According to the City of Independence, the 2020 project is a year-long process that will "set a road map for the future with those that live, work, and play in the community." It is already under way with public surveys that have been gathered all summer. The preliminary results are posted at www.independencevision.com.

On September 15, representatives will lead a small group of area developers around the downtown area to look at redevelopment potential.

"The idea is partly to market the properties, but mostly to pick the developers' brains about what is feasible to develop there, costs, barriers, incentives, et cetera. We're focusing on developers who have a track record of doing `good' projects, like Edwards addition, our new steakhouse, or historic hotels. We want to know what we can do to bring in more projects like that," Shawn Levine, Community Development Technician for the City of Independence, said.

Later that evening the Public Advisory Committee will meet and discuss the developer walk-around, as well as the results of the survey. On September 23, the first public workshop will be held from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the public library in downtown Independence.

"At the start of each hour someone will give a short presentation about the vision process, what we hope to accomplish and the preliminary conclusions that have been drawn so far.  After that, the remainder of the hour will be open for questions and discussion. At the top of the next hour, another short presentation of the same information happens, and then it will be opened up again," Levine said.

Later in October, there will be a much larger, formal meeting that will involve the public helping to develop the core values of the community.