Jun. 08, 2011
By Lynn Horsley
From The Kansas City Star
In the first step toward a possible November election, a Kansas City Council committee today rejected a proposal to convert a new weapons plant into a facility for green technology.
The council’s Planning, Zoning and Economic Development Committee voted 4-1 against a citizens’ proposal to prevent nuclear weapons components production at a plant under construction at 14500 Botts Road in South Kansas City.
A group calling itself KC Peace Planters gathered thousands of petition signatures on an initiative that seeks to convert the weapons plant into a manufacturing facility for environmentally progressive jobs.
After several hours of fierce debate this afternoon, council members Scott Wagner, Scott Taylor, Cindy Circo and Jim Glover voted not to support the peace ordinance. Councilman Ed Ford, who has consistently voted against the weapons plant, was the lone dissenter. The measure goes to the full council on June 16.
The council vote is just the first step in what may wind up as an election ballot measure over the future of the weapons plant. If the full council refuses to adopt the peace ordinance, the Peace Planters can then ask the city clerk to place it on the November ballot for a citywide vote.
Supporters of the peace ordinance argue that Kansas City should not be building a new weapons plant, and they say Kansas City voters should have a say. They recommend the facility could instead be used for green energy production, although they acknowledge no company has approached them as a tenant.
Opponents of the peace ordinance say the plant’s construction is well underway, and it’s way too late to halt that process with an election.
They argue that the initiative proposal conflicts with federal defense policy and illegally interferes with numerous legal contracts pertaining to the plant’s ownership, construction and operation. They also say the weapons plant will provide vital jobs and revenue for Kansas City at a time when its economy is fragile.