The City of Sedalia moving forward on improvements and reconstruction at the U.S. Highway 50 intersection at Oak Grove Lane and Curry Street after the Sedalia City Council approved a contract with MoDOT during Monday’s meeting.
Council heard a presentation during the pre-council meeting from David Knopick, a community planner with dPlanit, regarding the future land use map and roadway framework for the intersection.
Knopick noted there are a variety of uses near the intersection, from manufacturing to commercial businesses, and that the improvements had to take into consideration both access for those businesses but also for traffic traveling through Sedalia to another destination.
“We’ve talked to Pettis County about this, we’ve talked to Economic Development (Sedalia-Pettis County) about this and we’re really using two guiding principles: connecting areas but separating traffic types,” he said. “… We want to make sure things are appropriately connected but we also want to make sure we don’t get ourselves into a mix of traffic types that creates problems for you in the system.”
The proposed plan, which has not been finalized, includes extending Pro Energy Boulevard to connect to the Thompson Industrial Park. Knopick said the extension of Pro Energy Boulevard would be a “good relief road to get truck traffic to businesses and open up an additional industrial area to the north.”
“We’ve used that section line to draw a nice straight line (on the map provided); that’s probably not how it will be built,” he explained. “The idea of a connecting route from the business park up here, the industry you have on Highway 65 to the western area on Highway 50. When you look at that road, it’s helping us with two things: one, it is connecting industrial areas to industrial areas or business areas to business areas … but it separates truck traffic from automobile traffic, which is highly critical.”
Knopick pointed out that area has been of interest to not only Pettis County and EDSPC but also MoDOT.
“The intriguing thing with MoDOT’s reaction is they not only look at this as a road but as an economic development project,” he said. “That road could support enhanced or expanded industry and business activity to the north, so they’re very intrigued by that idea. When we talk about funding and how do we access state funding, how do we look at different funding sources, this is one where we might have some partners so you don’t have to worry about building it yourself.”
During the regular meeting, council approved an ordinance approving and accepting a Cost Apportionment Agreement with the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission for improvement or reconstruction at the intersection. According to information in the meeting packet, approval of this agreement means MoDOT will pay for new street light signals at the intersection up to $318,140. Because of this partnership and coupled with the city’s planned improvements to the intersection, a total of roughly $650,000 will be budgeted for this intersection for Fiscal Year 2017.
City Administrator Gary Edwards told the Democrat after the meeting that design work for the project is “mostly finished” and the city is almost ready to begin the bidding process. At this time, Edwards said there isn’t a set start date for construction, but the city is “very close to starting everything.”
Council also heard a final report from Olsson Associates regarding the city’s sewer project, which is now completed after seven years of work. All final information was submitted to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources by the July 31 deadline. Future work includes keeping up with quarterly reports to MDNR, more training for city staff, and an ongoing evaluation of projects and budgets to complete improvements on 1 percent of the city’s sewer system each year to maintain and improve it.
At the beginning of the regular council meeting, a public hearing was hosted for proposed increased sewer rates. No public comments were given. Council will vote on the increase at the Sept. 19 meeting.
During the meeting council also:
• Approved the newly-created Rental Inspection Committee and its appointees: Stephen Galliher, Jeff Leeman, David Wiedeman, Terri Hunter, Charles Leftwich, Mary Merritt and Kim Welch.
• Approved an ordinance adding a disinterment fee ($100) for a child younger than 6 to Section 14-26 of the city’s Code of Ordinances and to the fee schedule.
• Approved quotes for the purchase of two 2017 Dodge 1500 Tradesman Regular Cab 4×4 pickups from Bryant Motors for $22,649 per vehicle for the Community Development Department through the State of Missouri Cooperative Procurement Program.
• Approved a records destruction request from the Personnel Department.
• Approved an ordinance adopting policies and procedures for the consideration and evaluation of Economic Development Incentives applications.
• Approved an ordinance approving a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) contract with Sedalia Downtown Development Inc. for implementation of the second amendment to the Midtown TIF Redevelopment Plan as it relates to the Uptown Theater project and authorizing the mayor to execute the contract.
• Approved an ordinance approving a TIF contract with Liberty Center Association for the Arts Inc. for implementation of the second amendment to the Midtown TIF Redevelopment Plan as it relates to the Liberty Center Theater and authorizing the mayor to execute the contract.
All members were present.
Pictured is the proposed improvements and reconstruction to the U.S. Highway 50 intersection at Oak Grove Lane and Curry Street as discussed during Monday night’s Sedalia City Council meeting. Readers should note this is a suggested plan and may change as design work is finished in the coming weeks. “The black lines are existing roads and the dashed blue lines are proposed routes that we saw opportunities, again, for connecting areas but also separating traffic uses,” David Knopick, a community planner with dPlanit, said during his presentation.
http://sedaliademocrat.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/web1_Proposed-50-intersection-improvements.jpg
Pictured is the proposed improvements and reconstruction to the U.S. Highway 50 intersection at Oak Grove Lane and Curry Street as discussed during Monday night’s Sedalia City Council meeting. Readers should note this is a suggested plan and may change as design work is finished in the coming weeks. “The black lines are existing roads and the dashed blue lines are proposed routes that we saw opportunities, again, for connecting areas but also separating traffic uses,” David Knopick, a community planner with dPlanit, said during his presentation.
Graphic courtesy of City of Sedalia
By Nicole Cooke
ncooke@civitasmedia.com
Nicole Cooke can be reached at 660-530-0138 or @NicoleRCooke.