BUYING FIVE ACRES, PEDESTRIAN ACCESS PLANNED
Platte County is purchasing five acres on the east side of Hwy. N south of Platte City as part of the process of getting a connection from the Seven Bridges neighborhood to the existing Prairie Creek Greenway Trail.
In a related move, a roundabout is in the plan for Hwy. N near Seven Bridges and the Prairie Creek trail south of Platte City, which officials say will make for a safe pedestrian access point from the neighborhood to the trail.
County officials indicated the addition of the roundabout would be the responsibility of the Seven Bridges developer. The roundabout is being designed about a half mile south of the existing Hwy. N trailhead for the Prairie Creek Greenway Trail, which is located at Prairie Creek Greenway Road.
The roundabout is under design and is to be installed in conjunction with future phases of the Seven Bridges neighborhood. County officials say the estimated time to complete the roundabout is 18 months.
On Monday, the Platte County Commission approved the purchase of five acres at a cost of $270,000 from O.B. Rentals, LLC, which is controlled by David Barth, developer of the Seven Bridges subdivision.
The Seven Bridges neighborhood is on the west side of Hwy. N. Daniel Erickson, who serves as planning and zoning/parks director for the county, said “Seven Bridges, at the end of the day, will be the largest neighborhood in Platte County.”
The five acres being acquired by the county is directly south of the existing Prairie Creek Greenway trailhead, Erickson said.
The Prairie Creek Greenway Trail is connected to neighborhoods on to the east, but Seven Bridges has no connection.
“N Hwy. has become a barrier for any kind of pedestrian connectivity. You want to have (pedestrian) crossings at a controlled intersection, at a stop light, a stop sign. With that being an old state highway, we were looking at an at-grade crossing which makes it difficult,” Erickson said.
An arrangement with Barth calls for the developer to upgrade an intersection “from a normal intersection to a roundabout,” Erickson added.
Erickson said a memorandum of understanding with Barth calls for the developer to upgrade the intersection “from just a normal turning lane uncontrolled intersection to a full roundabout with a pedestrian crossing.”
According to the memorandum of understanding, the pedestrian crossing will connect the Seven Bridges trail system “into the new Seven Bridges Trail Connector which will connect into the Prairie Creek Greenway trail system.”
Erickson said roundabouts have a couple of benefits for pedestrian crossings.
“Traffic is forced to slow down at a roundabout. Roundabouts are safe for at-grade crossings, you only have to cross one lane at a time, you have safe zones. So it became beneficial to kind of work out that arrangement,” Erickson said this week.
The memorandum of understanding states that it is “not intended to be a legally binding contract but only a statement of the past practice and present intentions of the parties and it shall be subject to revision by the parties from time to time as circumstances change.”
The county parks director added that the purchase of the five acres due south of the existing trailhead “will allow us to extend that trail further to the south.”
He added that the purchase of the five acres will also allow the county to “create a little bit of a trailhead park” at the location.
Erickson said an appraisal was done on the property to come up with a price for the transaction.
“So this is a ($270,000) contract to purchase that land. That total does not include closing costs. There will be some closing costs associated with this,” he said during Monday’s commission meeting.
Purchase of the property will be done with funds from the county’s parks and stormwater sales tax.
The Platte County Parks Department website describes the Prairie Creek Greenway Trail as a “picturesque four-mile trail built through partnerships with local developers through the donation of land and construction services.”
Scenery and wildlife are abundant on the trail, which was opened in 2006 and has seven pedestrian bridges.
“The greenway is popular for both biking and walking. The trail has two main trailheads, one in the Timber Park subdivision and one located just off of N Highway,” states the parks department website.
“Pedestrian access is available from several subdivisions along the trail. The future phases of the trail plan include a 7.8 mile enclosed loop. The trail is open daily from dawn to dusk,” according to the website.
