Jefferson Co moves forward on squatting; looks to strategic plan
07/08/2024

The Jefferson County, KS Courthouse/Credit: Facebook

(KAIR)--A motion for injunction has been filed in Jefferson County Court as part of the County's continued efforts to remove squatters from County property.

Notice of the filing was delivered to the County Commission July 1 by Assistant County Counselor Jonathan Ehrlich. According to the meeting's unofficial minutes, Ehrlich informed the Commission that a hearing on the County's petition for injunction against the squatters is scheduled for July 24.

Meanwhile, the minutes say, the petition and summons has been served on those currently squatting on county properties at Lakeshore Estates, who now have 21 days, from the date of being served, to respond.

The matter of squatting, and how to handle it, has been discussed at several recent meetings, including the recent purchase, and placement of signs saying "No Squatting," at the affected locations.

Meanwhile, the July 1 Jefferson County Commission meeting also included a focus on the County's Comprehensive Plan, with an update provided to the Commission by Community Development Director Stephan Metzger.

According to the unofficial minutes, his message included the outcome of meetings held with Marvin Planning Consultants, the firm working on the comprehensive plan, during the week of June 17. The goal of the meetings was to meet with individual- one-on-one, meet groups of individuals in several different focus groups, and gather feedback from the
general public at the recent Old Settler- event, in Oskaloosa, and Broadway Nights, in Valley Falls.

Metzger informed the Commission that the focus groups "provided good and consistent feedback" to Staff and the Consultants team, resulting in Staff
recommending that the plan implementation focus on five policy areas, which include the Four Large Lake Communities; Broadening the tax base; Community Coordination; Commercial and Recreational Development around Lake Perry and Transportation.

According to the minutes, the plan development has mostly focused on gathering information; but, moving forward, there will be a much
greater emphasis on policy development and strategies for implementation.


© Many Signals Communications

You will need to be logged in to leave a comment.

Please Login


characters left

The posting of advertisements, profanity, or personal attacks is prohibited.

Click here to review our Terms of Use.