Following a heated public hearing, the Holts Summit Board of Aldermen decided to table a bill that would rezone a one acre tract of land to merchant commercial zoning along the residential area on Karen Drive.
Monday night's meeting was the first reading of the proposed bill that would make it possible for MACO Development, LLC to construct a low-income senior living center near the Lake Park neighborhood. Dan Sanders, a representative of MACO, told the board that MACO had a one in three chance of having the funding to develop the additional acre after it was rezoned, Alderman Thomas Durham said.
MACO already owns a 4.3-acre parcel of land to build Terrace View Estates, which would consist of eight single-story buildings with 32 two-bedroom units and eight one-bedroom units, which would be available to residents with visual, hearing or physical disabilities, the Fulton Sun previously reported. However, community members felt the development would depreciate the value of their homes while increasing the crime rates in the area.
Board members previously approved the planning and zoning for the initial 4.3 acres, but didn't want move forward with rezoning the one acre if funding was at a high risk.
"Wait to have the bird in the hand before you rezone," Durham said. "I want to make sure they're really going to develop that one acre."
Durham and Mayor Landon Oxley voted in favor of the Estates at the planning and zoning meeting on Aug. 20, but following the public hearing, Durham isn't so sure about passing the bill.
"I'm giving up on the rezoning because there's a lot of "ifs' in this," Durham said. "If we rezone before MACO's funding is approved then something might go in there that we don't want."
In other news, the board also tabled a bill to provide an additional 28.9 acres for the annexation between Cedars Property, LLC and the city for Cedars Subdivision, but the board did approve of the subdivision's section three preliminary and final plats. The plats are sections of the already established land that have been divided up into plots for the purpose of building houses and roadways, City Administrator Brian Crane said.
The board also approved the first reading of a bill that authorized Crane to apply and accept the funds for a Community Development Block Grant Program. Pro Food Systems, Inc. in Holts Summit wants to create an additional 13 jobs, but due to infrastructure problems on N. Greenway Drive it has not been able to create them, Crane said.
An Industrial Infrastructure Grant through the Missouri Department of Economic Development would provide $20,000 for every job created from the infrastructure change, meaning Holts Summit would receive $260,000 worth of grant funds for the project. The city would then match the remaining amount required to get the job done, Crane said.