Raymore’s City Council voted 5-2 on Dec. 22 to approve a conditional rezoning of Track 12 in the Good Ranch to a Business Park Plan (BP-P) overlay, clearing the way for a proposed federal records-storage facility that would be leased by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services if the site wins the federal competition.

Planning staff told the council the rezoning is conditional: the ordinance’s effectiveness “only goes into place if the site in Raymore is awarded the project,” Planning staff Gress said. If the federal award does not go to Raymore, the property will retain its agricultural zoning.

The applicant, Matt Alvey of Privatera Realty Holdings, told council the project would be a roughly 310,000–330,000-square-foot records-storage building with about 53,000 square feet of office space, an expected minimum 20-year lease, and roughly 208 employees on site across two shifts. “It is only storage, of record. So no adjudication,” Alvey said, describing the facility as robotic, secure storage for immigration records and noting the site can accommodate a future expansion.

Staff and the applicant proposed several mitigations for local impacts: because of site constraints the project requests a waiver of a sidewalk requirement on Dean Avenue and instead proposes to construct equivalent off-site pedestrian improvements elsewhere along Dean and near Prairie View. Staff said site-plan reviews would address lighting and photometrics (no exemptions from the city’s lighting code were granted at this stage) and that any required additional turn lanes or access improvements identified in future traffic studies would be the applicant’s responsibility.

Resident Josh McDonald, who lives in Ward 1 near the Dean Avenue intersection, urged council to follow the city’s Blueprint 2045 comprehensive plan and argued the proposed warehousing/records use is not compatible with the plan’s recommended land use for that tract. “Given the information and location shared to date, I do not believe this development aligns with the outline approved and agreed upon by this council in the blueprint 2045,” McDonald said during public comment, also citing transportation and connectivity concerns.

Council discussion focused on timing (staff said the applicant expects to know by September whether Raymore is awarded the federal lease), traffic capacity at the Dean/North Gas Parkway area (staff said a comprehensive traffic study exists and the city has funded signal improvements; the applicant would pay for additional turn lanes if warranted), buffering (staff noted a wooded creek buffer separates the tract from planned single-family areas), and lighting requirements (staff said the project had not requested lighting-code deviations).

Councilmember Belgoine moved approval; Holman seconded. The motion passed 5–2.

What happens next: if the rezoning becomes effective because the federal award is made to the Raymore site, the applicant will file a final plat to subdivide the property and then seek final site-plan approval; if the award does not go to Raymore the site will retain its current agricultural zoning.