133rd & Inverness closure continued
By Kathy Feist
The closure at 133rd St. and Inverness Rd. will remain closed until June 15, according to a statement by the KCMO Public Works Department via spokesperson Maggie Green. Staff will then review the results of a petition being conducted by the Newcastle Homeowners Association.
The official statement reads:
“Public Works received a formal petition request from the Newcastle Neighborhood to close the street permanently and defined a petition area. The formal petition process started [the week of May 5th], which requires 100% of the households/businesses in the area to sign in support.
Public Works is keeping the closure in place until June 15 to complete the petition process, per a request from the Newcastle Neighborhood. If the petition process is successful in getting the signatures, we will keep the road closed. And conversely, if the petition does not receive 100% of signatures in support, we will reopen the road.”
Earlier in the year, Newcastle had conducted a survey among homeowners and businesses. Once submitted, Public Works ascertained that the survey did not get 100% approval from residents and business owners needed to keep the barricades in place. As a result, staff held a virtual public meeting announcing the barricades would be removed March 10th. However, the barricades at 133rd St. and Inverness Rd. remained up as Newcastle residents fought the decision.
The Devil is in the Details
There is much confusion as to why the street remained closed after the unsuccessful results of the first survey. “That [the survey] was different than the petition request process and petition area defined by our traffic team,” explains Green.
The delay may have been due to confusion resulting from the “City’s Guidelines on Traffic Calming Devices” which states “a survey is needed for property owners who would be directly and indirectly affected by the devices.” Approval is needed from 75% of those affected. However, the survey procedure is for traffic calming devices such as speed humps and the like.
To close a street, the Guidelines state: “For a traffic-calming device that eliminates cut-through traffic, a petition is required and 100% of the residents or owners within the petition area musts support the proposal.” (See below for specifics.)
QuikTrip concerns
The barricades were erected in November after residents from Newcastle complained of increased traffic and litter due to the 133rd and Inverness intersection that leads into a shopping center that includes Walmart, Lowe’s, McDonald’s and other restaurants and shops.
Meanwhile QuikTrip’s plans to begin construction May 1st at 132nd and State Line Rd. at the former Applebee’s location has been delayed to July. The Newscastle homeowners adjoining the shopping strip are concerned about increased cut-through traffic once the busy convenience store is put in place.
Neighborhood Acceptance Form (Petition)
Petition for Installation of a Traffic Calming Device to eliminate Cut-through traffic
Instructions
Please obtain the name, address, signature, and phone number of residents favoring the proposed
action. Obtain only one signature per household. Upon completion, return the neighborhood
acceptance form to: City of Kansas City, Public Works Department, Capital Projects Division,
Traffic Operations Center, 5310 Municipal Avenue, Kansas City, MO 64120. Make as many
copies of this form as necessary but return them all together.
The City of Kansas City requires that one hundred percent (100%) of the residents or owners
within the petition area must support the proposal (including vacant property(s)) in the proposed
blocks(s). The petition area should include residences on the proposed study street section and
residents on all other streets that are required to use the facility on which the traffic calming
device is to be installed; such as, an intersecting street with a cul-de-sac.
Furthermore, residents on other streets that do not have a reasonable alternate travel path (as
determined by the Director of Public Works) to a collector or arterial roadway may be included
in the petition area. Please contact the Capital Projects Division at 816-513-9846 for help in
identifying the petition area.
..and once 100% of residents do not approve, just wait and see what Newcastle comes up with next.
Come one man! It is a public road, open it up. I assume, maybe falsely, that the residents realized their property was near businesses and used as a cut through when they purchased.