within the subdivision, the recreation center and houses.
"We've started selling lots," he said. "We have 90 of them sold. We haven't done a lot of heavy marketing yet, a lot of word-of-mouth advertising right now. A lot of people don't get too excited about a new development until they start seeing the streets and sewers."
In this first phase, the development includes lots for 91 single-family homes, 18 duplexes and one triplex. Lot prices start at $18,900. Santaularia stressed that homes won't be cookie-cutter in appearance, although there are certain covenants that residents must follow.
"Everyone will have to have a certain amount of stone, stucco or brick on the front of their homes," he said.
One cul de sac incorporates an 1880s stone home that was already on the property, and that native stone will be required on the homes built there.
Amenities
As lots are sold, RockFire developers can turn toward future phases of construction. When completed, the total project will encompass 287 home sites and commercial areas for neighborhood shopping. A 12-acre active adult community will focus on attracting adults 55 and older, Santaularia said.
Rife with biking and walking trails, the RockFire development takes full advantage of its proximity to Lake Shawnee, he added.
"All hiking, walking, biking trails connect into the main community, into the shopping and the offices, and can be taken to the golf course," he said. "That's one thing I'm really trying to promote -- live, work and play. Be outdoors, exercise, get out to the clubhouse, get out to Lake Shawnee, play golf. The county is spending a lot of money to improve that lake, and we want to be part of that."
The recreation center, which will break ground this fall, includes an indoor in-ground pool, a business center, meeting rooms, a fitness center, playground equipment, fire pits and areas for outdoor grilling, Santaularia said.
Lori Meens Miller, a Realtor at RockFire Realty, said the indoor pool will be quite an attraction.
"In summers, it'll have glass doors that will open, so it's like an outdoor pool with big patios," she said. "There is not an indoor pool in all of Shawnee Heights."
The neighborhood shopping area will be built in approximately three years and include space for an anchor grocery store and seven to 10 retail shops, Santaularia said. There also will be four or five pad sites available for businesses like banks, fast food and full-service restaurants, and a convenience store.
"We have spoken to and have been contacted by various regional and national tenants for many aspects of the commercial center, but our focus has been on the residential development and bringing the required infrastructure to the area," Santaularia said.
Morgan Chilson is a freelance writer living in Shawnee County. She may be reached at morgan@exactlywrite.net.
7.14.2005
Houses will be wired for future
Morgan Chilson - Special to The Capital-Journal
Homes built at RockFire at the Lake will let new residents get a jump on technology, creating a digital community.
Although the trend in recent years for digital connectivity has been cable or DSL connections, RockFire regional manager Anthony Santaularia said the future is in fiber-optic connections.
"We're actually going to provide something that's 100 times faster -- we'll provide fiber to the homes," he said. "This will provide 100 megabyte download speed. It's tons faster than what you can normally find anywhere."
At this time, there are no developments in Topeka or Lawrence that incorporated fiber optics into the construction, Santaularia said, although some communities in Kansas City have been wired with it.
Bringing in fiber optics means the homes will be wired as they are constructed.
"What it does is provide you a high-speed Internet and more cable channels, more music channels, bundled services and a lot more options," Santaularia said. "We're trying to stay ahead of the game. Fiber is the future, and that's going to be the future for the next 10, 15, 20 years."
The services provided to RockFire at the Lake will come through Zoomyco, a company that specializes in delivering fiber-to-the-home services for real estate developers.
4.28.2005
Croco Road -- Work together
A Shawnee County request for help from Topeka on the Croco Road project is ironic
The Capital-Journal editorial board
At a time when city debt has become a significant issue, both at the voting booth and in considering potential consolidation, there seems to be a bit of irony in a recent Shawnee County request to the city.
On Monday, county officials proposed that city taxpayers help pay for a major upgrade of Croco Road, on the east side of Lake Shawnee, between S.E. 29th and S.E. 45th Streets.
The upgrade is expected to help accommodate business development at S.E. 29th and Croco and residential development at S.E. 45th and Croco, where the 409-acre RockFire at the Lake development is slated to become the site of homes and nonindustrial businesses during the next 10 years.
We understand that it makes sense for the county and city to work together on this project. Those living in the city and outside the city would benefit from it.
Thus you could extend that thinking to consolidation on the whole. It's just that the timing seemed ironic.
At a time when the city council seems to be taking a beating for the perception of excessive spending, the county turns around and asks those same city council members for help on one of "their" projects.
Which, once again, tells us we need desperately to eliminate the "us" against "them" mentality in Shawnee County.
If we will benefit from the improvement, we'll benefit from the improvement. It's that simple.
Without a doubt, it would be easy for the city to rise up and tell the county, this is your deal, you pay for it -- especially after the relentless pummeling the city has taken for recent spending commitments.
That type of reaction, however, isn't in the best interest of all Shawnee Countians.
Rather than say, "No. Do it yourself," city officials need to work with county officials to determine the better good for the community.
Development to the east and southeast indicates that Croco needs to be upgraded to carry more traffic. And the timing is important because of the availability of some $9.7 million in federal funds to help with the $13.9 million project.
The $9.7 million from the federal government means that $4.2 million would need to be raised from local taxpayers. The county hasn't specified how much of that $4.2 million it would like to see contributed by the city.
But the county's request to city taxpayers indicates the county's recognition for wise and prudent improvements -- and that we're all better off working together, not in opposition.
This also sounds like a solid vote toward consolidation on the part of our county leaders.
Now we'll see if they hold enough sway to overcome the dual vote provision they navigated into the recent consolidation bill.
4.26.2005
Commission seeks city's help for Croco Road project
Improvements are expected to cost $13.9 million
Shawnee County commissioners hope Topeka will help finance a project to upgrade a narrow stretch of S.E. Croco Road in a growing area near Lake Shawnee.
The improvements on Croco between S.E. 29th and S.E. 45th should carry an overall price tag of about $13.9 million, deputy public works director Tom Flanagan told commissioners Monday.
Commissioners Vic Miller, Ted Ensley and Marice Kane voted 3-0 to approve forms necessary to get federal funds to help finance the work. Commissioners in December had agreed unanimously to put plans in motion to make the improvements, which include widening the two-mile stretch of Croco from two lanes into a multilane urban street.
The upgrade is expected to help accommodate business development at S.E. 29th and Croco and anticipated changes at S.E. 45th and Croco, where the 409-acre RockFire at the Lake development is slated to become the site of homes and nonindustrial businesses during the next 10 years.
The upgrade isn't among numerous road improvements that are to be financed by a half-cent sales tax Shawnee County voters approved last year, though that tax will finance work on Croco between S.E. 6th and S.E. 29th.
Flanagan told commissioners the Croco project between S.E. 29th and S.E. 45th was expected to take five years, between 2008 and 2012. He asked the commission to sign paperwork to get federal funds to improve its first three phases.
The phases include the improvement in 2008 of the intersection of S.E. 45th and Croco Road; the upgrade in 2009 of Croco between S.E. 39th and S.E. 44th; and the improvement in 2010 of Croco between S.E. 36th and S.E. 39th.
Commissioners also encouraged Flanagan to talk with city officials to see if the city would help finance the improvements. After the meeting, Miller noted that efforts are under way that could lead to the eventual consolidation of Topeka and Shawnee County.
"In terms of discussions with the city, we may end up talking with ourselves," he said.
Kane asked at Monday's meeting whether the county could create benefit districts along Croco to require landowners to help pay improvement costs.
"We have no ability to create benefit districts in the county," Flanagan replied.
But Miller said that during recent hearings in which the county agreed to let Topeka annex 169 acres encompassing the first phase of the RockFire project, RockFire developers said they would help pay for infrastructure improvements. He suggested the county ask the city to form a benefit district involving RockFire.
Commissioners questioned Monday whether the Croco project really needed to be completed over five years between 2008 and 2012.
"It's so disruptive to traffic for such a long period of time that there should just be another way to do this," Ensley said.
Miller said the project's reliance on federal money "locks us into a time frame" in which the county can't get that funding until the specific year for which it is approved.
He asked Flanagan whether it would make more sense to complete the Croco project in "bigger chunks," and Flanagan responded that it would.
Miller said the county consequently should seek a "temporary funding mechanism" to help finance the project until federal funding kicks in.
Tim Hrenchir can be reached at (785) 295-1184 or tim.hrenchir@cjonline.com.
2.15.2005
RockFire at the Lake in conjunction with RockFire Realty will be at the Topeka Home Show at the Topeka Expocentre between March 4th - 6th. Stop by the RockFire at the Lake booth to learn more about this exciting new development.
1.18.2005
Topeka City Council Agreed 9-0 to annex the Rockfire at the Lake development, a residential and commercial subdivision at the northwest corner of S.E. 45th and Croco Road, with permission from the developers and the Shawnee County Commission.
