The Kansas City Council unanimously passed legislation June 5 directing the city to implement a $500 million investment strategy for the Prospect Avenue corridor over the next decade.
Resolution 250413 creates a community advisory group and funds a full-time manager position to oversee development along the historically disinvested thoroughfare.
The resolution builds on the ProspectUS plan the council adopted in February, which targets the 10-mile stretch of Prospect Ave. from downtown to 75th Street for transit-oriented development.
“This resolution takes us from planning to action,” says Councilwoman Melissa Robinson, who sponsored the legislation. “It takes us from inequitable development practices to equitable development practices.”
The ProspectUS plan aims to add 40,000 residents, 17,000 new homes, and 15,000 jobs to the area while leveraging the success of the Prospect MAX line, now Kansas City’s most-used transit route.
Community Oversight Built In
The legislation requires the Economic Development Corporation of Kansas City (EDCKC) to create an advisory group appointed by community members, not city officials. The group will monitor implementation and make recommendations on which areas get developed first.
The resolution also shifts funding for a director-level position from the planning department to the Economic Development Corporation of Kansas City, putting oversight closer to economic development work rather than long-term planning.
Organizers spent months crafting a community benefits agreement to assure equitable development after feeling excluded from early planning discussions. Marvin Lyman of Equitable Development Partners LLC, said that the need for a community benefits agreement became obvious in early discussions.
“I simply asked: What is the benefit for Black people?” says Lynman. ”It was so quiet you could hear a rat licking ice. That silence told us everything.”
The community benefits agreement developed by residents emphasizes local hiring, affordable housing, and support for existing Black-owned businesses.
Preventing Displacement
Unlike typical Kansas City development projects, the resolution specifically requires strategies to prevent displacement of current residents and avoid repeating past inequitable practices.
Linda Brown, former Blue Hills Neighborhood Association president, said the investment addresses decades of neglect.
“What has happened to Prospect is shameful,” says Brown. “As a city, we’ve got to take better care of our Black community.”
Missouri State Representative Mark Sharp called the plan “long overdue justice” for a corridor that served as the commercial heart of Black Kansas City before highway construction and urban renewal policies damaged the area.
In the book “Race, Real Estate, and Uneven Development: The Kansas City Experience,” Tulane sociology professor Kevin Fox Gotham writes that 12,000 Kansas City households were displaced for highway construction and urban renewal efforts in the 1950s -1970s alone. Highway 71 demolished 2,000 homes and displaced thousands more during its decades-long construction process.
What’s Next
The $500 million commitment over 10 years represents $50 million annually—comparable to what Kansas City spends on other major initiatives like World Cup preparations and building a park over 670 highway downtown.
“We’ve seen what the city can do when it chooses to prioritize something,” said Karris Harrington, COO of Kansas City G.I.F.T. “The east side deserves that same level of commitment.”
However, the just-passed resolution doesn’t identify specific funding sources beyond reallocating existing budget items. The city manager has until October 15 to report back with financing strategies.
The EDCKC will negotiate the details of the advisory group structure and community benefits agreement. Mayor Quinton Lucas said the city will also explore connecting the investment with a $5 million federal highway grant for 71 Hwy corridor improvements.