OPINION|
A few weeks ago, my wife and I went to look at a house listed for sale on North National Avenue. Our son is looking to buy a house — in fact, he has one under contract now — and we were helping by scouting houses in advance.
Actually, our preferred area was south of Grand Avenue, where, unfortunately, there are far fewer houses listed for under $150,000.
Nevertheless, behind the house we looked at on North National, between Locust Street and Pacific Street, was a parcel of say, an acre or two. It was fenced off with heavy equipment on it. Dirt had been moved; the site was being prepared for some type of construction.
We weren’t that impressed with the house. Nevertheless, I was curious enough to go to the Greene County Assessor’s website to discover who owned the property and then try to find out what was being built there, right along the railroad tracks.
Here’s a tip to those looking to buy a home: If there are vacant lots near the home you plan to make an offer on, find out who the owner is and then see if plans have been revealed on what will be built there.
Who knows? It might be a 7 Brew Drive-thru Coffee.
To my surprise, the assessor’s website was of no immediate use. Wherever I clicked on the area being developed on the online map I received the same message: “No parcel record found or access is denied.”
I’ve come across this a few times before. The part of that message that makes me suspicious is the phrase “or access is denied.”
It makes me wonder:
Why would I be denied access?
Who else is has been denied?
Is there some type of cover-up going on?
Is this a UFO crash site?
If you need help, says assessor, call office
I called Greene County Assessor Brent Johnson and his explanation is far more mundane than I imagined.
Eight parcels were purchased in May and September of 2023. They were combined into one. The owner is Valiant Management Group LLC, 1838 E. Bennett St.
Because the parcels were combined, the land was given a new “parcel ID” number. That new ID number has not yet been integrated into the online records and the public GIS map viewer.
“I am looking into fixing that,” Johnson tells me.
If anyone else has a question about getting information from the assessor’s website, Johnson says, call the office at (417) 868-4101 or email assessoronline@greenecountymo.gov.
What’s being built there?
“Duplexes,” says a man who was working on the site when I stopped by Tuesday, May 15. He gave me his name.
But I won’t name him because to confirm the information, I called the company. An employee there said the company is not currently willing to announce publicly what is being built at that location.
This is Pokin Around column No. 182.
