Joplin City Council expected to approve rezoning to make room for travel plaza, hotel, restaurant near Prigmore Avenue

A major commercial project involving construction of a truck stop and travel plaza, with future plans for a hotel, restaurant and truck wash will be placed before Joplin City Council when it meets 6 p.m. Monday at City Hall.

The council will be asked to designate 26 acres immediately south of I-44 at Exit 13, west of Prigmore Avenue as commercial property. Presently, it is zoned for residential use, though most of th property in that area has been rezoned for industrial usage over the past few years.

The city's Planning and Zoning Commission recommended the change following testimony at its November 12 meeting.


That portion of the Commission meeting is included among the documentation provided to the council:

John Bolte, Small Arrow Engineering, 216 S Main Street, Joplin, MO. Skyline Travel Plaza, LLC is trying to develop a C-Store, Travel Plaza, and a Truck Stop complex at the interchange by the Industrial Park. 

The triangle tract on the west end of the property has been acquired from Smith & Smith Investment. The initial use for the property under C-3 designation would be the truck stop, which is under construction. 

There will be a roughly 14-thousand square foot C-Store near Prigmore Avenue with a light fueling island in the front and a diesel fueling island in the rear. Parking would be for roughly 100 trucks in the back. 

On the west side there is a parcel of land that has been designated as a future truck wash. The parcel that is on the northeastern portion of the tract is slated for a future hotel site. The C-Store has room for expansion to add a restaurant in the future.

Though Skyline Travel Plaza is the name that was used for the limited liability company that is undertaking the project, Planning and Zoning Commission members were told it will likely be renamed Joplin Travel Plaza.