Emporia may have come up just short of the top slot in a national contest, but Main Street Director Casey Woods still anticipates a range of benefits to come for the city. This is Emporia Main Street’s second time as a finalist in this contest. Emporia finished first in its other time in 2016, and Woods says there was a notable increase in investment interest. Emporia was among the 20 finalists for the USA TODAY 10 Best Main Streets in America and finished second to the Detroit suburb of Howell, Michigan. Woods thanked residents for voting. USA TODAY highlighted Commercial Street’s events [...]

Zoning tweaks and a possible revival of a longstanding planning area were part of the Emporia-Lyon County Metropolitan Area Planning Commission’s monthly meeting Tuesday. Board members discussed the potential revival of metropolitan area zoning, or a zone outside the Emporia city limits where the city has some say in zoning matters. The metropolitan area disappeared when the city and Lyon County separately changed their zoning procedures several years ago, and Planning Commission Board Chair Ray Rogers says that model should be at least revisited. Also, board members looked at possibly adding conditional use permit options in several different residential zoning categories as well [...]