Platte County Challenges The Future

Nearly 40 of Platte County’s most influential citizens as well as other interested parties including the Missouri Director of Economic Development and the City Manager of Kansas City—met to discuss the County’s future. Organizing the event was Ingram’s Magazine. This was part of our ongoing commitment to the region’s economic progress. Co-sponsoring the event were Zona Rosa, the new lifestyle center off Barry Road and I-29, and the Platte County Economic Development Council. Our co-chairs were Betty Knight, the presiding commissioner of Platte County, and Michel Defenbau, Multivac CEO and chair of the Platte County EDC. The assembly was held at the Majestic Theater at Zona Rosa, and it proved to be a provocative assembly.

The Challenge of Growth

As a first question, participants were asked to a cite a relevant challenge that has to be met if Platte County is going to continue to prosper. Platte faces one major issue—and subsets of the same that most counties would envy. Mark Harpst with the Platte County R-III School District defined it succinctly. “The greatest challenge,” he observed, “is going to be growth.” Michel Defenbau quantified the scope of that growth, citing nearly 5,000 homes already planned and at least another 1,500 proposed. “So this is going to put some crunches on the county in general,” he added. Dave Brooks, mayor of Platte City, stressed the need for “quality, plannedgrowth.” Dave Knack with ADT Security Services welcomed the growth, as did most others, but he saw the imperative to continue with “the quality of life” in the face of that growth. Brad Culver with the Great Plains Trust Company reiterated Knack’s point on growth and its consequences. “We’ve got some real quality of life issues,” said Culver. “Right now we’re ahead of the curve on those and I think we need to stay there.” Acknowledging the “growth mode,” Tom Cole of Al J. Mueller Construction Company saw the need to make the rest of the world aware of Platte’s emergence from its agrarian roots. “There’s a lot of misperceptions out there,” Cole argued.

Infrastructure Challenges

The most pressing issue for any growth area is the infrastructure to support it. Sean Ackerson from the City of Parkville cited not only the development of adequate infrastructure but also the financing of it as real needs. “Infrastructure and the funding for that infrastructure are very important for growth,” agreed George Gunter of Tuileries Plaza. Chris Byrd of Hazelton & Laner, LLC called these twinned issues “our biggest concern as a county.” When Jim Bowers of White Goss Bowers was asked to identify the county’s greatest challenges, he answered like an engineer: “Infrastructure. Roads. Water Lines. Sanitary sewers. Storm water management.” “The decisions we make are 15, 30 or more years out,” said Michael Deggendorf of Great Plains Energy, referring specifically to his company’s role in creating the county’s electrical infrastructure. “We absolutely have to be prepared for the growth as it comes and done in the right way.” The “right way” for KCP&L means bringing people into the process early and getting their ideas “embedded and weighed against what might be seen as competing interests.” “Economic development has to be a big focus,” noted Kansas City Councilwoman Bonnie Sue Cooper, “because that’s what generates the dollars for Platte County in order to do the necessary infrastructure.” Pete Fullerton of Platte County Economic Development Council agreed. “My thought of the biggest challenge we have for Platte County right now is doing the deal. When I say doing the deal, I’m talking about doing the deal to bring in new businesses and retain and expand the ones that we have.” Cooper also warned against “provincialism,” elaborating, “We have to be part of the Northland. There’s strength in numbers.” As Chris Byrd clarified, a large section of the county is in the city, and “the city’s process doesn’t fund things fast enough.” Said Byrd, “We need to be innovative on ways to fund those.” Kansas City, Missouri City Manager Wayne Cauthen has earned high marks among the development community for his willingness to tackle these issues. “We’re trying to be a lot more strategic on how we go about doing [infrastructure],” said Cauthen, “so that we can stop having to jump from place to place, have planned development. That’s what we’re working toward.