Purpose & Need Open House – SUMMARY
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October 24, 2006
4:00–8:00 p.m.
The Lodge at Ironwoods Park, Leawood, Kan.
INTRODUCTION
The South Metro Connection Study Team, led by the Mid-America Regional Council, held an open house public meeting on the South Metro Connection Study on Wednesday, October 24, 2006, from 4:00–8:00 p.m. at the Lodge at Ironwoods Park, 14701 Mission Road. There were 217 people who signed in for the meeting. At the meeting 38 written comments were submitted. An additional nine e-mails and three mailed comments were submitted following the meeting for a total of 50 written comments received.
The event format was an open house with two sets of identical display boards set up in stations around the room to present how the study team has developed the purpose and need statement for the project. The stations were:
- Station 1: Sign in
- Station 2: Background presentation (slideshow with audio)
- Station 3: Public input — what we’ve heard previously from residents, Partnership Advisory Board members and the study team
- Station 4: Historical information and existing conditions in the study area
- Station 5: Future projections of population, land use, employment and traffic
- Station 6: Purpose and need statement
- Station 7: Concepts for consideration
- Station 8: Schedule
- Station 9: Comment table
- Station 10: Kids' table
Each station provided information to support the development of the purpose and need statement. An interactive exercise (“Issues and Concerns”) allowed the public to provide their input on what issue was most concerning to them. After stations 4, 5 and 6, participants could also make informal comments on the displays and the information presented.
Overall, written comments from this public meeting have been categorized to correspond with the information presented at the meeting. If the comments addressed another issue, then they were placed in the general comments category. The categories are:
- Land use, development, population/employment growth comments
- Study area expansion or moving it south
- North Cass Parkway connection and Cass County influence
- Study purpose and need comments
- North/south transportation needs are also critical
- Interest in other modes of transportation
- Infrastructure comments
- Safety and local road needs
- Existing road needs and east-west connection needs
- General comments
- Preserve the rural character of the area
- Influence of intermodal facilities on study