Property owners in the first phase of the Vineyard Hills Estates improvement district would face new hearings on Dec. 8 under a resolution on the Melissa City Council's Nov. 17 consent agenda, posted Tuesday morning.
The resolution would set the costs of the improvements to be financed in Phase 1, approve a preliminary service and assessment plan that includes a proposed roll of Phase 1 assessments, file the roll with the city secretary and call the Dec. 8 public hearings on ordinances levying the assessments.
The council has been here before. At its Oct. 13 meeting it held a hearing on an ordinance that would have accepted the district's service and assessment plan and levied Phase 1 assessments. Minutes of that meeting show Mayor Northcut opened it at 6:32 p.m., the council voted 6-0 to close it the same minute, and no further action was taken on the item.
The minutes do not say why.
Under state law, a public improvement district lets a city levy special assessments on property inside the district to pay for public improvements that benefit that property. City records describe Vineyard Hills Estates as a district of about 65.6 acres in Melissa's extraterritorial jurisdiction, created by the council in October 2025 after a creation petition was filed with the city secretary.
The October draft ordinance said no written protests to the creation were filed.
Two more districts on the same night
Later on the Nov. 17 agenda, the council holds public hearings on resolutions to create two more improvement districts:
