Building for the Future

Because of its late start and lack of incorporation, Riverside began life with a number of challenges. Its business area was a hodgepodge of development, streets were inconsistent and crisscross the region, Riverside did not have a good reputation. Today, Riverside is aggressively rebuilding itself. Perhaps unseen outside of the immediate area, this community's rebirth rivals that of any city in the metro area.

The city of Riverside has evolved dramatically since its founding in 1951. Few other communities have been afforded such a unique opportunity. The availability of additional funds from riverboat revenue has allowed Riverside to respond quickly and efficiently to community needs. Additionally, new growth and development has given city leaders the good fortune to chart a positive course for residents and businesses alike. Riverside's vision for tomorrow is the continued enhancement of all quality of life issues that make a community home.

Master Plan

The Master Plan of a city is an extensive and exhaustive process. It involves city leaders, planning experts and local citizens. It is a planning process that combines economic analysis, infrastructure assessments, financial planning and community input. It is a process with the goal of developing documents and plans to discover a communities assets, tap into its potential and systematically and consciously plan for its future.

Recognizing that the city of Riverside has tremendous potential, leaders and citizens initialized a planning process to establishing a strategy for development over the next 25 years. The most important goal of this Master Plan is to preserve Riverside's core characteristics while improving the portions that detract from the community's vision of a better future. Download the complete Master Plan, a 13MB Adobe Acrobat document. For users with slower internet connections, the Master Plan is also available from the Document Center as smaller, individual "chapters."

Every recommendation within the Master Plan came from the citizens of Riverside. There are no recommendations within this document that were not supported or promoted by the larger community.
Five main achievement areas were identified:
1. Enhance Community Amenities,
2. Protect Community Treasures
3. Provide Proper Governance
4. Improve Riverside's Image
5. Improve Riverside's Appearance

Development Projects

The city has embarked on an ambitious program of capital improvements and revitalization, with the Master Plan as a guide to development. Development areas include:

Downtown Revitalization
The Downtown Revitalization seeks to establish Downtown Riverside as the vibrant heart of the community. This development area is located at the intersection of Vivion and Gateway roads and was identified as the development priority by Riverside citizens during the Master Planning process.

Upper Gateway Projects
To facilitate infill and nurture a positive civic image, the city seeks to redevelop this area once largely occupied by the Skyline Inn. The Upper Gateway development area is the "Gateway" to Riverside from the north, via Highway I-29 South onto Gateway Road.

South Downtown Projects
The South Downtown development area is the Vivion and West Platte corridor between the Gateway/Vivion intersection and the Red-X. The city seeks coordinated development to create a mixed-use urban neighborhood complementary to the Downtown Revitalization area.

Horizons Projects
The completion of the L-385 Levee has opened the Horizons area to development. This area, located near the new I-635 interchange is comprised of is approximately 800 acres of developable property, most of which is owned by the City. This new site is highly desirable for commercial development due to Horizons' close proximity to the Downtown Kansas City, the Kansas City International Airport and its superb access to major interstates and highways - all of which are significant factors in attracting cutting-edge development.

Residential Growth
Gatewoods, a 28-acre subdivision, will include 73 new single family homes and construction of 6.8 acres of commercial property. Gatewoods is located on N.W. Gateway, just north of the new Post Office. This area is is a welcomed addition to our community. Another significant residential development called Briarcliff Hills is being planned by the Garney Company. The area lies on 30 acres near Woodland, north of 9 Highway. The proposal calls for luxury homes to complement the nearby Briarcliff West development.

L-385 Levee Project

A "new" Quindaro Bend Drainage District was reorganized in 1970 and is still active in the current effort with the U.S. Corps of Engineers. This program lead to the construction of a new 87+ million dollar levee which was completed in 2005. Bob Gieske, chairman of the district's board of supervisors, said this new Riverside-Quindaro Bend Levee brings protection to key parts of the city. "The flood of 1993 really opened people's minds as to the potential damage we can incur without protection and the potential growth we're capable of with a levee. This is going to be a fantastic area now that we have state-of-the art flood protection."
The Riverside-Quindaro Bend Levee protects approximately 1,200 acres of property in the Missouri River valley, including farm land and a border area of light industrial development. Bounded by I-635, with railroad access and near downtown Kansas City, this portion of Riverside possesses some of the greatest growth potential of any region in the metropolitan area. During the summer of 2000, the city of Riverside began actively marketing the area in anticipation of commencement of construction.