Recent media reports have suggested that some residents in Wichita’s Delano neighborhood may lose their homes under a Ballpark Village plan that is being developed for the city’s new baseball stadium. Mayor Jeff Longwell said Thursday that is not correct, and the city is not buying homes in the Delano area.
Mayor Longwell said private developers are buying homes, and the homeowners can decide whether they want to sell or not. He said the practice of using eminent domain to seize property would not apply to the development area. He said “the city doesn’t have the ability to do it, nor would we impose eminent domain on those properties.”
A Ballpark Village master plan is being developed for consideration by the city council later this year, but the mayor said there is no timetable for that to be presented to the council. He said construction of the baseball stadium is on schedule. The stadium is expected to be ready next March for use by a Triple-A baseball team that will be moving to Wichita from New Orleans.
