De Soto city officials have agreed to sell 53.76 acres of undeveloped land along Vineland School Road to developer Platinum One Properties in De Soto for $592,000.
The city purchased the land in 2017 for $280,000, with the intent to use it for park improvements.
“We had a bid opening (April 11) for the parcel on the south side of Vineland School Road,” City Manager Todd Melkus told the council at its April 15 meeting. “We received five bids, with the highest bid being Platinum One Properties.”
The property, which is across the street from the De Soto Athletic Complex, is currently zoned M1 for light manufacturing, so it will have to be rezoned.
When the city purchased the land from the Pamela S. Agers trust on Sept. 13, 2017, it appraised for $295,000, and the Agers family donated $15,000 to the city as part of the deal, Melkus said.
“The property was purchased to potentially be used for future park improvements,” he said. “Since that time, the city has had a number of grading plans and estimates on the property that have found the topography of the property to not be cost effective to try to develop for these purposes.”
Instead of using that property, De Soto officials decided to lease property off Vineland School Road next to the De Soto Athletic Complex from the De Soto School District and build a multipurpose field there. The school district is leasing the property at no cost.
The multipurpose field, which is used for baseball, softball and soccer, was finished in late January and came in on budget at $3,312,738, Melkus said.
He said the facility is being used regularly.
“The high school baseball team was the first to start using it regularly for practice and they have had a number of games up there due to weather conditions,” he said. “The De Soto youth soccer program has been utilizing it a lot as well. The select baseball teams that are in De Soto as well have been using it for practice. Little League and Legion ball won’t start using it until their season starts.”
The Athletic Complex also includes three soccer fields, an all-inclusive playground, a pavilion and a splash pad that opened last summer.
“The original grass soccer fields were built a number of years before there was a park tax,” Melkus said. “The waterplay area, pavilion, and multipurpose field have been built since the park/stormwater tax has passed, as well as the pickleball courts that just got finished on Rock Road.”
Melkus said there are no current plans for the funds from the sale.
“That will be discussed for the upcoming budget later in the year,” he said. “Since it wasn’t known we were going to sell it this year, there is nothing in the budget for it as of now.”
Housing development
Adam Johnson, who co-owns Platinum One Properties with Autumn Burnett, said they plan to develop “higher end” housing on the property it bought from the city.
“This isn’t our first housing development,” he said. “We’ve also done one out on Armbruster Road called Platinum Hill Estates.”
Melkus told the council that Johnson knows it will be a long process before the housing is built.
The next step is the approval of the sales contract, which could happen at the May 20 council meeting.
“After that, the engineers will have to draw up all the plans and the specs, and Planning and Zoning will have to approve that for the major subdivision and again, it’ll have to come to you all for approval again,” Melkus said. “So they know the process … but I’m sure they’re ready to get the ball rolling.”
Other council actions
Also on April 15, the council awarded a $44,000 contract to Spencer Contracting of Arnold to lay new asphalt at the athletic complex. The company was the lowest of two bidders for the project.
“We budgeted $100,000 in this year’s budget for the concrete pad at the entrance to the athletic complex as well as this asphalt project,” Melkus said. “The concrete pad project that was completed by Kimes (of Hillsboro) was $42,753, and this project will be $44,000, which includes the alternate, so we will still be well under our budget.”
Spencer Contracting will construct a 7,729-square-foot (24-foot wide) asphalt drive that will extend from the entrance and connect to the existing asphalt roadway, as well as 23 parking spots.
The council also voted April 15 to divide a parcel at 1100 North Main Street and approve a quit-claim deed to transfer the city’s ownership of a triangular-shaped piece of the property to Grace Life Church, which borders the parcel. Melkus said the city donated the land to the church because the city used part of the church’s property for easements in the recent Valle Place Stormwater Project. The church may use the donated piece of land for extra parking.
At the beginning of the April 15 council meeting, City Clerk Ann Houska swore in new council member Matt Franken and incumbent Rich McCane, who both ran unopposed in the April 2 election. The council then named Autumn Blanchard the new mayor and McCane the chairman pro tem. Melkus presented outgoing council member Jim Akers with a plaque for his years of service to the city.