(Top photo) Kansas City, MO City Manager Wayne Cauthen discusses strategic plans for infrastructure improvements in Platte County. (Bottom photo) Mike Deggendorf of KCP&L explains the major electrical infrastructure investment his organization is making throughout the county.

Sustainable Communities

Mark Huffer of the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority and a resident of Platte County, was the first to insist that new development be “sustainable.” He added, “I really think we’ve got to look at how we’re developing. We’ve got to get some square streets and right angles in there.” The problem he saw with so many new suburban communities is that their winding streets and culde- sacs make public transportation all but impossible. “I’d like to echo a little bit about what Mark Huffer was talking about,” said John Fairfield, a city councilman from Kansas City, Missouri, specifically on the notion of “sustainable communities.” For Fairfield, it’s not just question of building houses and subdivisions, it’s a question of developing an organic community that coheres. “If you don’t develop or build a community then the rest of it doesn’t matter,” he noted.

 

Education and Workforce Issues

One large challenge that growth presents is developing a workforce, which entails recruitment, education and development. Said Erik Bergrud of Park University, “I think a major issue for us is the 21st century workforce and how to educate that workforce in Platte County.” Beverley Byers-Pevitts, president of Park University, noted that Park granted more than 3,000 degrees this past year. She agreed, though, that “the challenge of having planning and vision for education and for an educated workforce” from kindergarten through college is something that has to be met head on. Paul Kelly, from the Park Hill School District, sees public schools as an integral part of the community’s future. “I think public schools are an infrastructure that needs to be there to sustain and to satisfy the residents that are here, as well as attract new citizens and residents of the county,” he observed. The growth in most of the county has put enormous pressure on the schools. Mark Harpst noted that his district’s population had nearly doubled in the last decade, increasing from 1,600 students to 2,750. Last year alone saw 175 new students. “I don’t see that slowing down at all,” said Harpst. “It’s very difficult to get too far ahead,” he added in reference to the constant building of new schools. “We’ve been fortunate. We have been able to get ahead of the game, but that gap has closed drastically over the last three or four years.” “I think there’s a misconception that we aren’t a diverse school district,” added Paul Kelly of Park Hill, “when in fact we are and we’re growing more diverse.” The Weston school district in the county’s still largely rural northwestern corner has shrunk in student population from about 900 to around 600, so observed Phelps Murdock, representing the Weston Chamber of Commerce. “That’s a little scary when you’re trying to fund a good, quality school.” Meanwhile, higher ed continues to grow in Parkville. Park University is looking at developing the whole campus, specifically an unseen 500 acres that is primarily green space. Slated for that site is the Institute for Global Culture, Economics and Understanding, which will house Park’s international center for the arts, its international center for civic engagement and the newest one in the family, an international center for entrepreneurship and economic development. One problem that Clyde McQueen of the Full Employment Council noted is that of retention. “We must do a better job of communicating with young people,” said McQueen. “We kind of leave it up to the market, to let them decide whether this is a good place to stay. We need to do things like create more internship opportunities for them.”