Downtown revitalization finally moving forward 

A project to revitalize the storefronts of downtown Kirksville is moving forward after more than three years in the making.

Assistant City Manager Ashley Young announced at the City Council study session Monday that enough business owners have come on board to move forward with a project to renovate storefronts and modernize the look of the downtown area.

The project will be moving forward on the south side of the 100 block of W. Washington Street,the east side of the 100 block of S. Elson Street and the west side of that block from W. McPherson Street to the alley. All business owners on those blocks have signed onto the project and all will receive new storefronts, with the possible exemption of Edna Campbells Gifts, which independently had its renovated within the last 10 years.

“This is a very exciting report for me to deliver, because this has been about three and a half years in the making,” Young said.

Young said business owners in the area have begun meeting with the project’s architect, Ken Shook, to develop new storefront concepts, and the discussions have been going well. Based on those conversations, he said, Shook will put together specifications and a cost estimate, which will allow the city to put the project out to bid.

The improvements will be funded primarily by tax-increment financing (TIF) district property taxes. City Manager Mari Macomber said Kirksville will also be looking to apply for a block grant from the state of Missouri to help fund the project. Missouri offers Community Developlment Block Grants (CDBGs) for a variety of construction projects, which now includes downtown revitalization efforts for the first time in 10 years.

Young said the project eventually aims to include the entire square surrounding the courthouse and possibly the entire downtown area, and that a CDBG award could help make that feasible.

“If awarded, it would really help supercharge this effort, so that’s very exciting,” Young said.

Macomber said construction on the facades will likely begin next year.

The Council also heard from a representative of Terra-Gen LLC, the wind power company developing a wind farm in Schuyler and Adair counties that will be the state’s largest.

Terra-Gen representative Glenn Smith discussed the expected economic benefits of the wind farm project, which is expected to break ground next year and be completed by mid-December 2020. He said the project could bring up to 400 temporary construction jobs and about 30 permanent jobs to the area, as well as injecting money into the economy in the form of up to $3 million in annual lease payments to landowners, whose properties will be used to house wind turbines or utility equipment.

Smith said the wind farm’s opening will also be beneficial to Ameren customers in general, since the addition of a new energy source like wind helps diversify the company’s energy portfolio and therefore stabilize the cost of electricity.

The wind farm project has drawn some controversy since it was announced that upon completion, the facility will be sold to Ameren Missouri. As a utility company, Ameren’s taxes will be distributed evenly throughout the state of Missouri, rather than predominatingly benefitting the counties of Schuyler and Adair.

Smith said the issue is a “lose-lose” proposition for Ameren, which would be criticized by some in the state no matter how the tax burden was distributed. Still, he said he has seen mostly positive reception from the community and is hopeful the project can proceed without a “long, arduous community debate.”

A Missouri Public Service Commission Public Hearing on the project will be held Tuesday at 6 p.m. at the Schuyler County School District in Queen City. The City Council agreed to vote at its next meeting on a statement supporting the project to be read at that hearing.

In other business, the Council heard an update on Kirksville’s property tax rate, which is expected to decrease slightly this year, and on city-owned vehicles and equipment which may need to be replaced this year. Kirksville’s Central Garage has recommended replacing the City Hall generator, along with several other pieces of construction equipment and city vehicles including two police cars and a fire truck.

The Council will vote on whether to allocate the funds for replacing these vehicles over the next month as it begins to construct next year’s budget.