Raytown planners outline draft comprehensive plan, prioritize sidewalks, downtown revitalization and stormwater fixes

Consultants working on Raytown's new comprehensive plan summarized findings and preliminary recommendations at a board workshop, highlighting mobility gaps, aging sewer and stormwater systems, and opportunities for downtown revitalization.

"The current population is, is 29,000, a little over 29,000, estimated for the current year," said Josh Bloom of the Lakota Group, describing the community profile and demographic trends that informed the team's existing-conditions work. Bloom told the board the plan process is staged: an immersive research phase, an envisioning/testing phase and a later plan-writing and implementation stage; the last comprehensive plan dated to 1996.

Consultants said mobility emerged repeatedly in public outreach. Stuart McClain, a transportation planning consultant with Sam Schwartz, said Raytown is largely car-oriented and flagged a major sidewalk shortfall: "there's 150 miles of road in Raytown, and only 46 mile of sidewalk," he said, adding that sidewalk coverage is particularly low within a quarter-mile of schools. McClain also said collisions are concentrated on a few corridors: a relatively small portion of roadway miles accounts for a disproportionate share of serious crashes.

To address safety and access, the team recommended a targeted approach: adopting a complete-streets policy, focusing urban-design and pedestrian-crossing improvements on Highway 350 and downtown arterials, expanding shared-use paths where feasible and adding separated bike facilities and bike parking. The consultants emphasized coordination with outside agencies on Highway 350 because parts of that corridor are not under city control.

The presentation flagged infrastructure needs. A team member summarized utility responsibilities and funding gaps: the city owns the sanitary collection system while wastewater treatment is split between Kansas City and the Little Blue Valley Sewer District; the team estimated roughly $6,000,000 of maintenance need for the sanitary system against about $2,000,000 in annual funding availability. The slide deck and discussion also noted that voters approved GO bonds in 2022 to fund stormwater improvements.

On economic development and downtown, consultants said the community repeatedly called for mixed-use redevelopment and stronger incentives to recruit small, locally owned businesses as part of a broader strategy of simultaneous improvements to streetscape, events programming and business support. Bloom said the team will develop concepts for three opportunity sites: the downtown district, adjacent downtown green space and a parcel across from the wellness center along Highway 350.

Commissioners pressed the consultants on priorities and funding. Board members asked what would act as a catalyst for downtown change and how projects could be funded given limited local matches for federal grants. The consultants said multiple actions typically must occur in parallel (incentives, public-space improvements and events) and that the implementation chapter will include prioritized actions and broad cost ranges and funding strategies.

Several board members also urged that the plan include lower-cost operational actions, such as more regular street sweeping, vegetation control and improved nighttime lighting, to improve community image while larger capital projects are pursued; the consultants agreed maintenance was an important component of reducing long-term costs.

The team asked commissioners for feedback before the next milestone: a presentation to the Board of Aldermen on Oct. 15 (virtual) and a public open-house workshop on Nov. 13, when the consultants will present concepts developed from the existing-conditions analysis.

The workshop closed after a short period of comments and the chair reminded attendees the next regular meeting will be Nov. 7 at 07:00 in Council Chambers.