The Kent City Council approved a $99,487 consultant contract with Seattle’s KPG for design and development of construction standards for the proposed Meet Me on Meeker project.

City staff detailed the West Meeker Street corridor project in December to the council. City officials want to rejuvenate properties along the corridor and attract more development. Design changes would start with the new Riverbend Gateway apartment/retail project expected to break ground in May on the west end of Meeker Street at what is now the par 3 golf course.

Costs of the Meet Me on Meeker project are still to be determined by city staff, although the council has kicked in $500,000 so far for design and preliminary work. The council approved the KPG consultant contract on Tuesday night.

The idea is to turn West Meeker Street into a vibrant corridor of inviting, wider and attractive sidewalks and bike paths to connect downtown with the planned new mixed-use development at Riverbend. At least one side of the street would feature a promenade to encourage pedestrians and bicyclists to travel along the road.

“We are going to work with KPG on refining the design and coming up with cost estimates,” said Bill Ellis, city economic development analyst, in a Jan. 9 report to the council’s Economic and Community Development Committee. “We need property owner outreach and to create technical drawings of what the city would require for future development along the corridor.”

The standards, once developed and adopted by the city, will inform developers what Kent requires to improve the street.

The cost estimates will depend on the type of pavers used, what vegetation is planted and other streetscape elements under the new design, Ellis said.

It will take about three months for KPG to finish the drawings and cost estimates. The outreach to property owners could take longer than three months, especially if a developer comes in this year to buy some of the vacant properties.

City staff and the consultants will meet with neighborhood groups and plan to have a town hall later this year to help inform property owners about the proposal.