Caelin Bragg
Advertising & Distribution Manager
Butler Community College President Kim Krull provides the college’s view on the recent barriers keeping Butler from going ahead with its Andover remodel.
The Andover City Council voted on Tuesday, Sept. 25 to postpone Butler’s Andover project until further review was conducted by the Planning Commission. This vote followed a veto by Andover Mayor Ben Lawrence.
“The college was advised back then [2005, when Butler began leasing the 5000 building] that there should be no expectation that a new special use request for expansion would be granted in the future,” Lawrence said in a statement published by the Butler County Times-Gazette.
Lawrence said Butler has not fulfilled all the conditions on the original lease, one being that it would sell its land on 21st street. Krull explained that the college is still open to selling its remaining land, and that Butler already sold 34 acres of the land in 2006, a year after it began leasing the 5000 building, leaving only the 4.5 acres where the 9100 building resides owned by Butler.
Another condition was that Butler would be expected to host athletic events in Andover. Krull said the absence of games came down to scheduling conflicts with Andover Central and Andover High School, as well as the college’s partnership with BG Products Veterans Sports Complex.
“You have a lot of people who have invested significant money in that facility, skybox [leasers] and folks who have their name on the scoreboard who have contributed, and they want games at the stadium,” Krull said.
Krull said it’s not out of the question for Butler to host games in Andover and that baseball and softball could be easier to schedule.
One of the biggest reasons for the mayor’s veto is in tandem with the recent controversy of Butler’s funding from taxes.
“To allow a greater expansion of their current facilities to service an ever-increasing out-of-county student population that does not reside in Butler County provides serious negative gain to the general economic welfare of our residents,” Lawrence said in a statement published by the Butler County Times-Gazette.
Krull said that the Andover project is not a services expansion but simply a relocation from the 6000 building. The Accounts Receivable Office, the Registrar’s Office, Offices of Advising, Testing and Disability Services will need to be relocated. Krull said moving classes to the 5000 building might be possible now, but faculty or services could not be moved without expanding.
Krull said that this debate should focus on zoning and not politics, and that some of the mayor’s concerns this year have drifted into politics. She said questions regarding zoning do not include things relating to mill levies and student population.