RISON - A community revitalization program headquartered at Kansas State University has informed Rison Mayor Charles Roberts that it intends to take an active role in helping the city develop its downtown area.
Roberts told the Rison City Council during its regular monthly meeting Tuesday night that a team from the Technical Assistance to Brownfields (TAB) program at Kansas State University was having to postpone an Oct. 29 visit to Rison due to conflicting schedules with some of the team members.
TAB visited Rison earlier this year to assess the city’s downtown area as well as test the old Cash Grocery Store and Rison Mini-Storage building for hazardous material. Those tests did reveal some hazardous materials in the old Cash Grocery Store building and TAB is helping secure grant money to help pay for the clean-up. The Oct. 29 meeting was regarding the clean-up effort.
During his conversation with TAB, Roberts said he was informed by the program that it is very interested in helping Rison with its downtown development effort and has made it a goal to not only help the city restore the downtown area, but also help recruit potential businesses there as well.
In community development terms, brownfield is a technical term used to identify abandoned, idled or underused commercial and/or industrial properties that hamper development of an area.
Roberts said no new date for the TAB visit.
Pioneer Village
Also during Tuesday night’s meeting, Roberts discussed the city’s support for developing Heritage Hall at the Pioneer Village. While the Pioneer Village belongs to the city, the Pioneer Village at Rison, a nonprofit group, is overseeing its care and development.
The goal of the Heritage Hall project is to convert Building 1, which once served as an exhibit hall for the Cleveland County Fair, into a climate-controlled space that could be used or rented for public gatherings and live performances.
After hearing a request in July from Malinda Berry with the Pioneer Village, the…