The Southtown Council Board of Directors and the Beautification Committee have embarked on an exciting journey to establish a Community Improvement District (CID) for the Troost Avenue corridor. This is a fairly new tool that brings visible change to a community, gets everyone to participate, and allows all to benefit! A CID is an economic development tool that is used within a specific geographic area where more than 50% of the property owners band together, plan common area services and/or public improvements, and share the costs through a property assessment and/or sales tax. Currently there are more than 25 CID's throughout the KC metro area. Within the Southtown area, CID's are established in Brookside and along the Wornall Rd. corridor.
The proposed Troost Corridor CID would include the commercial properties on Troost Avenue from 46th St. south to 75th St. along with the adjacent east west commercial areas such as 63rd St. from Woodland to Rockhill and Cleaver Blvd. from Paseo west to Troost. The CID would include a one-half cent sales tax and a flat assessment of $150 per property annually. The funds generated from the assessments are proposed to be used for daily litter and graffiti abatement, crime prevention, beautification, and marketing/promotion of the area and the businesses. This would be very similar to the Waldo CID.
Currently, Southtown members are meeting with area property owners to discuss the proposal and gain endorsements. Once the majority of property owners have been contacted, the formal process will begin. To learn more, call Marti Lee, 816-523-5553 at the Southtown Planning Center.