A proposed wilderness camp for young men received a chilly reception at the Linn County Planning and Zoning Commission hearing on Feb. 11. (Journal file photo)
By Charlene Sims, info@linncountyjournal.com
MOUND CITY – More than 25 people attended the Linn County Planning and Zoning Commission meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 11, to hear the application of a conditional use permit (CUP) for a wilderness discipleship program near Pleasanton. The planning commission ended up tabling the application until the March 11 meeting because they did not have all of the information they needed to make a decision.
At first the meeting was delayed because of technical difficulties. Then new planning and zoning director Kent Harris spoke. Harris provided his background, saying he had worked as a fire marshal in Olathe for 22 years and had also worked extensively with the planning and zoning folk staff there.
“I helped grow the city from 30,000 to when I left it was around 124,000. So my ink and my stamp are on a lot of buildings when you drive through town,” said Harris.
He went on to say that he had a background in law enforcement as well. When he left the fire marshal’s office, he said the sheriff of Johnson County called him up and ask him to come and work for that office. He said he worked there another eight or nine years.
County Commissioner Alison Hamilton was also at the meeting.
Attorney Mark Hagen, the former county counselor who has been working with the county on some zoning issues, in early February warned members of the county commission against involving themselves in the application process for zoning changes and conditional use permit applications until after the planning commission had voted on its recommendation.
To get involved in the process earlier could invite legal action, he warned.
New planning board member Dan Black introduced himself. Other board members in attendance were Hal Aggers of Blue Mound, Ed Anderson of LaCygne, Paul Porter of La Cygne, commission Chair Elizabeth Staton of Pleasanton and Don Rhynerson of Blue Mound.
Staton asked if anyone had had any ex parte communication about the case they were going to hear.
Porter, who had been the chair until the Jan. 23 meeting, said that he had corresponded with the applicant for this particular CUP to discuss procedural issues since previous planning and zoning director Darin Wilson in his part-time capacity was not available 100% of the time.
Applicant for the CUP, Ryan Blackstock told the audience that he was founder and director of the organization Making Disciples Inc., which is doing business as Living Stones Lodge.
He explained that Living Stones Lodge is a faith-based non-profit organization to help young men 18 to 25 years old find their identity and purpose through an eight-month-long wilderness discipleship program. Blackstock told the audience that most of them probably knew young men that would fit the target of their program: young men who are still staying at their parents’ home playing video games.
He said a term that some have probably heard about these young men is “failure to launch.”
“The two important questions that we want them to be able to answer during their time with us are ‘Who am I?’ and ‘Why do I exist?’ We believe they can discover the biblical answers to those two questions. Then whatever they end up doing next after this program is really going to be much better,” said Blackstock.
He said no one gets sent to Living Stones, and it’s not my-parents-want-me-to-be-here place. The program wants young men who are deciding to be there. They are of age and can decide to be there.
He told the planning commission that Living Stones Lodge is following a proven ministry model from an organization in Tennessee that is called Narrow Gate Lodge. They have been doing the exact same thing for more than 20 years. They have more than 500 young men who have graduated from their program there.
He explained the kind of young men who would be admitted in the Living Stones Lodge Program. To begin with, all participants would go through a rigorous target selection and application screening process that includes a criminal background check.
“We are not looking for anyone that’s troubled. We are not looking for anyone that’s got a criminal background, that’s violent or that’s got any kind of sexual misconduct,” said Blackstone. “Those kind of guys would not be allowed to participate.”
He said they were looking for good young men who need a nudge in the right direction to help grow and mature. There are six characteristics that the organization is looking for in applicants. They are a desire to change; openness to faith; receptivity to feedback; a learning orientation; discipline and tenacity; and authenticity.
Blackstone stressed that Living Stone Lodge is not a drug rehab facility. It’s not a halfway house or transitional facility. He said they are definitely not looking for guys that want to cause trouble, that would be counterproductive to the program.
Several audience members gave their opinions in the public hearing.
Trenton Umphenour said that he owned the 40 acres to the north and the 20 acres to the east. His concerns were that he hunts, and every deer will be leaving with 24 young men there. He said that he competed in rodeos and had eight expensive horses on his land along with roping cattle. He was concerned that the young men would want to pet the horses.
However, he said his biggest concern was that he has two girls, 15 and 12 years old. They ride their horses down that fence line every day. He pointed out that city boys are not the same as country boys. It’s a whole different game, he said, and that’s a big concern.
He was also concerned that if the young men had access to guns and could potentially harm or kill one of his horses. He was also concerned that the young men might have access to binoculars because his house is not very far from the tree line.
Mark Jenkins spoke to the commission telling them that he owns the 80 acres just directly to the west of the property. He said the issue his family has is that they were recently robbed.
“I do have a fence, and unfortunately it was easy to cut the fence and to be violated,” said Jenkins.
He said that while they are in the process of moving to the area, his family is active in the community. He said he also had two daughters and he thinks the biggest concern they have is the safety and being right across the road. He said he opposed this from a safety standpoint.
Clayton Johnston, a property owner just north of the property at the southeast corner of Vernon and 800 Road.
Johnston said that he would ask that the commission deny this permit.
“I think that this mission is admirable. We live in Kansas City and we are moving down here. We love the peace and tranquility of the property. It scares us to death to understand that this mission cannot work on the footprint they are acquiring,” said Johnston. “It doesn’t work. You can’t secure someone’s right to privacy, however you define that with all those folks.”
Johnston continued saying that he bought the property with the intent that they are going to be good citizens, be good neighbors, and invest in the property and it just it doesn’t work.
He also questioned how the proposed use would handle sewage. He said that his family fishes in this lake every week.
Later in the meeting Anne Johnston, Clayton Johnston’s wife, spoke to the planning commission. She had prepared a document that specifically pointed to and compared this request against the most current zoning regulations of Linn County that she handed out to the planning commissioners.
She said there were several conflicts with this project and the zoning regulations. First, the purpose of the agricultural district to preserve and protect agricultural uses and to maintain rural character, peace, tranquility, and solitude.
Daniel Earnest, a resident about a mile down the road from the proposed location, said, “I don’t think that you can say that this won’t be detrimental to the surrounding properties. There is no doubt this would be detrimental to the surrounding properties.”
Earnest said, “We live here for a reason, we live in the middle of the country on gravel roads for a reason, because we don’t like a whole bunch of people around us. We don’t want 24 people camping in our backyard.
“No one in Kansas City would like it if 24 country boys went up there and camped in their backyard. I promise you they would not. We don’t want 24 city guys coming down and camping in our backyards. Makes absolutely no sense.
“It’s not why we live here, it’s not why we choose to buy property here. It’s not why we have farming communities here. It doesn’t fit the character of the community.”
Next, David Bartels said that he and his wife and another couple own the property at 8247 Vernon
“About a year ago, I was sued by a neighbor because their 5-year-old child came over to my house and knocked on the door and my 5-year-old grandson answered that door,” Bartels said. “No one else was around, but he ended up cutting his lip and they sued me for initially $1.3 million.
He said that the lawsuit was settled by his insurance company for $300,000 even though his understanding was that anytime a person came onto a property uninvited that person was considered to be a trespasser when a sign was posted or not.
Melvin Lohman who lives at the corner of 800 and Vernon roads, said that he was concerned about the security of it, the safety aspet, the traffic, and how it was going to impact his family. He said that he also had several daughters.
When no one else wanted to speak, Staton explained that because the planning commission was transitioning from one planning and zoning director to another and the commission did not have all of the paperwork that was required to make a decision on this case.
Because of that, Staton the case was going to have to be tabled until next month when a staff report would be available. She suggested that Blackstock speak with the new planning director Harris to make sure everything was available.
Porter explained that Darin Wilson was in the process of resigning during Blackstock’s whole application process and that Harris’ first day was the day before the hearing.
Wilson turned in his notice of resignation effective Nov. 1 but has temporarily been working as zoning director until a new director could be hired. Currently working full time for the city of Garnett, Wilson notified the county commission that Monday, Feb. 10, would be his last day on the job.
Porter said that the planning commission did not realize until nearly the beginning of the night’s meeting that the staff report in their information was not for this case. He explained that a part of the process was that staff report is the planning and zoning director’s opinion of how the application applies to the zoning regulations.
Staton told the audience that the planning commission was going to close the public comment section and at the next meeting they will review the staff report and make a decision. She told them they were welcome to attend that meeting but there would not be anymore public comment next month so they didn’t have to show up if they didn’t want to.
The planning commission also tabled the annual review of the regulations that was listed as old business on the agenda because all of the planning board members were not present.
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