Tonganoxie City Council approves sale of land for new store


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Courtesy of the City of Tonganoxia. Enlarge the photo.

Tonganoxia has eclipsed a population of 5,500, according to recently released estimates. The next official county will come with the 2020 US census.

A general dollar market is expected to arrive in Tonganoxie after Tonganoxie City Council finalized the purchase of land along US Highway 24-40 at its meeting on Monday.

Board members approved the sale of 2.4 acres near the US 24-40 curve for $ 220,000 to Colby 2021 LLC. The company plans to build a 12,460 square foot general market on the land.

A Dollar General Market offers fresh produce and expanded meats and groceries to complement other items commonly found in regular Dollar General stores. As with any project, there will be additional steps to take before the store is built.

No specific timeline was given at the meeting other than a 150-day inspection period, which Managing Director George Brajkovic said a lot of work has already been done. There will be other considerations with the property as it is close to US 24-40 and Smiley Road. The Kansas Department of Transportation will also be involved, Brajkovic said while noting that direct access to the store would be via Smiley Road and not the highway.

The measure was passed 4-0 with Council member Loralee Stevens absent.

The current Tonganoxie Dollar General is just down the road east of US 24-40.

This Dollar general store shares retail hub space with a few tenants, including a laundromat, Subway, and Daylight Donuts.

Addressing the “purple haze” lights

The Council discussed lights with a purple hue which have become a topic of conversation in many communities.

Brajkovic said lights installed as part of an update to an LED system have a flaw that causes them to turn purple when they need to be replaced.

Tonganoxie currently has two of these known fires, one near Tonganoxie Water Park and one near US 24-40 and Washington Street.

Brajkovic said Evergy has a process to fix these lights, but he’s not sure when these lights would be fixed or how many more could eventually turn purple.

Lights of “purple haze,” as Brajkovic and the council called them, appear in many communities. Council member Jake Dale noted that there are similar lights in Basehor and Eudora, for example.

Mayor David Frese noted that there were 15 lights on Massachusetts Street in Lawrence. Frese, who attended Kansas State University, joked that Lawrence could always use more purple.

Dale then explained that the purple lights were a sign of deterioration of the streetlights “and it’s deterioration,” he said, sending a light zinger back to the mayor and K-State enthusiast.

Street takeover

Main Street will be redone after an issue with the initial resurfacing earlier this year. More information on this story will be featured in next week’s edition.

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