WWW arkcity.net

By RHONDA ROSS
Traveler Staff Writer

A plan to provide public access along the Arkansas River at five-mile intervals in Reno, Sedgwick and Sumner counties will soon be in the hands of a steering committee now that the public meetings held to discuss it are over.

The steering committee meets in Wichita with the different partners for the group, said Robert Mendoza, Derby's director of Public Works and Parks.

Mendoza has been an active supporter of the plan known as ARCAP (Arkansas River Corridor Access Plan) since its inception. He said he sees Derby as a thriving town with many nice recreational facilities, but access to the river is on public land near a water works plant and could be developed more.

One public access point to the Arkansas River is Oxford, which is considered a key spot in the plan. Cave Park in Oxford is the only access point in Kansas south of the Wichita area and is considered vital to the corridor plan.

One Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks (KDWP) official called the park the "cornerstone" of the project and it has undergone improvements with a KDWP grant that paid to extend the boat ramp and widen the access road.

The Oxford meeting was the second of three that were held in three locations: Oxford, Hutchinson and Wichita.

An earlier meeting in February allowed citizens, landowners and other interested parties the opportunity to voice their concerns or support. Much of the meeting was spent identifying compatible recreational uses for the Arkansas River.

At the May meeting, a PowerPoint presentation was given by Tom Huntzinger, project manager for Applied Ecological Services, and a member of a consultant team hired by the City of Wichita and the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks. The presentation explored a plan to develop public access to the river.

One concern was the definition of "public." Many landowners believed the answer -- between high-water marks; along navigable streams - was too vague.

Huntzinger explained that the public land boundaries were the "point at which floatable debris has been deposited in times of high water."

One man in the audience said the wording should be changed to say, "ordinary high water," because there are times when the water level is anything but ordinary.

Another audience member said that what he didn't want to see was, "Joe and Jane Sixpack . . . having wild parties on my land."

Huntzinger said that two of the main objectives of the access point selection would be to protect natural resources, including habitat considerations, and minimize problems for landowners.

The overall plan envisions some access points on land already owned by a city or county, and other access points on private land that would need to be purchased or leased from landowners.

Consultants have been putting together their final findings for a document that will eventually find its way to the steering committee.

"We received one draft and then sent it back for revisions and for further information," Mendoza said. "All of the hard work has been done, we're just waiting for one final document."

According to Mendoza, a meeting of the steering committee scheduled for June 29 was cancelled so that the information could be reorganized.

"It's just a matter of cleaning it up and making it more user-friendly," he said.

Mendoza has repeatedly emphasized at the meetings that the corridor plan is just that - a plan.

"It's an idea; a vision," he said in May. "Work has been done to show what could happen; not necessarily what will happen."