KC Water is on the hunt for a new water treatment facility location, and the company has its sights set on three potential locations. But the owner of a local locomotive repair company says two of those sites would “devastate” his business.The location of Frank Blanc’s business, Mid-America Car, is one site being considered. His neighbor across the way, CPKC rail yard, is another. For 48 years at Mid-America Car, mechanics have expertly bashed behemoth locomotives back into commission. Rail lines snake in and out of the property, connecting with CPKC Railyard. CPKC rail yard sees traffic from Canada to Mexico every day. “So both site one and site two would basically devastate this company,” Blanc said. KC Water is looking to move from its current 100-year-old building. While business owners are worried, KC Water says they want to calm displacement concerns, saying the potentially $2 billion project won’t even break ground for another 10 years — and that the preferred location is the third site, which sits next to Blanc’s warehouses. “I understand the city and I appreciate their planning for the future. I get that. But I think a lot of times that you can lose sight of the small pieces and the big ripple effect downstream from that,” Blanc said. “Thinking outside the box to where, you know, we can stay here and they can also solve their goals, and if we are willing to do that, and I know we are, you know, we would be delighted to sit down and have any conversation that would allow us to, basically, survive this process.” KC Water says they are open to feedback from business owners and want to be transparent about the project.
KC Water is on the hunt for a new water treatment facility location, and the company has its sights set on three potential locations. But the owner of a local locomotive repair company says two of those sites would “devastate” his business.
The location of Frank Blanc’s business, Mid-America Car, is one site being considered. His neighbor across the way, CPKC rail yard, is another.
For 48 years at Mid-America Car, mechanics have expertly bashed behemoth locomotives back into commission. Rail lines snake in and out of the property, connecting with CPKC Railyard. CPKC rail yard sees traffic from Canada to Mexico every day.
“So both site one and site two would basically devastate this company,” Blanc said.
KC Water is looking to move from its current 100-year-old building. While business owners are worried, KC Water says they want to calm displacement concerns, saying the potentially $2 billion project won’t even break ground for another 10 years — and that the preferred location is the third site, which sits next to Blanc’s warehouses.
“I understand the city and I appreciate their planning for the future. I get that. But I think a lot of times that you can lose sight of the small pieces and the big ripple effect downstream from that,” Blanc said.
“Thinking outside the box to where, you know, we can stay here and they can also solve their goals, and if we are willing to do that, and I know we are, you know, we would be delighted to sit down and have any conversation that would allow us to, basically, survive this process.”
KC Water says they are open to feedback from business owners and want to be transparent about the project.
