Kansas City voters approve streetcar plan

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File | KCBJ

Austin Alonzo

Reporter- Kansas City Business Journal

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A pool of 550 Kansas City voters approved tax and property assessments that could make a two-mile streetcar line in Downtown a reality as soon as 2015.

Officials at the Kansas City Board of Election Commissioners released the results of the special mail-in election Wednesday afternoon.

Voters granted the Kansas City Downtown Streetcar Transportation Development District the authority to levy a 25-year, 1-cent sales tax on all retail sales made in the district, as well as a series of property reassessments in a special tax district composed of the River Market, Downtown and the Crossroads Arts District to finance the two-mile Main Street streetcar line.

They voted 351-198 to approve the sales tax and 344-206 to approve the property assessments.

The streetcar district now can levy special assessments against property at the following rates:

• Commercial real property at a rate of $.48 per $100 of market value, multiplied by 0.32.

• Residential real property at a rate of $.78 per $100, multiplied by 0.19.

• City real property at a rate of $1.04 per $100, multiplied by 0.32.

• Constitutionally exempt real property at $.40 per $100, multiplied by .32 for residential and .19 for commercial.

• Pay parking spaces in surface pay parking lots, $54.75 multiplied by the number of spaces in the lot.

Now that it’s official, the city can move forward with plans to have an operational streetcar line in place by 2015.

The Kansas City Business Journal previously reported that the city chose Omaha-based engineering firm HDR Inc. as designer of the final plans.

City Engineer Ralph Davis said he cannot confirm the selection but said the city is in negotiations for a contract with the designer.

The next big step in the process, now that funding for the $102 million project is in place, will be choosing a contractor to build the line.

Davis said the city plans to seek a construction general manager and general contractor by February or March. Plans should be finalized and construction contracts should be issued by the summer, Davis said.

Austin reports about construction, transportation, engineering and architecture.