University of Missouri has a responsibility to the Katy Trail corridor

Pat Jones and her late husband Ted created the Katy Trail, one of our state’s great natural assets. No other state has a trail that comes very close to connecting its two largest population centers.

This corridor is now in jeopardy.

A proposal to build a large housing development on land owned by the University of Missouri appears to have the blessing of the UM system. The land, which sits on a bluff above the Katy Trail near St. Louis, is adjacent to the Busch and Weldon Springs Conservation Areas. It is forested and largely undeveloped. Along with the nearby conservation areas, it forms a particularly significant place at the near the eastern terminus of the Katy Trail.

Preserving the Katy Trail corridor is especially important for Kansas City, since the trail reaches its western end here, and so brings tourists from around the country (and around the world) to our community. It is a wonderful asset for everyone, and one that I argue should be preserved for future generations.

Both Kansas City and St. Louis have sprawled out into the countryside much more rapidly than their populations have grown. The cities have some of lowest housing densities near urban areas anywhere in the nation.

Traditionally, we rejoice in growth, but when we destroy beautiful wild lands, we lose them permanently. We should save them to the extent that we can and not simply take away the next available piece from what’s left.

With the St. Louis population now at approximately 311,000 — down from 857,000 in 1950 — and thousands of vacant lots and ruined houses in formerly flourishing neighborhoods, it hardly seems the time to take away another piece of our existing natural areas in order to pack in a few hundred more conventional houses. A similar pattern exists in the Kansas City area.

The university should be supporting the Katy Trail as an important state asset, not compromising it.

Pat Jones wrote in a letter to The St. Louis Post-Dispatch that with this proposed land sale the University “no longer practices what it teaches.” I would agree strongly with that assessment, and I encourage the curators to develop a kinder plan for dealing with this beautiful and natural property.

Having moved to the beautiful state of Missouri nearly 50 years ago, I have been deeply impressed with what nature here has to offer. As a member of the University of Missouri Board of Curators from 1985 to 1990, I saw firsthand what our fine system has to offer as well. With campuses in Kansas City, Columbia, Rolla and St. Louis, the university system is one of the few organizations that have the potential to bring our state together.

As the population of our state increases steadily, however, we have to learn to live in peace with our countryside and build our urban areas in compact yet sustainable ways. There is simply not enough land to keep growing outward forever, since we need land for agriculture and forestry. And spending time in nature refreshes our spirits.

When I was a curator, I fairly often found it necessary to act in ways that extended beyond the immediate, ones that involved the maintenance of lasting values for which we were the caretakers. To me, this is such a problem, and it would benefit from additional thought before committing to development at this very special place.

I hope that the university’s curators will find it possible to turn away from this development project. This is the time for them to lead and do something of lasting value for all Missourians for the long run.

There must be creative ways to zone any development on this property so that it isn’t simply a scattered group of houses on steep and beautiful bluffs overlooking the Missouri River and the Katy Trail.

This story was originally published June 25, 2018 at 8:35 PM with the headline "University of Missouri has a responsibility to the Katy Trail corridor."