Comprehensive Plan Explained
In April 2023, the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas launched PlanKCK, an update of its 2008 Citywide Master Plan(PDF, 4MB). A comprehensive plan is our community's "North Star," establishing a shared vision that guides future infrastructure investments, economic development, and other strategic actions that shape our many and diverse neighborhoods.
PlanKCK, adopted in November 2023, outlines goals in its Action Plan: strategies for attracting the resources, funding, and partners to help us achieve these goals. This is supported by an empowered community that believes in these goals and contributes in their own way to making this vision a reality.
Check out the PlanKCK StoryMap to learn more.
The last time our community adopted a comprehensive plan was in 2008, and we can all agree the world has changed a lot since then. PlanKCK is a comprehensive plan that will incorporate the countywide goDotte Strategic Mobility Plan (2022) as well as ongoing planning efforts, such as the economic development strategic plan, housing strategy, and citywide historic preservation plan. Other topics to be considered for this plan include, but are not limited to: food systems, environmental justice, arts and culture, open space preservation and land use, parks and recreation, and regional identity.
PlanKCK applies four distinct lenses to the topics covered in the comprehensive plan: (1) equity; (2) health; (3) access; and (4) regeneration. As a majority-minority community with historic disinvestment, every decision made must consider potential impacts to our community, whether that decision is on housing, transportation, or where we source our energy. Before making any decision, we must ask ourselves if this improves community prosperity.
PlanKCK was approved by the Unified Government's Board of Commissioners. View the final presentation here(PPTX, 50MB).
From March to October 2023, the PlanKCK team attended and hosted over 100 events and conversations across KCK and Wyandotte County. This (PDF, 4MB)engagement summary(PDF, 4MB)
covers the most common themes heard from the community during this time. Below are a few highlights from this period.
Resiliency roundtable | April 29, 2023
On Saturday, April 29, 2023 at the Eisenhower Community Center, we hosted our first Resiliency Roundtable. Neighborhood leaders and community members participated in a discussion surrounding how to support and create resilient neighborhoods. Groundwork Neighborhood Revitalization Group's Green Team presented on their current green infrastructure project along Jersey Creek, representing a current community project that will improve resiliency to flooding and stormwater inundation.
Pizza + Planning: Engaging our Neighbors | APRIL - May 2023
Neighborhood organizations, neighborhood leaders, UG staff and the public join the UG Planning + Urban Design department for five Pizza + Planning meetings throughout Spring. These group conversations covered the process of the comprehensive plan, how to improve community engagement strategies that reach ALL community members, and beta-tested engagement activities for the May Vision Summit. Feedback from these meetings inform a summer of outreach surrounding PlanKCK.
Vision Summit | May 16, 2023
On May 16, the Unified Government hosted a Vision Summit with neighborhood leaders and community stakeholders to discuss the economic development component of the comprehensive plan. Hosted by our economic development consultants, FutureIQ, this conversation focused on the type of economic development the community would like to see in KCK. The Vision Summit report is available here(PDF, 5MB).
The full presentation from the Vision Summit is available here(PDF, 11MB). Learn more about the Economic Development Strategy on the FutureIQ Project site.
KANSAS CITY DESIGN CENTER (KCDC) KCK RIVERFRONT PROJECT | SPRING 2023
Kansas City Design Center (KCDC), a service-learning design center, operates a design program for students in architecture and planning programs. For the second year in a row, a group of students participating in the KCDC program worked on a project in KCK that evaluated how to reconnect the Strawberry Hill riverfront community with the Kansas River and our KCMO neighbors in West Bottoms. Read their full report(PDF, 13MB).
INNOVATION LAB | JUNE 22, 2023
Approximately 60 community members attend the Innovation Lab hosted by our FUSE Executive Fellow DeWayne Bright at First Baptist Church. Attendees designed six potential strategies for a community development model to address homelessness, include resiliency hubs and more organizational collaboration.
Community Prosperity Roundtable | August 14, 2023
Over 100 attendees heard the latest findings from the Countywide Market Analysis, reviewed and prioritized draft economic development strategies, and discussed the theme that has arisen out of PlanKCK engagement: community prosperity.
Neighborhood Summit | October 28, 2023
Held at Gloria Willis Middle Schoo, the Neighborhood Summit provided residents an update on the PlanKCK so far, including Housing + Neighborhoods, Historic Preservation, Economic Development, community prosperity, and the four lenses: access, mobility, health, and regeneration.
Would you like to learn more or request a presentation on PlanKCK? Or would you like to host a community meeting on the comprehensive plan or one of its elements? Email Long Range Planner Alyssa Marcy at amarcy@wycokck.org with comments or questions.