Utility lines along a stretch of Shawnee Mission Parkway are going away.
The Merriam City Council on Dec. 11 unanimously approved a $4 million project and a $1 million contingency to install underground utilities along Shawnee Mission Parkway near Interstate 35.
Merriam has been working with Evergy, the Kansas City, Missouri-based utility company, on this project.
City staff said this effort is in coordination with the ongoing Merriam Grand Station project, to get all construction out of the way at once.
“There’s a lot going on on Shawnee Mission Parkway,” Public Works Director Celia Kumke said at the Dec. 11 meeting. “Let’s get their (Merriam Grand Station) project done and our project done so that once it’s completed we can go back to driving down the corridor without a lot of construction cones.”
What utility lines are being undergrounded?
- Utilities that run east-west along Shawnee Mission Parkway between I-35 and just east of Antioch Road are included in this project.
- There are also utilities that run north-south along Antioch Road between West 62nd and West 64th terraces are also part of this project.
- Drake Development’s Merriam Grand Station project, at the corner of Shawnee Mission Parkway and Antioch Road, is right in this area.
- Kumke said this project will both beautify the Shawnee Mission Parkway corridor and improve the reliability of utility services.
This is coming out of a tax increment financing district fund
- The $4 million project and $1 million contingency is being funded from the city’s I-35 tax increment financing fund.
- City Administrator Chris Engel told the Post via email earlier this week that the I-35 TIF fund is funded by a portion of property taxes collected from the businesses located inside the I-35 TIF district.
- Engel said that like other special revenue funds, state statute restricts how I-35 TIF dollars can be spent related to infrastructure and development improvements within the district.
- Councilmember Whitney Yadrich clarified at the Dec. 11 meeting that the $1 million contingency is only to be used after the $4 million project budget is depleted.
- Yadrich said the I-35 TIF fund is also different from the city’s general fund and capital improvement project fund.
City staff believes the $1 million is a safe bet
- Councilmember Jason Silvers questioned the large $1 million contingency staff recommended approving for the $4 million project.
- Evergy’s cost estimate for the project comes in just under $4 million.
- Kumke said Evergy’s estimate lacks specifics, so it is unclear what type of labor method — and the associated cost — the utility company plans to use to complete the project.
- Bryan Dyer, the city’s community development director, reminded the city council that, as Kumke said, Evergy’s cost estimate excluded contingencies.
- “We feel wiser to plan for the worst and hope for the best, and that’s exactly what this is all about,” Dyer said.
Merriam estimates completion at the end of 2024
- Kumke said Evergy is going to start final design and utility coordination this month.
- Construction is expected to begin in spring 2024 and finished by the end of 2024, she said.
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