Housing on Larned’s radar for 2023

BY MIKE GILMORE mgilmore@GBTribune.com

LARNED — If not the top priority, the Larned community will be looking at adequate housing as one if their high attention issues in the coming year.

Larned City Manager

Brad Eilts took a glance at some of the challenges the city would be facing in 2023. With the objective of obtaining a 10-year forecast of Larned’s housing needs, the council approved a proposal from Novogradac, of Merriam, Kan., at their December meeting. Th independent study would outline a set of concrete demographics as a tool for city officials as well as potential developers, Eilts said. “Right now, if you asked 10 people what our problem with housing is, you’d probably get 10 different answers. And, they would all be right,” he noted. With the supply of Kansas homes near historic lows and bidding wars pushing values up, it’s a seller’s market heading into 2023. With rural communities struggling against decades of population losses, turning toward the housing question could mean the right move at the right time.

“There’s no silver bullet, that you can fire at a comprehensive approach,” Eilts noted. “The housing study will help us identify issues through demographic and economic perspectives. We will then know better what the gaps are and to what extent that they can be filled.

“Having the independent study in our hands will help us in the long run as we visit with developers as well as prepare for grant applications.”

As the study is being conducted, Eilts and Larned Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Alex Filbert have enlisted the assistance of Sara Bloom, community development director with the Kansas

Department of Commerce. Before taking the position last May, Bloom served at the Hays Development Corporation since 2015. During her tenure at Hays, she planned and completed the Downtown Hays Pavillion, which was awarded in 2019, as well as the Brews on the Bricks craft beer festival and the designation of Main Street at the state level.

“With Sara, Alex and I are working toward a housing assessment tool pilot project,” Eilts said. “The assessment tool has been a requirement of housing grant applicants for years. They’ve redone it and they are looking for a community to participate in it.”

The pilot will be looking at two Kansas communities to participate, Eilts said.

“That will be a great opportunity for us to glean some additional understanding on a personal level,” he noted.

Other projects

Battling a decades-long population decline has been a challenge. Two feathers in Larned’s cap, however, are its “walkability,” or overall safety for citizens, and a high sense of volunteerism.

“I think that there are some natural extensions that fit into a community development umbrella,” Eilts said. “Housing is certainly economic development.

Another one of the top five is code enforcement/ beautification.”

Eilts praised Will Tice, the city code enforcement officer, for his diligence in transforming the office.

“Will has been really working to automatize the system that we have, which has been a goal of mine in the five years I’ve been here,” he said. “Will has embraced that, so that way we can identify and process code enforcement violations more expediently.

Part of the process has been attention to dangerous structures, resulting in demolitions. Along with the demolition of the Opera House on Broadway, were three structures needing removal in the city. Another six are awaiting due process ey nish line,” ers funds in a 25% match

$50,000 slated for upcoming project applications awaiting

“It’s been a really good e council will be looking at that project down the road as something they may want Downtown development

While the community’s should focus on the aspects will carry forward to future generations. “Over the years, the council has invested in getting back amenities that present Larned’s culture,” ere are things that we have that relate to the personal part of living. fountain, the water tower somewhere that you would really want to be,” Eilts said. and appealing. Combining historical tax credits with the knowledge that you would gain with the housing story could lead to things like upper storing living spaces with retail on the ground floor.”

When talking about downtown as a retail corridor, that also includes the businesses on 14th Street that provide the community with commodities and services.

“Every community seems to have both a downtown and a retail service corridor, and they both need attention,” Eilts said. “They can live in harmony together and that benefits everybody.”

Pawnee Valley Community Hospital is a state-of-the-art critical access hospital at the heart of the close-knit communities of Pawnee County. Our 25-bed facility in Larned provides outstanding patient care and services that include 24/7 emergency care, surgical procedures, hightech imaging, laboratory testing, cardiopulmonary rehab, physical and occupational therapy, respiratory therapy, speech therapy, wound care, a pain clinic, and a sleep and diagnostics center. Our expertise in acute, skilled and specialized nursing enhances each of these services.

Additionally, through our family medicine clinic, we offer a full range of primary care and women’s health services, including 3-D mammography. Together, we focus on keeping healthcare local and treating patients one individual at a time, furthering a community impact that drives excellent patient outcomes and satisfaction.

As a HaysMed partner and member of an alliance of critical access hospitals