A biotech research park in south Kansas City and 25-year property tax abatement to support it gets the go-ahead from the Kansas City council.
The idea of the research park and rezoning to allow it sailed through on Thursday. But the council wrangled over the tax abatement for Oxford on the Blue for about an hour and a half.
Councilman Russ Johnson tried to convince the group it was time to stop - as he put it "giving away the farm."
“You should be abating to check a public nuisance, a public blighting issue, and to that extent only," Johnson argued. "In fact, the State Constitution says that is the only reason you can abate. You can't abate to create jobs. It's unconstitutional. The only reason you can abate is blight."
Johnson said he does not consider vacant land “blighted.”
He and Scott Wagner voted against the tax breaks. The other council members all voted for them.
They say there is some blighted property on the 344 acres, and that they want the research park built in Kansas City, Mo., not on the Kansas side.