14 June 2023
TOPEKA (KSNT)- Topeka City councilwoman Karen Hiller for District 1 joined KSNT 27 News Morning Anchor Katie Garceran for a discussion on the previous night’s council meeting, touting new progress being made across the City.
KSNT 27 News reported on June 7 that a Chick-Fil-A spokesperson said that the company was speaking with the City about adding in a new location to the South Topeka area. The new location would be in the area of Southwest 32nd Terrace and SW Topeka Boulevard.
When asked about any developments made regarding this potential development, Hiller assured KSNT 27 News that the council did approve the demolition of vacant property on that site in preparation for construction to start.
“The map shows two pads that will be for restaurants,” Hiller said. “And we did confirm last night that those two restaurants are still on deck and close to closing.”
She said they also plan to add a small strip mall in that area as well. The developers the City will be working with was also in attendance at the city council meeting.
“They were really excited, it was fun,” said Hiller.
In addition to this decision, the council also made progress regarding the Capitol Improvement Budget. They have been working to ensure that whatever option they choose, it is the most cost-effective for everyone.
They ultimately secured the waterworks/sanitary/stormwater/sewer systems budget for 2024-2026. While also subsequently approving the GO, streets and sidewalk budget, with one caveat.
“We said, ‘Look, it’s time to get these annual expenses into the operating budget,’” Hiller said. “‘We’ve got a commitment for 2 million of that, and we’ll keep going because expenses are 40% up’, but we do need to figure out how to best manage those dollars.”
Hiller said that getting that “moved over” will prove to be a challenge as they buckle up to attack the operating budget next.
The City also recently acquired the Hotel Topeka with a bid of $7.6 million. Hiller commented on this purchase and gave KSNT 27 News an update on how the second year of the mowing initiative is going.
For more information, you can watch the full interview above.