The Kansas City Council's Planning, Zoning and Economic Development Committee today delayed a decision on two petition initiatives sponsored by a group opposing nuclear weapons.

The committee heard two hours of testimony on two proposals by a group calling itself KC Peace Planters, which in the past has protested construction of a new weapons plant in south Kansas City. That plant on Botts Road is nearing completion and is expected to employ about 2,000 people by 2014, replacing an aging Bannister Road facility.

Peace Planters spokeswoman Rachel MacNair said today that the group has given up on trying to halt the plant, which will manufacture non-nuclear parts for nuclear weapons. But she said the group still wants voters to have a say in making sure the city has no future involvement in any other bomb factories. It also believes the city should start making plans for the day when such weapons manufacturing ends.

The group gathered sufficient petition signatures for two separate ballot initiatives, and now the city council is considering how to proceed.

One measure calls on the city to make detailed contingency plans for the reuse of the existing Bannister Federal Complex (which is being phased out) and for the eventual reuse of the Botts Road facility if its weapons activity ceases. The Peace Planters say this is to safeguard jobs and make sure the plants are successfully used for peaceful purposes.

Committee Chair Ed Ford said he thought he had the council votes to approve that measure outright, without having to put it on an election ballot. Even Councilman John Sharp, who represents the district where the plant is being built, said he could support it as a prudent planning exercise.

But the second ballot proposal is more controversial. It seeks to remove the city's financial involvement in the plant, and critics say that could jeopardize the bonds sold to build the plant and the repayment of those bonds.

MacNair said that is not her group's intent. She said the plant is almost finished and that battle is over. But she said the group wants voters to have a say in making sure Kansas City doesn't enter into any future weapons plant contracts and that other cities don't either.

She said the group will work with the council on new language to make the initiative legal and acceptable, for possible placement on the August ballot.

The committee is expected to consider both proposals again in two weeks.