On August 4, 2026, the Parkville Board of Aldermen voted 3–5 against a resolution to switch the Redefine Route 9 project to Concept A. Concept B stayed in place. Under Concept B, Route 9 gets a new path south of the fire station along the railroad, a new east–west road links Route 9 and Route FF, and First Street becomes a pedestrian promenade. Most of the coverage stopped at the vote. The part of downtown you will actually walk through, sit in and eat beside is still open, and the City's survey on those details runs through Friday, October 30, 2026.
That gap matters because grant deadlines and state approvals have largely fixed where the road goes. They have not fixed what First Street looks like once cars are gone. The questions left are about trees, benches, lights and whether restaurants can set tables outside.
Why the August vote came out the way it did
Alderman Brian Whitley asked staff to draft Resolution 26-018 after a July 21 work session. The Board had endorsed Concept B on July 1, 2025. At the meeting, Whitley noted that the Board's membership had turned over since that vote. He said the Board had received more information from the Main Street Parkville Association and had heard more concerns about traffic and cost. He said his constituents want "to fix the triangle, which Plan A accomplishes."
Concept A is the lighter option. A June 2025 project presentation calls it the least impactful alternative. It keeps existing buildings and downtown's character, leaves the current truck route in place, makes Second Street two-way, and adds pedestrian bump-outs and a mid-block crossing.
The deciding question was a practical one. Mayor Katerndahl asked whether the City could switch to Option A and keep its grant. City Administrator Alexa Barton said the City had talked with the Mid-America Regional Council and MoDOT, and that a switch would mean going back to MoDOT for approval, which she said "does not look favorable." Sam Tapko of George Butler Associates said the team would have to "go back to square one" and that there was not enough time for the engineering and MoDOT steps.
Aldermen Evan Maxon, Brian Whitley and Mark Hill voted yes. Aldermen Douglas Wylie, Philip Wassmer, Stephen Melton, Tina Welch and Abby LacKamp voted no.
The money that holds the design in place
Outside funding explains why switching designs was so hard. The City's financing plan, estimated as of July 6, 2026, puts the full project at $18,288,585, with $13,052,110 of that for construction. That total includes a $3.2 million federal Surface Transportation Block Grant and a $1,787,950 Governor's Transportation Cost Share grant. MARC's March 10, 2026 programming document lists the $3.2 million for Parkville Route 9 among its 2027 obligations. Together, those two grants are about $5 million of a project whose construction budget is about $13 million. That is a large share to put at risk by restarting MoDOT review.
The City has already spent $998,891 on engineering from 2023 through May 2026. Most of the remaining cost would be covered by about $10.5 million in borrowing. The City plans to repay it from the street-capital share of the use tax voters approved in 2023, starting in 2029, at roughly $815,000 a year for 20 years through 2049. Under that ballot measure, 64% of use tax revenue can go to street capital projects, which the City puts at about $843,000 in 2026. In other words, the projected yearly payment would use nearly all of that street-capital money. That helps explain why cost came up so often in public comment.
Speakers at the August meeting raised cost, traffic, safety, access, the effect on downtown businesses, and how the process has gone. Tom Hutsler asked the Board to pause and to reconsider a roundabout by the Post Office. Hutsler, who chairs the downtown Community Improvement District, had also told KSHB in December 2025 that he opposed putting a major road beside the railroad and wanted to preserve the existing downtown.
What the survey actually asks
The survey followed Public Meeting #5, held September 30 in the City Hall boardroom. That meeting was not a Board session, so no action was taken. These are the choices on the survey, posted on the project's engagement page:
- Promenade layout: Promenade Option 1, Promenade Option 2, or neither. Both are shown as plan drawings.
- Outdoor dining: whether you support privately leased outdoor dining on the promenade.
- Street trees: on both sides of the street, only on the east side of Main Street, or none.
- Seating: a limestone seatwall, picnic tables, precast benches, or tables and chairs.
- Lighting: artistic lighting, two string-light designs, or underlit benches, and whether string lights stay on the promenade or extend onto nearby streets.
- Streetscape details: benches, paver bands, bollards, planters, bike racks, signs, kiosks, storytelling elements, a monument sign, and bump-outs.
The survey text does not explain how the two promenade options differ, and it does not include a question on parking. The drawings themselves are the only way to compare the layouts.
Where the business owners' ideas show up on the form
The survey turns some of the arguments from this summer into specific choices. In July, Jonathan Justus, executive chef and co-owner of Parker Hollow, told FOX4 that "putting a promenade in there, and then taking the sidewalks out, and particularly if they were to take large canopy type trees and plant them down the center for shade, I think it would make that stretch of block right there massively awesome." Whether there will be trees, and where, is now a survey question.
Matthew Kafka, owner of Popculture Gourmet Popcorn & Ice Cream, raised a different concern in the same report. "The construction would be bad for current state of businesses, and even current state of all the people that live around here, but long term, whether it's nine months, 18 months, two years, then it would become good," he said. His time ranges were guesses. The City has not published a construction schedule.
Other shop owners have objected to the project itself. In 2025, Troy Wilson of Parkville Jewelers told FOX4 he would "leave it the way it is." Neither the City nor local news coverage we found has published a formal position or vote from the Main Street Parkville Association. The City says it briefed the group on July 8, 2026.
What happens between now and any construction
The City's July 2026 project handout lists these remaining steps:
- Preliminary plans were submitted to MoDOT, and agency comments came back in June 2026.
- Right-of-way plans have been underway since summer 2026.
- Before the project can move on, MoDOT has to approve the final right-of-way plans, right-of-way funds have to be obligated, and land and easement purchases have to be finished.
- Final plans are expected in spring 2027, followed by bidding and contracting.
There is no construction start date in that sequence, and the City has not published a timeline, detour plan or phasing plan for keeping storefronts open. In January 2026, the mayor named business continuity as a priority and said the City would work closely with merchants. The design keeps both existing railroad crossings.
Two other items on the calendar could get mixed up with this project. On August 4, the Board also gave first readings to property tax questions for the November 3, 2026 election, including a transportation and infrastructure levy. None of those is a Route 9 bond vote. The next regular Board meeting is October 6, 2026.
The concept drawings and survey are on the City's Redefine Route 9 engagement page. The budget and update history are on the City's project page. The survey closes Friday, October 30, 2026.
We work out of downtown Parkville at Northstar Realty, so we're following Route 9 the same way our neighbors are. If you own a home or business near Main Street and want to talk through what the timeline could mean for selling or buying nearby, contact our Parkville team for a local market consultation.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
