Issues | Building Infrastructure

Lee’s Summit has secured some amazing development projects in the future, including Property Reserve Inc who’ll be building out 4,100 acres, as well as other large tracts. But one barrier to entry for businesses and developers we need to solve is the gap in infrastructure we have in parts of our city, whether it is roads, water, or most notably: sewer. 

When developers come, they will be building hundreds of thousands of square feet in industrial buildings, and bring hundreds of well-paying jobs to Lee’s Summit. Or, they may be  wanting to build hundreds of high-quality homes in our community.  

We can certainly require them to connect to our sewer lines, but the sewer mains have to be there to connect to. And right now, any of these sewer mains are missing - which causes a barrier for these developers. 

It’s time to solve for this issue by creating an infrastructure plan that does not place the entire burden of bridging a gap in our city’s infrastructure on one developer. There are numerous approaches we can take, but we need to immediately begin developing a strategy and process for our infrastructure needs. 

Solving for this will mean opening our doors to any business industry we seek and will make us a major economic engine in the metro. 

Putting this plan together to welcome businesses with well paying jobs by easing entry into our city will require the city, city council and our community partners to work collaboratively to identify targeted industries. Once they’re identified, we need to  attract, recruit, and land these businesses. 

This is a major priority moving forward to balance the projected residential growth of our city, and aligns perfectly with our strategic and comprehensive plans.