Staff recommends approval of the Planning Sustainable Places grant agreement between the City of Independence and the Mid-America Regional Council (MARC) for the Independence Transportation for All Plan.

The Planning Sustainable Places program provides local governments with financial support to advance detailed planning and project development activities in support of Connected KC 2050’s activity centers and corridors framework. Funds received will be used to advance detailed local planning in support of the Independence Transportation for All Plan.

The programs’ objective is to support the development and implementation of local activity center plans consistent with the Creating Sustainable Places principles, identified regional activity centers, and the land use policy direction outlined in Connected KC 2050.

The goal is to support localized public engagement and community consensus building along with identification and conceptualization of transportation projects, land use strategies, and related sustainable development initiatives that help to realize and advance the objectives identified in the Creating Sustainable Places initiative, Connected KC 2050, and the MARC Board’s adopted policy statement on regional land use direction.

The Independence Transportation for All Plan seeks to connecting Independence pedestrian and bicycle users through a multi-modal transportation network that will be integrated with transit. The plan will account for connecting the many activity centers throughout Independence as well as historical places, existing park trails, food stores, community centers, schools, libraries, existing PSP areas and religious centers.

In August of 2022 staff applied for funding thru the Planning Sustainable Places grant program managed thru the Mid-America Regional Council for a Transportation for All Plan. The City was awarded $74,250 in grant funding with a required match of $27,500.

In early 2022 engineering staff in Community Development identified the need for a plan to address gaps in our transportation system related to multi-modal use such as sidewalks, bike trails, and multi-use paths. While the City has many corridor studies and neighborhood plans that identified the infrastructure needs of that specific area, large portions of the City not covered by previous plans or studies, did not address the needs or location of gaps in our current sidewalk, bike trail or multi-use path system city-wide.  Since these needs have not been clearly identified, new development plans along with redevelopment plans have been reviewed with considerations made on various sidewalk or trail configurations on a case-by-case basis without the benefit of having an overall plan. The desire to have a consistent well thought out plan for connecting citizens of our community from their neighborhoods, transit stations, local jobs centers, to existing park amenities, activity centers, historical locations, religious centers, and tourist destinations is paramount to the success of revitalizing all districts of our community.

Funding for the required match will be sponsored by both Community Development and the Parks and Recreation Department.

Funding allocation will be as follows:

Parks - $17,185.00 capital outlay, Parks Sales Tax fund, 7012-5406 project 9970-C

Community Development - $10,315.00, Transportation fund, 4414-5226