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Bonner Springs is being considered as the site for a planned $5 million-$6 million law enforcement training facility, the City Council learned Monday.

At their workshop session before the regular meeting, council members discussed a request by an undisclosed company to lay the groundwork for the prospective construction of a facility in the Bonner Springs Industrial Park that could include an indoor shooting range and overnight accommodations.

The issue was broached by a letter from the company requesting a change in the city-zoning ordinance that would allow by special-use permit a shooting range in light-industrial-zoned districts such as the industrial park.

In answer to complaints by council member Jerry Jarrett and Larry Berg about the secrecy shrouding the company’s identity — and jokes from other members that the blacking-out of certain names and terms in the council’s agenda packet copies made the letter resemble a partially declassified CIA document — Marcia Ashford, economic development director, and City Manager John Helin said confidentiality was an often-important requirement in economic development because of the effects unwanted publicity can have on the price of land under consideration.

“Economic development is a highly secretive business,” added Mayor Clausie Smith.

The letter to the city requesting the zoning ordinance amendment and special-use permit said the company is “the largest distributor of (deleted) firearms to law enforcement agencies and 6th largest commercial.”

The letter also states the indoor range would be a state-of-the-art 20-lane rifle and pistol range, measuring about 18,000 square feet, and that the main users would be law-enforcement officers from the Midwest. The overnight facilities would be 10 rooms available to customers and trainees, the letter goes on to say.

The company “plans to open the facility by Oct. 1, 2009,” the letter says near the bottom.

Still, Helin told the council, “there’s no guarantee they’re coming here,” and the question of the company’s identity at this point was not important.

That’s because, he said, the question the council needed to answer was simply whether indoor shooting would be a “reasonable use” for the location.

The council gave its consensus to city staff to bring a zoning-ordinance amendment and a special-use permit to the Planning Commission. If the Planning Commission approves them, the council would then vote on the amendment and the permit.

In other actions Monday, the council:

• Approved the bid by Max Rieke and Brothers Inc. of $218,900 for the construction of two soccer fields at North Park.

Parks and Recreation director Skip Dobbs told the council he and his staff had anticipated the cost of a single field’s construction would come to $200,000, but because Max Rieke has a couple of other projects in the area, the company was able to offer a much lower price than the other two bids that came in.

The work will include grading, irrigation and sod planting of the fields, with soil testing, surveying and a grading plan already completed, Dobbs said.

At a recent Parks and Recreation event, the announcement of the two fields’ construction was greeted by applause from families, he said.

“We will have the best grass soccer fields in Wyandotte County,” Dobbs told the council.

• Celebrated the 110th anniversary of Bonner Springs’ incorporation with a white, red and blue cake that read “Happy 110th Birthday City of Bonner Springs.”

• Approved payment of claims for city operations for $513,102.

• Approved payment of Public Housing Authority claims for $1,058.

• Approved the appointments of Barbara Johnson to the Senior Center Advisory Committee, Andy Atkins and Tony Lee to the Parks and Recreation Commission, and the re-appointments of Jeannine Gallagher and Jane Hanks to the Vaughn-Trent Community Services Board.

• Approved the awarding of a bid for weed mowing, trash and debris removal and tree and bush trimming to Kevin’s Lawn Service for 2009 to 2011. The contract is to abate violations of the city’s weed ordinance. Property owners are billed $125 for the first hour of work and $50 for every half-hour of work thereafter.

In her report to the council, Barbara Bille, city codes enforcement officer, said “during the last three years some abandoned properties have required debris and trash removal and tree trimming and brush trimming,” so that work was added to the contract. The work did not appear in the previous three-year contract for weed mowing for the city.

• Heard reports by Helin and Smith. Both had learned since the joint meeting with the Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kan., and Edwardsville governing bodies that focused on the topic that under state law, the county could not pass a countywide smoking ordinance, and that any referendum voted on by residents would be advisory only and have no enforceable provisions.

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