By Paul Thompson

Northeast News

KANSAS CITY, Missouri – The InterContinental Hotel earned its legal blight designation from the Kansas City Council on Thursday, October 6, thanks in part to a late amendment introduced by 5th District Councilman Lee Barnes, Jr. that swayed several council members.

The amendment to Ordinance #160669 creates a cooperative agreement between the City and the owner of the InterContinental Hotel that commits to a focus on local hiring and includes a $250,000 hotel contribution to help senior citizens remedy code violations. Barnes, who called the amendment a “collaborative effort” with fellow 5th District Councilwoman Alissia Canady, indicated that the $250,000 will begin with a $100,000 payment, and will be followed by subsequent payments of $25,000 annually.

Barnes said that the InterContinental Hotel was receptive to the idea of a community contribution tied to the formation of its Community Improvement District (CID), and that the two sides compromised on the ultimate dollar figure and structure.

“That was an important piece, and that was a negotiated piece,” said Barnes. “We didn’t want to just extend it through the life of the CID. We wanted some initial impact on it. To have a greater impact, we thought we needed some things up front.”

5th District Councilwoman Canady noted that Barnes came up with the idea to link the legal blight designation being utilized by the hotel with physical blight that’s evident in nearby neighborhoods.

“They’re willing to do something about the real blight that we deal with in Kansas City,” said Canady of the InterContinental.

3rd District Councilmen Jermaine Reed and Quinton Lucas concurred that the amendment proposed by Barnes helped sway their decisions in favor of the ordinance, as did 1st District Councilman and Mayor Pro Tem Scott Wagner. Wagner added that his concerns that other hotels would piggyback on the InterContinental’s CID plan were assuaged by the language included in the amendment.

“What they have done is taken something that was looked at as an insular CID, and provided the opportunity to make it public,” said Wagner.

The Council approved the ordinance handily, as only 1st District Councilwoman Heather Hall and 2nd District Councilman Dan Fowler opposed the amended legislation.

After the meeting, Barnes acknowledged that the Council has now created a precedent of public contribution for other potential single-entity CID’s to follow.

“That’s what we were shooting for,” said Barnes.