Residents learn updated Historic Southside, Old Munichburg plan in Jefferson City

Jefferson City is one step closer to revitalizing part of the city.

Thursday, residents saw the final draft of the Historic Southside, Old Munichburg District and Neighborhood Plan presented at the planning and zoning commission meeting.

Captial Region Medical Center partnered with H3 Studio to come up with a long-term plan to restore the area located south of Highway 50 to a vivid part of the city.

“The goal of a plan like this is to make this a very attractive neighborhood that the people want to invest in, they want to shop in and want to live in and that will kick-start this,” H3 Studio Principal Tim Breihan said.

The plan’s goals were developed from what changes residents said they wanted to see.

“Some key items that came up–the quality of housing in the neighborhood and ensuring that housing quality was improved over time, the quality of some of the infrastructure, streets, sidewalks,” Breihan said.

The plan also included developing more park space, supporting Lincoln University’s growth and improving safety through increased policing, a neighborhood watch and proper street lighting.

“It’s a great part of town and there are just ways that we can make it better,” Jefferson City Mayor Carrie Tergin said. “And looking out into the future five years, 10 years, 20 years, what do we want that to look like?

So it starts now with their investment and then how can we get there, and what’s the city’s role,” Tergin said.

The plan laid out four phases of projects starting with short-term goals and going all the way out to more than 20 years from now.

Some of the projects listed in phase one are already underway including a roundabout at Stadium and Jefferson and the Lincoln University Wellness Center.

Other proposed projects for the next seven years include improvements to the Highway 50 corridor and Dunklin Street along with a public plaza in the core of the district.

Funding and implementation of the plan will be up to the city as well as private stakeholders and developers in the community.

The next step in the process is for the Planning and Zoning Commission to adopt the plan before bringing it to city council.