Church school, sporting goods store approved
Staff writer
Marion County Planning Commission, at its meeting Thursday evening at the courthouse, approved the re-opening of a church-related school that's been closed for 17 years.
The board also approved, after much discussion, a conditional-use permit for a retail sporting goods facility for Michael and Cindy Ragland, owners of Flint Hills Retrievers, southeast of Marion.
Both votes were 6-0 for approval.
The Alexanderfeld Church/Hope Valley School conditional-use permit will allow the church to re-open its school, closed in 1986 for lack of students.
It is in part of the southwest quarter-section of 4-20-2 in Liberty Township.
The Raglands' property is in the southwest portion of the southeast quarter of 22-20-4, Centre South Township.
The sporting goods store will be adjacent to their home at 2286 East 150th. East of their home, they raise and train hunting and show dogs, as Flint Hills Retrievers.
The sporting goods store, selling mostly firearms and hunting supplies, at least initially, will be on the west side of their home.
The planning board also heard an update from David Brazil on the status of the county's comprehensive plan, now being updated. Brazil is planning/zoning/transfer station director and sanitarian for the county.
Glen Ensz of Hillsboro said the church-related school was built in 1975 and discontinued in 1986 for lack of school-age children.
Now, he said, there's been a population shift that warrants re-opening the school. It has been used as a social gathering place during the past 17 years, he said.
The plumbing, heating, and air conditioning all are in good shape, he said. No additions to the structure are planned. The community hopes to again use it as a school for 12-18 years, Ens said.
An enrollment of 20 to 30 children is expected.
The plan was to put the school on a half-acre site, but Brazil recommended a site of (up to) five acres minimum. This is just in case growth does come about and the school needs to expand.
The school is using a bit of Jonas Giesbrecht's land for its playground, and can temporarily earmark some of his land to make up the required five acreage, even if the school does not use it.
Absolute ownership and possession of the land would revert to Giesbrecht, of Hillsboro, when and if the school again closes.
The building is 70'x45' and has capacity for more than 40 children. Ensz said the most the school ever had was 38 children.
There are perhaps 90 people who are church members, he said.
There is ample parking space at the site, he added.
The board gave unanimous approval to the conditional-use permit, provided all state and federal regulations are complied with. The septic/wastewater system is to be reviewed and re-evaluated after the school has been open six months.
The Raglands plan to set up a 40'x60' barn for their sporting goods facility. They have purchased the inventory of Stovalls' Flint Hills Firearms from Carl and Juanita Stovall of rural Marion.
This includes guns, ammunition, and reloading equipment. The Raglands also plan to carry some fishing supplies, rods and reels, and perhaps later, archery supplies.
Handguns, shotguns, and rifles will be sold.
The barn may be a traditional red. Cindy Ragland said, "We want it to look more agricultural than commercial."
They will have to obtain a federal firearms license. The Stovalls have run their business for 35 years at 2480 190th St.
When someone wants to buy a gun, there is instant background checking, Michael Ragland said, by telephone with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and with the FBI.
Guns at the site will be "tied" with wire so they cannot be loaded in the building. The Stovalls said there has never been an accident involving firearms in the years they have operated the business. And they were never robbed.
The Raglands would operate the business from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, being closed Sundays and Mondays.
There will be no shooting range or anything similar on the property, they said. Nor will there be any demonstrations of how to shoot the firearms. Also, there will be no loading of guns there. The windows will have iron bars.
At any given time, there will be about 15 to 20 handguns on display for sale, and about the same number of rifles and of shotguns, Michael Ragland said.
Tim Summervill, a neighbor of the Raglands, voiced some concern Thursday about the nearness of the proposed store to his property. The heavier traffic such a facility might bring concerned him.
The traffic would make the Raglands' dogs bark more, as would a firing/train-ing/shooting range, he said.
Carl Stovall estimated that about 10 vehicles per day would come to the store, on a "pretty busy" day.
Randy Mills asked if the owners would be able to fire their own weapons on the property. He also asked if they might later on have "shoots" involving sporting clays.
He felt setting such a precedent would not be a good move for the planning board.
Planning commission member Bob Unruh spoke for the right of the individual to use, to enjoy, his property as long as he harms no one else.
Cindy Ragland said she had in hand more than 100 letters of support for the store from countians.
Planning board chairman Eileen Sieger, looking at the letters later, said some were signed by countians and some were signed by non-countians.
John Hobbs, who said he runs a sporting goods store, mostly selling bicycles, in Newton, said he was "all for it." He said customers would get better service from the Raglands "than from Wichita," and that this would be good for helping to fuel the local economy.
"The money will not be going to New York City, Tokyo, Taiwan, etc.," Hobbs said.
Sieger said, "We are (concerned with) land use only. Economic development is not what we look at."
Brazil said he did not like to see such a commercial entity go up in the county. He felt it would be a much better fit inside a city's limits.
Quicker emergency medical, fire, and law-enforcement response time within a city was his main point.
"It's the public-welfare factor," Brazil said.
But the Raglands do not want to put their store in a town. She home-schools their two children, and feels she needs to be "there."
Brazil said that in general, retail businesses are better suited to towns than to rural areas.
The planning board spent 75 minutes on this issue, then approved the permit, 6-0.
Both conditional-use permits will be brought to the Marion County Commission on June 16, Brazil said, for its approval, rejection, or possible modification.
Brazil told the planning board the updated version of the county's comprehensive plan would be available in about two weeks. Changes in the plan requested by the county commission will be considered at the planning commission's next meeting, at 7 p.m. July 24 at the court-house.
