By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
In order to grow St. Joseph, city officials could discuss the possibility of expanding the borders of the city.
However, City Manager Bryan Carter says, that may not be as easy as it sounds, despite the fact it is surrounded by land.
"On the west side of course you have Kansas, so we can't expand into Kansas, on the north you have Country Club Village and then Andrew County," Carter tells KFEQ Hotline host Barry Birr.
Carter says county lines could be crossed, citing Kansas City as an example that covers three or four counties. Expanding to the east also has its own challenges.
"The 102 river out there has a wide flood plain, so there's a lot of land that's not easy to develop out there for structural purposes, it's great farmland but not going to be great for building on," Carter explains.
Carter says that leaves expanding to the south, but when you go south there are issues with access off the interstate, which would be an expensive move.
Carter says it won't be easy, but in order for St. Joseph to grow, it needs to expand.
"We can only add housing, we can only add industrial land, we can only do those things within our current boundaries to a point," Carter says. "The land that's within our current boundaries is finite, we will run out of it, we're going to have to look at ways to expand."
Carter adds while there are unique challenges in expanding almost every direction, a harsh reality is that Kansas City and Platte City are continually expanding north.
"At some point, this is years and years and years into the future, they will get to us," Carter says. "If we're going to make that part of St. Joe, we will see the day that we have to move south, and that's really where there's a lot of planning and analysis, in it's very early stages, but some planning and analysis that's happening now to figure out what that future looks like."
Carter says discussions are focused around this to ensure that the people who work in St. Joseph, can also live in St. Joseph.
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