Senior planner pleased with growth of Capital City

Eric Barron, senior planner/developer for Jefferson City, poses in front of a large map of the city in a conference room in City Hall.
Eric Barron, senior planner/developer for Jefferson City, poses in front of a large map of the city in a conference room in City Hall.

The job title may not sound exciting, but for Eric Barron he finds his work exhilarating.

The senior planner/development services manager for Jefferson City has been working at City Hall since 2006 after coming from the Lake of the Ozarks Regional Planning Commission.

"I've always considered myself a "local,'" Barron said. "Even though I grew up in Versailles, we always came up to Jefferson City to do our shopping and other fun things, so it's great to see the city grow."

Part of Barron's job is long-range planning, looking at how things will be in the community in five to 10 years and beyond, using data from Census figures and traffic counts.

"If you look at what has happened in the last five years in this town with the number of big box stores that have been built, a new hospital and expansion of another, there's been a lot of growth," he said. "I know that we've had several manufacturing jobs cut in recent years and that has hurt, but places like Scholastic are expanding. It's hard to look at Jefferson City and think we are in trouble economically."

Barron also said that outside of Columbia, he believes the Jefferson City downtown area is thriving more than any other community in Central Missouri.

"There is investment in the area, and it may be small, but every building that gets refurbished strengthens everything around it," he said.