The proposed Capital Area Pedestrian and Bicycle Plan won the support of the Jefferson City Parks, Recreation and Forestry Department's Board of Commissioners at its meeting this week.
The plan is the product of many months of work by the staff of the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO), which represents the governments of Jefferson City, Cole and Callaway counties as well as the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT), Holts Summit, Lake Mykee, St. Martins, Taos and Wardsville.
The support of the Parks leaders will lend muscle to the widespread passage and implementation of the plan, which will now be scrutinized by the city's Planning and Zoning Commission.
After a presentation by transportation planners Katrina Williams and Alex Rotenberry, the Parks Commission approved the request for endorsement of the pedestrian and bicycle plan unanimously.
"We will go back to P&Z (planning and zoning) at their April meeting, seeking their adoption of the plan and the list of implementation strategies that will accompany it," Williams said. "If the P&Z adopts the plan and strategies, it will then move to the City Council for approval in May, which also is Bike Month," she added.
CAMPO chairman Jeff Hoelscher, also Cole County's eastern district commissioner, and his colleagues have reported the walker and biker plan "is intended as a resource to improve safety, connectivity and mobility for pedestrian and bicycle users in the CAMPO planning area.
"The goals, recommendations and strategies outlined in the plan can be used by jurisdictions to develop an individualized implementation strategy to fit the unique pedestrian and bicycle needs of that community."
In other action, the commissioners:
Approved low bids totaling $59,525 for landscape chemicals and fertilizers from five vendors: Van Diest, Advanced Turf Solutions, Site One Landscape Supply, BWI and Reinders, all non-Jefferson City firms. In response to board inquiry, J.J. Gates, director of the Parks Resources and Forestry Division, said none of the chemicals was available through local suppliers.
Were told by Parks Director Todd Spalding the department's sales tax receipts were $135,816 over budget through the February 2017 collection period. Parks finished the 2016 fiscal year with $5.4 million in receipts, up from $5.3 million in 2015 and $4.7 million in 2012. Individual revenue accounts were positive, Spalding said, including $163,726 at the Washington Park Ice Arena, where expenditures were $129,966. Total department revenues for January 2017 were $942,796 with total expenditures at $1,953,502, including $733,804 in capital projects.
Learned work on the Parks master plan has begun through Warner Nease Bost Architects Inc. of Kansas City. Data collection was completed Jan. 28 and site analysis will continue through March 3. The preliminary master plan will be delivered between May 22-June 30, a client review is scheduled July 3-28 and the final master plan will be delivered to the commission Aug. 31, Spalding reported.
Were told the February-July Program and Facilities Guides recently went home with school children. Tina Werner, general recreation and support services director, and Phil Stiles, recreation facilities and special services division director, enthused about the unexpectedly high registration numbers after just a few days in the hands of parents. They advised the commissioners the robust response to the activities indicates a prosperous year ahead for the entire department.