ANDOVER – Developing rails to trails between Andover and Augusta was added to the top priorities for the Envisioning Andover team.
Sustaining and growing the local economy is still the top goal for the city’s strategic plan. Second is the rails to trails, and the third goal is infrastructure.
“Pursuing business recruitments for Andover’s industrial park and identifying/pursuing particular economic sectors with economic incentives is our number one goal,” said Jennifer McCausland, assistant city administrator.
McCausland said the Envisioning group discussed how to encourage technology companies, rather than heavy manufacturing or industrial type businesses.
The industrial park has the necessary infrastructure needed to provide access, water, sewer and fiber optic services.
A necessity to attracting new business is to develop more arterial roads connecting North-South, as Andover Road becomes extremely congested at certain times of the day, McCausland said.
The rails to trails project made it into the top three priority list during the Envisioning team’s final meeting this past month.
“We have an abandoned railway between Andover and Augusta that could be converted,” said McCausland. “Included in this goal was also to upgrade existing parks in Andover. We are looking at overall quality of life in this goal more than traditional economic development, but it does contribute to bringing people to Andover.”
The community project was led by Kansas State University’s Office of Local Government, which works to enhance the economic viability of Kansas communities and improve the quality of life for residents.
“The Envisioning Andover team has been split into three teams to work on these goals now that they’ve been determined,” said McCausland. “Then we’ll come back together in six months and again at one year, to recap and discuss what we’ve accomplished.”