As part of a proposal to create a Community Improvement District, Centro Properties Group, owners of Liberty Corners shopping center, is proposing to realign the intersection of Liberty Drive and Withers Road.

Currently, those coming to the shopping center are unable to turn left into the center from Withers Road or access the center by driving straight across from Liberty Drive.

Mayor Greg Canuteson said the intersection had been an access and egress problem for years.

“We are correcting a 20-year-old problem and helping to revitalize one of our older shopping centers,” Canuteson said. “I hope all our older shopping centers will follow the lead of Greg Crowley and fix up their facades.”

The Liberty Triangle shopping center, where the Crowley Furniture store is located at the corner of Missouri Highway 291 and Kansas Street, adopted a CID and is in the process of updating the exteriors of buildings in that strip center. By creating a CID, the district can impose a tax to generate funds to finance improvements.

According to Karan Johnson, economic and business development manager, the CID petition and a proposal for an intergovernmental agreement between the city and owners of Liberty Corners is expected to come before the City Council on Monday, Aug. 9.

At a work session July 19, councilmen discussed spending an estimated $122,000 over a five-year period on certain public improvements such as traffic signal modification and relocation of utilities connected to the realignment of the intersection.

Councilman Jeff Watt said he also would like to see the city widen the right turn lane that goes from Highway 291 to Liberty Drive.

“That’s a bottleneck now and when you have people turning left into the shopping center, it’s going to be worse,” Watt said.

Steve Hansen, public works director, anticipated that the process would move forward quickly with work possibly beginning on the proposed alignment by October. Hansen said he had just started working for the city 20 years ago when Liberty and the previous developer of the shopping center could not reach an amicable agreement on the intersection alignment.

“That’s a terrible intersection,” Hansen said. “I’m glad I’ll be a part of making it right.”

Mattie Ransom, who owns the Dish Pizza and will be affected by the realignment, said she was supportive of the change, although her business could lose some parking spaces from the proposed improvements.

“I’m really happy about it,” Ransom said. “It will make it easier for people to get into our restaurant.”

As part of the proposed improvements, Price Chopper is also planning to remodel its store, the major anchor in the shopping center.

According to city officials, the grocery store hopes to have its renovation completed by November.

Liberty Editor Angie Anaya Borgedalen can be reached at 781-4941 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .