The phrases “fast track construction project” and “government bureaucracy” are not typically ones that appear in the same sentence. However, the City of Kansas City Missouri has developed a number of processes that help local businesses get projects done in a timely manner, while meeting all of the elements of safety, equity and public involvement that make the projects good for the community.
Take, for example, the construction of the new 200,000 square foot headquarters building for Freightquote that will bring over 1,100 jobs to South Kansas City at I-435 and State Line Road. The groundbreaking ceremony took place on August 14, 2012 and Freightquote took possession of the building a mere 9 ½ months later on June 1, 2013. While much credit for the timely completion goes to the staff at Freightquote and their design/build team at Opus Design Build, LLC, the developers have plenty of praise for City and EDC staff who helped at every step of the process.
According to Opus Vice President Oscar Healy, city staff from the Planning and Development Department worked very effectively to expedite the initial project review. Kansas City has an expedited plan review process that can be used for time critical projects and generally reduces the review time by half.
Healy also cites the use of the city’s KivaNet system to help Opus track the status of permit requests throughout the process. KivaNet provides both the City and developers with a single point of access for all information about a parcel of land, including all applications and services provided by various city departments.
As with any project taking advantage of public tax incentives, it is important that Minority and Women owned business participate in the project. Kansas City’s DBE Compliance Officer, Dan Osman and Sandra Rayford with EDC were instrumental in helping OPUS understand the MBE/WBE processes and resources to meet requirements while maintaining the project’s fast track pace.
The end result is a significant addition to the South Kansas City landscape along with over 1,100 new jobs for Kansas City, Missouri! Click here for more information on the Freightquote project.