KCRag Forum

Establish a 20-year "sustainable redevelopment strategy" that would substantially widen and return the creek to a natural, perennial state with more green space than the previous option. The creek could be flanked by a boardwalk. Public costs: $17.2 million, private costs, $15.1 million.



Sign me up! I'll try to attend the public forum on Monday. I like what I hear though.

www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=1458 ... _id=155725

Sea of green may replace gray pavement in Mission

Nathan Dayani, Staff Writer May 26, 2005

Mission, a city that paved a flood plain and put up a parking lot, may undo some of its work.
 
City leaders are considering several new proposals to reduce flooding along Rock Creek and redevelop the surrounding business district, mostly along Johnson Drive. Two of those proposals include substantial additions of green space around the creek to absorb storm water run-off and reduce the rate at which it travels. City leaders are also considering ways to reduce impervious surfaces, namely pavement, upstream in the western portion of Mission.

Martin Rivarola, the city's community development director, estimates paved parking lots comprise 50 to 100 acres in a small portion of the business district just west of Lamar Avenue. When that district was built, he said, "there were no requirements, as far as the city was concerned, of storm water retention or detention."

Now, city leaders are taking a different approach. The philosophy that more pavement is good for business appears to be becoming passé because city leaders realize the vitality of the Johnson Drive business district largely depends on alleviating flooding.

The City Council last year approved a storm water utility fee that took effect this year. One component of the fee is taxing the amount of impervious surface on a property. Councilman Phil Perry, chair of the city's redevelopment task force, said the tax gives property owners an incentive to increase pervious surfaces, and that the city could abate the tax for those who increase the amount of pervious surfaces on their property.

Rivarola suggested another tax incentive to reduce pavement: mandating conditions in tax-increment finance districts that would require businesses to limit the amount of impervious surfaces. The city is expected to establish such districts to encourage redevelopment as it moves forward with the Rock Creek project.

Rivarola said plans to replace pavement with green space would be most effective if they included vegetation that would absorb storm water. Such options include bioswales and rain gardens, he said. Bioswales are sloping trenches with plants; rain gardens also feature vegetation, which helps absorb storm water.

Rivarola and Perry both said although they expect the city to reduce pavement, several years may pass before the council adopts policies to achieve this goal.

"It's going to take a while," Perry said, noting redevelopment plans could take about 20 years to fully implement.


©The Johnson County Sun 2005 

I just received my City of Mission newsletter in the mail today outlining all of the plans. I fyou're interested in seeing the "Concept Book," it can be downloaded at http://www.missionks.org/documents/City ... ow_Res.pdf

Also, take a moment to vote for your favorite concept at Mission's web site, www.missionks.org.

As of 1:50, Concept 5 is winning with nearly 47% and Concept 4 is in second with 32%. If the people's voice is heard, it looks like Mission is due for some bigtime changes.

Matt

Missionite wrote: I just received my City of Mission newsletter in the mail today outlining all of the plans. I fyou're interested in seeing the "Concept Book," it can be downloaded at http://www.missionks.org/documents/City ... ow_Res.pdf

Also, take a moment to vote for your favorite concept at Mission's web site, www.missionks.org.

I spend too much time in this forum. When I first read "Enclosed-" and "Open Concrete Box Strategy", I actually thought of retail centers.

For those of you with some time to kill, the most up-to-date master plan and vision documents regarding the downtown Mission redevelopment are out.

They're interesting reads.

http://www.missionks.org/documents/City ... iewing.pdf

http://www.missionks.org/documents/City ... osting.pdf

It looks like the one-way street idea was ditched for Johnson Drive, though there are plans for a couple of smaller one-way side streets.

Matt

wow, i had heard about this, but completely missed this thread. Downtown Mission is going to be AWESOME! if they go through with this plan in the next 5 years.  I have to say they have a great blueprint to go off of in terms of creating a very cool place worth visiting.  (hopefully within the next 20 years this area will be redeveloped along these lines, and mayb even expanded it's scope to include the area west of Lamar up to Metcalf). 

Now, if OP takes a hint, and redevelops it's downtown in a similar vein, we might be able to support a mass transit line that connects the Plaza to downtown Mission to downtown OP 

Shocking opinions from NE Jo Co peeps on what they want the East Gateway(The East Gateway is mostly in Mission but includes parts of Roeland Park and Fairway. Mission Center Mall, Johnson Drive and Roe Avenue, and its pending redevelopment are the gateway’s keystone) to look like:

"Walking and biking trails, please"

"Character — no Disneyland"

"Not like south Johnson County"

"Against beige stucco"

"More like Brookside, less like Zona Rosa"

"Intense nightlife"

"Among pictured possibilities were high-rise apartment towers."

"...they were interested in housing possibilities for the new development and envisioned a place where people could live, shop and go out at night with hardly any driving."

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascit ... 906688.htm

NE Jo Co is the new Boulder. Who knew...

Cool. This is my backyard, and I agree with those sentiments precisely. NE JoCo could do a LOT more in being more pedestrian friendly. #7 on Roeland Park's "long-term goals" is to make the city more pedestrian friendly. But a lot more could be done, including connecting pedestrian walkways from the neighborhoods along Roe to the Mission shopping district.

I'm really excited with the direction they've gone with this, after threats that it could have become a Sprawl Mart. The leadership of the Mission and Roeland Park city governments have been great, and I really think we're going to have a great little walkable community that will be the envy of Johnson County.

[color=Blue]Mission is a smart city. They collect sales tax from all the people coming to shop and eat, mainly eat LOL. I live in south  Kansas  City,  KS and I do allot of shopping and dining in Mission because it takes me like 5 minutes to drive there. Although lately I and my family have been doing more dining at Village West in Kansas City, KS. My family spends at least 500 dollars a month eating out and I don't mean at McDonald's. I guess that explains all the vacant restaurants I've been noticing in North Johnson county and there is more than a few. I guess all the people in Kansas City Ks who support these places are going to Village West now. I know my family is. I believe Mission have the lowest property tax rate of all first class cities in KS. and with this east gateway plan it seems they are looking to keep it that way. Kudos to the city of Missoin.

I used to live in south KCK too and frequented the strip malls in western Mission on occasion for dietary sustenance. Still, there's no way I'd drive way the hell out to Village West just to eat. That's me though.

Its true its an extra 10 minutes to for me to get to Village West, but i rather waste my gas than pay higher sales taxes to prop up johnson county's public schools and thier extravagant school buildings. Wait a minute. Johson county has higher sales taxes? I guess wyandotte county isn't the highest taxed place after all. Especially considering the JOCO commission raised the 06 property tax rate 8 percent while wyandotte county lowered thiers by around 4 percent.[/color]

Extravagant school buildings? Where?

It's actually quite common to educate suburban younglings in the most architecturally dismal buildings that can ever be drafted up. Plus they're all surrounded by a huge morass of parking, of course to accomodate the suburban lifestyle of driving everywhere for everything.

I have nothing to add to this thread except Mrs. McConwell was my 7th Grade unified studies teacher and we used to play in the tunnels underneath the shopping center. Oh, and the second incarnation of my used record store was by the Dickinson(Fairway)Can't believe you guys are talking about the stomping grounds of my youth as cool. Hilarious.

Uh...no. Let's get some facts straight. Post-WWII American development styles result from various factors that all came together at the same time, speficically cheap low-interest FHA loans to WWII veterans for cheap McHouses in clustered residential pods based on Euclidian zoning. Which brings up the next point:

Ambler VS. Euclid: supreme court case that mandated that municipalities do indeed have the right to segregate uses to the most minute of details, effectively mandating car dependency to get between the different use zones. Which brings us to the next point:

Prez Eisenhower signing off on what was then the most expansive public works project in world history: the interstate highway system. And with all that subsidized motoring access came all of the revolting accessories of modern drive in suburban design: strip malls and arterial roads, plus the ubiquitous drive-thru fried meat shacks.

And let's not forget that federal tax laws discourage urban infill development and and actually encourage suburban greenfield development, which necessitates yet more visually hideous and aesthetically abominable sprawl and yet more car dependency, and more pristine open space gobbled up for development.

To state that suburbia is beyond reproach because it is apparently so popular completely ignores the massive governmental influences that have in fact encouraged it over previous decades. If the free market was truly at work, I believe we would have more of a compromise between suburbia's current iteration and the more timeless and time-tested modes of urban planning and city design.

Does anyone know what is going to happen to the Mission Theater? I used to love that place when it was an indie movie theater and video rental.

KCMax wrote: Does anyone know what is going to happen to the Mission Theater? I used to love that place when it was an indie movie theater and video rental.

It's still around. It's currently being renovated into an independent, private event venue of sorts. I don't quite get the concept yet, but I don't think I like it. I guess they figured that movies didn't work out so they're trying something new. We'll have to wait and see.

http://www.themissiontheatre.com/

Matt

Ugh, looks like they're trying to be the suburban version of the Uptown. No thanks. Go back to being an indie theater please.

KCMax wrote: Ugh, looks like they're trying to be the suburban version of the Uptown. No thanks. Go back to being an indie theater please.

It doesn't look any different from the last look it had as the Fine Arts to me...