$3 million in Elevation Parkway funding shifted to Topeka light-duty fleet garage project

Topeka's city government will spend up to $5.575 million to build a new garage or rehabilitate an existing garage to accommodate light-duty vehicles.

Topeka's mayor and city council voted unanimously Tuesday evening to approve funding the replacement of the large garage where Topeka's city government keeps its light-duty vehicles.

One potential location is on property the city already owns at the northeast corner of S.E. 8th and Madison.

Why is this needed?

The current light-duty garage, located on the east edge of the property containing the Law Enforcement Center at 320 S. Kansas Ave., must be razed to make way for a project to rebuild and realign downtown's Polk-Quincy Viaduct.

The city anticipates it will receive between $2.4 million and $3.5 million of that from the Kansas Department of Transportation, public works director Braxton Copley told the mayor and council Tuesday evening.

The mayor and city council voted unanimously to fill the remaining funding gap using $3 million that had previously been earmarked in the city's Capital Improvement Budget to be spent this year to finance design work for a project to construct an Elevation Parkway.

Council member Neil Dobler requested the money be moved to fund the garage because of a lack of interest in the Elevation Parkway project from the owners of the properties involved.

"I don't think there is any interest in the property owners in developing at this point so there is no need to have it in the CIP, particularly in the 2024 CIP," Dobler told The Capital-Journal in an interview during a meeting break.

Copley said the city is in the early stages of the garage project and its options remain entirely open for how it replaces the garage. He said the city could build from the ground up, the city could purchase a property and renovate it or the city could rehabilitate a garage.

Copley said he wanted to specify that the governing body wasn't making any final decision and was simply voting on the first step to determine a budget for the garage project.

If the city chooses to go the rehabilitation route, there could be further funding from KDOT, Copley said.

What does the council say?

Councilmember and Public Infrastructure Committee member Sylvia Ortiz gave her support for the new garage and said, "We've got to start somewhere."

Another Public Infrastructure Committee member, Dobler, agreed with Ortiz. He said the infrastructure committee has looked at options for the garage for three years and has tried multiple options.

"Each of those has come back with good data," Dobler said. "We need to move forward with this. We don't have any other options. So I certainly support it at this point."

Councilmember Christina Valdivia-Alcala said moving the funds for the garage was a "darn good idea."

What is the Elevation Parkway project?

Topeka city leaders since 1995 have discussed building Elevation Parkway, which would run from S.W. 37th and Gage Boulevard to S.W. 41st and Wanamaker Road. The project's name refers to a rise in elevation that occurs in the area involved.

The mayor and council took a step toward carrying out the parkway project in November 2022 by setting aside $3 million to finance design work for it, with plans calling for that to be done this year.

They then approved a Capital Improvement Plan last June that set aside an additional $15,726,121 while making plans to build streets, a sewer line extension and a water line extension as part of the project's first two phrases.

Dobler said the removal of the $3 million earmarked for this year's design work wouldn't necessarily end the project, as the city's CIP still calls for it to receive the remaining the funding.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Topeka mayor, council vote to spend up to $5.575 million for garage