Hole in southeast KC?

[trailerkid]

When you look at a metro map of KC, why is there that giant hole of no development south of 40, and east of Noland Road? It is basically a chunk of KCMO the size of Leawood east of Raytown, south of Indy, and west of northern LS. It seems like this land would be very valuable. LS, Blue Springs continue to sprawl outward with apparently nothing in this massive patch of space. Can anyone give a brief history or clue me in on this land.

[chrizow]

i always wondered that as well. that area is mostly a very sparse, rural residential area. south of 40, along noland road, the development just STOPS. it must be zoning or something. but yeah, that area is pretty much all single family homes on big wooded lots, along windy narrow roads. it's also a weird area where KC, Indep, and LS meet and the school districts of indep., raytown, and LS all converge there.

it might be too hard to develop because it is very hilly and wooded. people just tuck their homes into the cliffs and woods.

[GRID]

Two reasons.

It's nearly all a flood area, little blue valley and the terrain is very rough and like any rough terrain part of KC, it sits relatively untouched becasue there is so much land available around the metro that is easier and cheapers to develop.

The other reason is that it's KCMO and KCMO ignores that area of the city. Only small parts are served by sewers, the roads have not been upgraded since they were built etc, and with no public investment, there is little private investment.

Having said that, this area is beginning to pick up steam. Lee's Summit Road is filling up fast on the LS side and development is creaping in pretty quickly around Unity Village, and Truman Lakewood.

It's just a matter of time before a big chuck of it gets bought up by some big company that will build a massive master planned community and use some sort of tif money etc to deal with the flooding and other infrastructure problems.

[dangerboy]

Like the Northland, the area was annexed in the 1950s and 1960s to bank it for future development within the city limits. Like Grid said, the topography has prevented large-scale development so far. The rolling and wooded terrain of Jackson County isn't as conducive to paving as the cornfields in Kansas. However, once the Northland fills up this area will get more attention from the city. Especially now that sprawl has leapfrogged this land that used to be out on the frontier.

But here's another question, why should undeveloped land be viewed as a "hole" ? ? It kindof implies that all land should be developed to realize it's potential. The city also needs land for things like parks, open space, landfills, wetlands, etc.

[trailerkid]

This is a case where the city should've been active in getting the infrastructure to deal with the flooding years ago.

I would thinkt the area would be hot for residential as one could build a new home in a new neighborhood without having to live in Lone Jack or somewhere like that.

[bahua]

Or, maybe, it should never have been annexed to the city...