By Leslie Collins
Northeast News
June 22, 2011

What could have turned into a protest fizzled into silence.

A number of Kansas Citians attended the June 16 City of Kansas City Council meeting to show their disapproval of the future National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) security campus at 1400 Botts Rd., Kansas City.

Armed with message-filled T-shirts and poster boards, the group sat in the front row bearing messages like “Be safe and sane,” “Making nukes makes you sick,” and “Plan for green jobs.”

As the city council discussed the proposed ordinance to ban the production of any component for nuclear weapons at the future NNSA site, the protestors sat in silence with their posters laid to the side, unreadable.

In a 12-1 vote, the city council turned down the ordinance. Council member Ed Ford voted in favor of the ordinance and member Dick Davis was absent.

During the discussion, Ford defended the ordinance, stating that 4,388 of Kansas City’s registered voters signed a petition against the city’s investment in the project and against weapons of mass destruction. The petitioners urged the city to consider green technology instead.

Council member Jim Glover said that during the committee hearing, they discussed a number of issues, including the city’s ordinance regarding environmentally sound management.

“This would be better than what happened at Bannister,” Glover said.

Built in 1942 by the Department of Defense, the Bannister Federal Complex served as an airplane engine manufacturing plant that contaminated the site’s soil and groundwater. Contamination occurred before the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) current guidelines. Since then, the site has completed its environmental cleanup and is currently operated by Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies LLC. The NNSA facility produces non-nuclear parts for nuclear weapons.

NNSA’s future site will adhere to current EPA, federal and state guidelines to ensure safety, Glover said.

Glover also stressed that the city doesn’t have the authority to be more environmentally restrictive than the EPA.

Both NNSA and the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) conducted an Environmental Assessment of the future facility and concluded there would be “no significant impact.”

According to GSA’s website, the future NNSA site will employ nearly 2,500 employees to “manufacture non-nuclear mechanical, electronic and engineered materials for national defense systems.”

How the city became involved

GSA began seeking developers for the site in 2007, but when the economy faltered in 2008, bidders could no longer meet GSA’s requirements. That’s when the City of Kansas City stepped in and provided $30,000 from the Planned Industrial Expansion Authority (PIEA) to assist with contract monitoring for the NNSA project. NNSA also obtained a city building permit.

Council member Scott Wagner said approving the ordinance to ban nuclear component production would be illegal because of the city’s contractual obligations.

“If we turn this down after it’s (project) been approved, after it’s been constructed, what kind of message would that send to other companies or federal agencies who are trying to expand their activities in this city?” Council member John Sharp said.

To clear up confusion, Sharp added that the facility would not increase the U.S. stock pile of nuclear weapons, but aid in safely maintaining and updating the existing stockpile.

“If we try to halt this project, we have absolutely no impact on national policy, but we would have a huge impact on our economic efforts (in Kansas City). It would simply shift these jobs probably to Albuquerque (New Mexico),” Sharp said.

Benefits of future plant

To date, approximately 20 percent of construction is completed and 500 construction workers are on site, Sharp said. During the height of construction, there will be approximately 1,100 construction workers.

“This is a huge boost to our economy,” Sharp said. “And that’s not even considering the jobs of the vendors and suppliers of this facility.”

Since the plant is not federally operated, it’s not tax exempt, which would translate into much needed tax revenue. Once completed, the plant would generate an estimated $1.4 to $1.6 million in additional tax revenue for the Grandview School District, Sharp said.

More than $1 million would be generated in e-tax revenue, Council member Scott Taylor said. Also, the plant’s average salary per employee is $118,000 per year, which totals $227 million per year, he said.

If the U.S. opts to eventually decrease its stockpile, employees at the Kansas City plant would still be needed, Glover said. Stockpiles deteriorate over time and must be updated and maintained on a continual basis, he said.

Construction is expected to be completed in 2014 and Honeywell will operate the plant.

New ordinance to fight vacant property crime

In a unanimous vote, the city council amended Chapter 50 of its Code of Ordinances to include a new section regarding vandalism and trespassing at vacant properties.

Last year, Kansas City Police Department received more than 1,600 reports of burglaries on vacant properties in the city, Officer Jason Cooley of East Patrol told Northeast News. Many burglaries go unreported, he added.

“I think East Patrol has the biggest problem because we house more vacant properties than any other division in the city,” he told Northeast News.

Cooley modeled the proposed ordinance after one in Cleveland, Ohio, and enlisted the help of City of Kansas City Attorney Beth Murano and Neighborhood and Community Services Department Director David Park to write the draft.

Before the ordinance amendment, Kansas City police couldn’t arrest a trespasser unless the owner pressed charges. A number of owners are out-of-state or banks that don’t want to travel to press charges. That meant criminals could steal as much as they wanted and strip the property of copper or metal and not suffer any consequences.

The new ordinance makes the city the victim and allows the city to press charges.

“I think this will go a long way to further decrease the theft of copper and aluminum,” Sharp said.