12/8/2009

Plan to vacate portion of street paralleling West Crawford for commercial project hits snag

By DAVID CLOUSTON

Salina Journal

A proposal to close and vacate a portion of Cypress Street in west Salina to accommodate a national restaurant chain will be resubmitted to the Salina Planning Commission for more public comment after opposition surfaced Monday from some homeowners in the neighborhood.

Cypress Street, a few blocks long, runs parallel to West Crawford Street and is the street right behind the Hickory Hut restaurant.

Jeff Maes, of Com Pro Realty, of Salina, said after Monday's Salina City Commission meeting that he was not ready to identify the restaurant chain.

The owner of two commercial lots wants to deepen those lots for commercial development. The lots were originally platted to suit residential homes.

One of the lots is occupied by a convenience store and gas station, Rod's Texaco, the other on the east is undeveloped. Rod's lease expires at the end of the year and the building will be razed if the request to vacate Cypress is approved, Maes said.

The owner of the lots, Roberta Kaufman, of Galveston, Texas, wants Cypress vacated between Willow Drive on the west and Commanche Avenue on the east. Kaufman is willing, in exchange, to pay the cost of extending Birch Drive north to Crawford.

Several neighborhood residents said at Monday's commission meeting that they feared that a restaurant could increase traffic on side streets.

Others suggested that linking Birch Drive directly to Crawford would increase the speed of traffic passing through the area, which is near Centennial Park and a city-owned sprayground water park. The speedier traffic poses a danger to children, they said.

The owners of the Hickory Hut, Dale and Robin Blake, are also opposed to losing part of Cypress Street behind their restaurant that some customers use for on-street parking.

The city's director of planning, Dean Andrew, recommended to commissioners that they return the proposal to planning commission for another public hearing, and commissioners approved a motion to do that.

The city plans to notify residential homeowners in an expanded area for several more blocks about the planning commission meeting and public hearing Dec. 15.

In other business the commission, approved an amendment adding business schools and small animal clinics as permitted uses of a planned development district. It also granted an exception to allow shared parking with the nearby First Southern Baptist Church for an office building at the Reserves at Prairie Glen, at 2525 S. Ohio. Brown Mackie College plans to use part of the office building to start a new veterinary technician training program.

n Reporter David Clouston can be reached at 822-1403 or by e-mail at dclouston@salina.com.

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