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Riley County approves Manhattans East Manhattan Gateway future land use map amendment
Summary
After a presentation from Manhattan staff, Riley County commissioners voted unanimously to sign a resolution supporting amendments to the Manhattan Urban Area Comprehensive Plan Future Land Use Map tied to the East Manhattan Gateway vision; the citys changes extend the plan boundary east and reclassify several parcels for industrial and commercial uses.
The Riley County Board of County Commissioners on May 18 voted unanimously to sign a resolution supporting amendments to the Manhattan Urban Area Comprehensive Plan Future Land Use Map tied to the East Manhattan Gateway vision.
Ben Schmiel, senior planner for the City of Manhattan, told the board the amendments do not place any properties inside Riley County but that an interlocal agreement requires the city to bring FLUM changes to the county for consideration. Schmiel said the proposed changes include expanding industrial lands, introducing a new "core commercial" designation for parts of the McCall triangle, adding neighborhood commercial nodes near major intersections and extending the FLUM boundary east to Hopkins Creek.
"None of the amendments that we're looking at this morning are actually within Riley County," Schmiel said, describing the request as a policy-level revision to guide future rezonings and infrastructure decisions rather than an immediate rezoning or annexation.
Commissioners asked multiple questions about whether the amendment would initiate annexation or require new city services; Manhattan staff repeatedly said the amendment itself does not effect annexation and that specific development proposals would trigger later analyses. Schmiel also described water-service agreements already in place to serve some subdivisions and said the city had extended service lines as far back as 2014 in the area under discussion.
After the presentation and discussion, a motion to sign resolution 051826 to amend the Manhattan Urban Area Comprehensive Plan Future Land Use Map was made, seconded and adopted. The board recorded a unanimous vote and the resolution will take effect as provided by county publication rules.
Why it matters: county review of a neighboring citys FLUM amendments provides local governments an opportunity to flag infrastructure, taxation or service-area concerns before developers submit formal proposals. Manhattan officials said they prepared the amendment with market data and a visioning process that showed demand for more industrial land and additional community-commercial space in the McCall triangle.
Next steps: the resolution supports the citys amendment; any specific rezoning, annexation request or project that would require city services must still follow separate application and review processes.
