Tour of Blue River Parkway provides insights on county master plan

By Jill Draper

Some two dozen community leaders and a few interested citizens recently spent a Saturday morning touring key sites along the 2,267-acre Blue River Parkway, the name for a linear county park following the river from Swope Park south to the Kansas state line.

Jackson County Parks + Rec led the way, beginning with a stop at Alex George Wetland near Minor Park and a stroll down a closed section of Blue River Road. Other stops included a boat ramp, two former sports fields, and a multi-use sports complex and festival venue.

Jackson County Legislator Manuel Abarca IV requested the tour, which he called an “exposure opportunity” to attract more attention, collaboration and investment to the area.

By the end of the morning he had reached a one-hand, two-hand conclusion. On the one hand, he praised the hard work of county Parks + Rec staff in managing the linear park’s various assets. On the other hand, he wondered about possible amenities not included in the river corridor’s master plan and additional ways to work with nonprofit partners.

“I think the vision Parks has is different from what residents are wanting. What are we missing in our community that the department can create?” he asked, mentioning ideas like ATV parks, skate parks, and more beautification and playgrounds.

According to Tina Spallo, deputy director of Jackson County Park Operations, the master plan was adopted in 2022 and is based on available funding plus 800 survey responses during a public comment period.

Abarca called the tour a success and claimed the event already had boosted conversations between the parks system with nonprofits that are experts in wildlife management and land conservation. It may be more efficient for the county to pay a nonprofit for certain park projects, he said, describing it as “saving green and also saving green.”

Tour highlights included:

Alex George Wetland

The county is working with Bridging the Gap to improve views of the wetland (a former lake filling with sediment) along an existing greenway by removing invasive plants, especially bush honeysuckle. Other partners include Deep Roots KC, Heartland Conservation Alliance and MARC. A playground also is planned near the parking lot on Blue River Road.

Blue River Road

Tour participants walked past a graffitied concrete barrier that stops car traffic to examine an area where the pavement has shifted due to an unstable slope. Some, including Abarca, expressed surprise that while the road is overgrown, it’s not in terrible shape except for about 300 feet in the section north of I-435. The group did not tour another shutdown section between Prospect Avenue/Grandview Road and Highway 71.

“The condition is not as dramatic as it’s described to be. I’m really curious about the $60 million estimate to reopen it,” Abarca said. “We have a lot of opportunity to solve this if the city and county work together.” Kansas City is responsible for maintaining the road while the county owns the adjoining land.

Another county legislator on the tour, Venessa Huskey, worried about the road’s secluded location and its likelihood of attracting homeless camps and illegal dumping. “I don’t see any street lights here, do you?” she said. “I don’t see it reopening.”

Abarca later said he’s begun to investigate getting the road designated as a scenic route under the Missouri Byways Program. Given the road’s history with Harry Truman, he described the idea as an exciting possibility, noting, “It would be incredible to unlock some new funding.”

Kenneth Road Soccer Complex

Located at the state line, this complex features four full-sized, irrigated, multipurpose fields that are used for sports and private events, including soccer, softball, football, ultimate frisbee, church gatherings, a Hindu festival of lights, and possibly next year a polo match.

Spallo called the complex “a revenue generator,” noting the area is gated when not reserved for events to keep out ATVs and illegal dumping. “We’re very protective of it because of the investment the county makes.”

140th and Holmes Road

Scoreboards and fences were destroyed when a flood hit this former softball complex in 2017. The county secured a grant to rebuild a multipurpose sports field, but those plans were nixed when native artifacts were found, triggering extra costs for archaeological investigations. Now Urban Trail Co. is helping develop mountain bike trails on the property.

128th and Blue Ridge Boulevard

These former soccer and football fields were used until 8 or 10 years ago, but have been taken out of service. Parks+ Rec leases the fields to a farmer for hay.

Brown Recreation Area

This site on Blue Ridge Boulevard just east of Holmes Road features a canoe launch on the Blue River. Parks has a grant from the Missouri Department of Conservation to pave the parking lot and upgrade the boat ramp.