BELTON, Mo. – For more than 10 years, drivers on Interstate 49 heading toward Belton couldn’t escape seeing what was once the Southview Golf Course alongside the highway.
The course, vacant for a decade, now has a tall “For Sale” sign standing in the front entrance.
“The tax revenue that came from this parcel of land was very slim,” said Belton City Manager Alexa Barton. “It brings to all of the taxing agencies, including the school district, the city, the sheltered workshops , the college - It was only bringing a total for all of them about $4,000 a year.”
But a new plan is in the works.
“The wheels on the bus are definitely rolling,” Barton said.
The Belton Planning Commission is considering a proposal from NorthPoint Development to turn the 148-acre property into an industrial campus.
“They've got it all laid out,” Barton said. “Five buildings that'll have more than two million square feet of flex industrial space.”
The $105.5 million project expects to bring in roughly 1,400 jobs to the area.
“We have growth of our retail community, our homes popping up all over this area and to be able to bring jobs to this area and bring stability to this area, it changes the entire demographic of this area,” Barton said.
Vernon Gregory lives right behind the golf course.
“I think it's a wonderful idea about other jobs being developed for other people being able to work,” Gregory said. “But it'd be kind of nice to still have the peace and quiet.”
The Belton Planning Commission will take up the proposal in May.
If approved, it will then be considered by the City Council in June.
If the project moves forward, construction would begin later this year, taking about ten years to complete.
