Hickman Mills Area Plan asks for public input

Area Plan Meeting

The second and last scheduled meeting to get public input on revisions to the Hickman Mills
Area Plan covering the area from 87 th St. to the Grandview city limits and from U.S. 71 Highway
to Raytown Rd. will be at 6 p.m. Wednesday, August 21, in the Ruskin High School library, 7000
E. 111 th St.
KCMO has 18 area plans that are used by the city to guide public decisions on land use and
zoning, public improvements and city services. The Hickman Mills plan, adopted in 2007, has
gone the longest without revision of all the plans.
Planning is underway for revisions to the Martin City Area Plan that was adopted in 2008, and
proposed revisions to the Greater Downtown Area Plan which was adopted in 2010 are
currently awaiting approval of the City Council.
It is important to keep area plans up to date. When developers propose projects that are
inconsistent with area plans and opposed by neighbors, they will often attempt to discredit the
area plans if they were adopted a long time ago and have not been revised to reflect current
conditions.
One of the main concerns expressed at the earlier public meeting regarding the Hickman Mills
plan was the lack of sidewalks that force pedestrians and some school children to walk in the
streets due to ditches and overgrown brush and weeds on both sides of some streets.
Concerns also were expressed about improving the streetscapes along major arterial streets,
attracting quality retail development along Blue Ridge Blvd. and connecting portions of trails that have been constructed along the shared corridor of the historic California, Oregon & Santa Fe Trails.
For more information on the proposed plan revisions, people can go to www.KCMO.gov and
click on City Hall and under Departments click on City Planning & Development, then click on
Area Plans on the left, then click on Area Plans Currently Underway and then on the Hickman
Mills plan.
City planners hope the plan revisions will be ready to present to the City Council for approval
this fall.