Gardner Intermodal Freight Hub (Kansas City, Blue Springs: appointed, fit in, sales)

[Versatile]

Burlington Northern has purchased 1000 acres in and near Gardner Ks to build a freight hub. A shipping container can be shipped from the west coast of California or western Mexico for 1/10th of the price by semi-truck. This means that there will be a massive amount of trucks to start using hwy I-35 after completion. I-35 hwy is at or near peak usage at several times per day. Please equate this into your plans on moving into this area. An estimated 15,000 workers will be on the 1000 acre site alone and there will be a much larger area of warehouse built that will not be considered part of the freight hub.

Good for many and bad for some.YMMV

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by Versatile

Burlington Northern has purchased 1000 acres in and near Gardner Ks to build a freight hub. A shipping container can be shipped from the west coast of California or western Mexico for 1/10th of the price by semi-truck. This means that there will be a massive amount of trucks to start using hwy I-35 after completion. I-35 hwy is at or near peak usage at several times per day. Please equate this into your plans on moving into this area. An estimated 15,000 workers will be on the 1000 acre site alone and there will be a much larger area of warehouse built that will not be considered part of the freight hub.

Good for many and bad for some.YMMV

Are you seriously saying that this project will employ 15,000 people? It might be positive for some, but what is the average wage for most of these jobs? Will Gardner go down the drain, and will the schools be completely overwhelmed? I think this is only the beginning of our decline with this NAFTA related Intermodal Hub. Kansas does not have any money for big highway projects or expansions related to I-35. The KC metro will just have to deal with a HUGE increase in tractor trailer traffic on the Interstates. I am sure glad my family never decided to buy in SW Johnson County and left JOCO before the real estate market got really bad.

[Versatile]

Yes that is correct. 15000 employes just at the freight hub itself. The group was given an 85% tax abatement for i think ten yrs. Normally abatements are for only 50%. Since there is no way Gardner can fund the infrastructure the development group is using the 15% extra to add infrastructure. I doubt that the 15000 employes will be living there but the population will really grow.
The freight hub in south KCMO is the reason they rebuilt the Grandview Triangle; so as to handle all the trucks expected. Years ago they said 700 trucks per day. Now they don't even mention trucks at all.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by Versatile

Yes that is correct. 15000 employes just at the freight hub itself. The group was given an 85% tax abatement for i think ten yrs. Normally abatements are for only 50%. Since there is no way Gardner can fund the infrastructure the development group is using the 15% extra to add infrastructure. I doubt that the 15000 employes will be living there but the population will really grow.
The freight hub in south KCMO is the reason they rebuilt the Grandview Triangle; so as to handle all the trucks expected. Years ago they said 700 trucks per day. Now they don't even mention trucks at all.

They should have done an in-depth study regarding how much this will impact I-35 over the next several years. I see the potential for traffic to get much worse over portions of the interstate in JOCO. The jobs added are a big positive, but I think a lot of these communities will be negatively impacted by the very fast rate of population growth. If you notice the median age in towns like Gardner and Edgerton is already less than 30. Will the citizens already living in these towns support tax increases to fund the construction of even more school buildings? Will property taxes increase? Their are positives and negatives to every situation.

[Versatile]

The front man for the development group says. The schools will realy benefit in the long run because of the tax base that the warehouses that are not part of the hub itself will contribute.
Kansas City itself is prime to grow because of the central location and the fact that we have a rail line going in all four directions.
This growth is going to happen no matter what the folks in little towns have to say about it. In reference just look at the Aquilla power plant at Peculiar Mo. The Mo Senate just gave it's blessing to them; even though they ignored the normal process and the will of the people.
These freight hub plans were well on their way all the way back into the 90's. I don't recall the date but; you can search back and find the date of when they came up with the name"New Century airport" for the Olathe Naval Air Station. That is IMO when Richards Gebauer Airport's head went to the chopping block. Good ole Mayor Kay Barnes ?(Kansas City) campaigned against closing Richards Gebauer. We voted for her because of that aNd as soon as she was elected she changed her position. Little people mean nothing in the overall scheme of things to the big power players.IMO

[hidollartoys]

I have been following this VERY closely for 2 years now. I live 400 yards south of the project in what is considered Phase 2 of the development. The tax abatement is actually a loan to be payed back to the city over a predetermined length of time and only applies to the railroad portion of the project. The warehouse development portion is not included. This abatement is the some as provided by all other cities in JOCO to lure businesses and industry. The railroad (BNSF) has already payed the local school district $38,000.00 in taxes since purchasing the properity.

The actual projected employment of the freight hub is 350 BNSF employees and the projected truck traffic to and from the hub is 550 per day. These numbers are based on projected growth of freight to the area and the actual business that is currently being done at the armordale yard.

The 15,000 employees and 700 trucks projected is based on potential growth of the adjacent warehouse development. Lets not forget the Multi-billion dollar investment in development and construction costs that are going to be introduced into the local economies. Short term benefits are construction and infrastructure jobs and long term anculliary employment opportunities not directly associated with the intermodal businesses. Resturants, hotels, auto repair centers, convience stores, police, fire, health care, home construction, computer repair/service, office supplies, consumer commerical businesses are just a few of the areas that will also see growth in the local area.

Yes, traffic will increase in the area and on I-35 but, this has already been projected by the local governments (city&county) and KDOT some 5 to 10 or so years ago (C.A.R.S.). The federal gov has also played a part in the traffic understanding based on the NAFTA highway project. Environmentally, the feds have also developed a program to study and mitigate the effects of increased diesel emissions (including construction expansion) along the north/south I-35 corridor. All the states that are along the route have joined the effort.

As for the effect on the local residents immediately adjacent to the development, I can tell you from personal experience that my properity value has more than doubled in the last year. Additionally, Gardner is rated in the top 5 highest tax mill levys in the metro area. This is due to the imbalance in commerical vs residental properities in the city. It is difficult for small business to locate in Gardner due to the elevated excise and city sales taxes. This situation will religate Gardner to a bedroom comminity with high properity taxes chocking growth and stiffiling the standard of living. Rememder Blue Springs?

Just thought you might want to have another opinion.

[savarulz]

Originally Posted by GraniteStater

They should have done an in-depth study regarding how much this will impact I-35 over the next several years. I see the potential for traffic to get much worse over portions of the interstate in JOCO. The jobs added are a big positive, but I think a lot of these communities will be negatively impacted by the very fast rate of population growth. If you notice the median age in towns like Gardner and Edgerton is already less than 30. Will the citizens already living in these towns support tax increases to fund the construction of even more school buildings? Will property taxes increase? Their are positives and negatives to every situation.

The state of Kansas and the cities, (Gardner, Edgerton, and Olathe) have all done studies to see how this is going to impact the area. If you lived here in sw joco you would know that they have been working on I35 in this general area, (south of 151st st.) for the last year. They are replacing bridges, adding lanes, and making new on and off ramps. This is all before they have even broke ground. As a resident of Mid Olathe, I am looking forward to the expansion of business in the area.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by savarulz

The state of Kansas and the cities, (Gardner, Edgerton, and Olathe) have all done studies to see how this is going to impact the area. If you lived here in sw joco you would know that they have been working on I35 in this general area, (south of 151st st.) for the last year. They are replacing bridges, adding lanes, and making new on and off ramps. This is all before they have even broke ground. As a resident of Mid Olathe, I am looking forward to the expansion of business in the area.

New jobs are great, but be prepared for Chicago like traffic in the next 10-20 years as population growth gets way out of control in that area. I visit KC a few times a year and I-435 traffic in JOCO has gotten much worse over the past 5-10 years even with the lane widening and flyover ramp project completions.

[TinaMcG]

Originally Posted by GraniteStater

They should have done an in-depth study regarding how much this will impact I-35 over the next several years. I see the potential for traffic to get much worse over portions of the interstate in JOCO. The jobs added are a big positive, but I think a lot of these communities will be negatively impacted by the very fast rate of population growth. If you notice the median age in towns like Gardner and Edgerton is already less than 30. Will the citizens already living in these towns support tax increases to fund the construction of even more school buildings? Will property taxes increase? Their are positives and negatives to every situation.

I'm speaking from a position of a newbie here. We live in south central JoCo, not too far from Gardner. We shop there, had lunch there today. We've been disappointed in the lack of anything to do down here. The Great Mall went down the drain, and there are very few places to shop and no entertainment except the Dickinson movie theaters. There is nothing at all going on in Spring Hill, just south of us. We knew this was classed as 'semi'rural'. and that's what we wanted. But when the closest shopping places dried up, that was a big letdown, and it hasn't done much for our home's value either.

But having said that, the county says our house appreciated by 10% last year...something we need to protest.

[factsfirst]

BNSF itself projected that the intermodal railyard and the warehouses it will spawn will generate 60,000 trips *per day* .

Visit Traffic Study of the Proposed Logistics Park in Johnson County KS , Page 5-4 to see for yourself! Traffic in an around Gardner and Edgerton will be awful!!!