Calling all Professional Planners, Zoning Officials or Planning Professionals.

Be advised that if you ever come to Ford County, Kansas, the rules (ha-ha) here are different.

First of all, when you read the regulations, the word “shall” means “may” anytime you can get an attorney to say so. Don’t pay attention to the definition of “shall” in County regulations that says: “1-104 Definitions: “the word "shall" is mandatory and not directory while the word "may" is permissive”, ( Ford County Zoning Regulations ) We did not mean this when this was written. At least not now.

Come on in; sit right down, fill in an application, any application here at the Ford County Government Center. You can leave this application incomplete; you don’t even have to sign it. We will even let you fax it to us that way. We will still process the application, ASAP. When you are ready, let us know when you can sign this and we will witness and backdate the application so that the record shows that it was signed on the proper day, whatever day that should be for your convenience. We don’t want to break any laws at least any that can be proved in court. Ouch, that was proved in court but so what. We got away with it.

As for a time stamp, we will make sure that it is either not on the premises, broken, or stored away. Better yet, we will not budget any funds for a time stamp. Really, we are better off not documenting when you file the application. Just think of the all the work you are making for the lawyers. They need to work too.

Credit, no problem. File the unsigned/incomplete application. We will process the application, spend county money, do everything necessary to move your application along and you can pay for this later. WE trust you. We will take a chance. That stupid regulation that says: (Section 26-102) “The payment of the application fee, as established by the Governing Body by separate resolution, shall be made at the time of the submission of the application.” Your not required to sign so why should you also pay for our services. Ford County Zoning Regulations ) Well, don’t forget that “shall” really means “may”.” We are going to do this for everyone, not just people with a lot of money.

Development Plan. Oh yes, that is the blueprint of what you want to build in Ford County. That information is not that important. We don’t need to know how big a building you plan, where the water will come from, the lay of the land, traffic, parking, drainage, landscaping, bathrooms, and so forth. Don’t worry about that. We trust you not to paint the building “yellow or purple” but if you do, don’t worry. It will be too late for us to do anything about it. We will have approved the “bunch of papers that you stapled together and told us was a development plan.”

Yes, our regulations say: at Section 12-102 .2 “The Development Plan shall be submitted at the time the application is submitted and no application shall be deemed complete nor set for public hearing until said Development Plan is submitted.” Again, damn that word. Disregard the word “shall”. In Ford County, the word “shall” means “may” whenever we want. ( Ford County Zoning Regulations )

As for having a civil engineer draw this up for the development plan, what good is a civil engineer. It just adds to the cost of the project. Let the lawyers worry about that. A $200 million project does not need any civil engineer’s that might charge $200,000 for the whys and what is going to be built. By not having the engineers do a development plan that answer whose questions, we will be able to at least double the amount in attorney fees if ever there is a problem. Engineers are too smart, answer too many questions and like to document everything to the smallest detail with numbers and drawings. Save your money. We got rid of the last one and now we only keep a part time one in another county so that he can leave us alone. Engineers are too truthful. Keep asking questions that need an answer.

As for making lots of copies, we just need a few copies. We have decided that it is best to wait till that last few days to supply the development plan. In Ford County Court, the court has affirmed the fact that only the Zoning Board members need to have a copy along with the County Commissioners. Everyone else in Ford County that is interested does not need a copy, at least not a full 20 days to study. 7 days will work. That is if we let them know it is now available. We will treat any other interested parties like mushrooms, keep them in the dark and feed them cow droppings. You don’t need to worry about them. (Mushrooms, don't you be reading this.)

You don’t believe that. Well we had to file a brief, in court no less, to confirm this. It stated the “County admits that no Development Plan was submitted with the incomplete, unsigned application forms and that neither was the required application fee paid at that time, as required by Section 26-102, Section 12-101, Section 12-102 and Section 12- 103 of the zoning regulations.” Then the County argues, commencing on page 11 of their brief and continuing to the top of page 13 thereof “that the Development Plan is solely for the benefit of the Zoning Board and the Board of County Commissioners and that The zoning regulations do not make any requirement or provide for any consideration, review or approval of the Development Plan by the surrounding landowners.”

In other words, we don’t want landowners to have a plan as to what is going on in their backyard. They might want to read it and then they might come to the Public Hearing and say something intelligent that screws everything up. We need the money and money is more important than Ford County citizen’s rights to this information. Let’s just keep them in the dark. We can do this working as a team.


If you are a Planning Professional and don’t believe what you are reading, just ask for a copy of Case No. 07 CV 10. This file is located at the Ford County District Court Building, Dodge City, Kansas. That file will confirm everything that you have read above.

The link listed here will give you more information.

No Due Process, NO Development Plan, No Problem

[lurker]

Methinks the Mexican horse track by the river was developed on the fly, too.

[Made in the USA]

The rules here are "selectively applied"!!

Zoning should be a critical tool for getting the benefits of growth while minimizing growing pains. But in our County, zoning is used to benefit specific property owners or special interests at the expense of overall quality of life of Ford County citizens.

I hope that the plaintiffs appeal their case. Other then that, I can’t see why anyone in Ford County would want to squander their time making this county a better place to live.

How do you like that? The journal entry, (the judge’s decision) on this case, was prepared prior to the trial held on March 1st. The Judge signed a decision that was written by David Rebein, or someone in his firm, who represented Boothill Biofuels. The court had a copy of it before the trial was over. The Judge did not write any part of the decision. All the judge did was sign the papers that was 10 pages long.

[JayhawkMom]

Sounds like any ol' someone could sit up there and be that kinda judge!

[Made in the USA]

[lurker]

Originally Posted by JayhawkMom

Sounds like any ol' someone could sit up there and be that kinda judge!

Now that'$ not true.... $omeone'$ got$ to be accountable.

[JayhawkMom]

Originally Posted by lurker

Now that'$ not true.... $omeone'$ got$ to be accountable.

Yipper........think you're on to sumthin' thar Lurker......

[Made in the USA]

Originally Posted by lurker

Now that'$ not true.... $omeone'$ got$ to be accountable.