Controversy over inflatable soccer dome looms over Lee’s Summit neighborhood
Standing on his front lawn Thursday, Lee’s Summit’s C.L. Beach mulled the dimensions of the large inflatable sports dome that has been proposed just west of his quiet neighborhood off View High Drive.
As planned, the structure, which would cover a soccer field and measure 350 feet long, 215 feet wide and 60 feet high, would have dimensions that he noted would roughly fit an airliner or Lee’s Summit City Hall.
“You can put Air Force One in there,” he said. “Would you want a 747 hangar in your backyard?”
The proposal to add the inflatable soccer dome to plans for the View High Sports and Entertainment complex, which will sit on about 17 acres just south of The Summit Church on Ashurst Drive, has roiled Beach’s neighborhood of about 50 homes in recent months. Yard signs in the neighborhood remind residents of Tuesday’s City Council meeting where the project will be considered.
Beach is among a group of neighbors who have rallied against the proposal, citing concerns such as the dome’s fit with the neighborhood, its size, and what they believe would be a drag on property values in the area.
“Essentially, it doesn’t fit the aesthetics of the neighborhood,” he said.
Developer 3D Builders KC and a group of area soccer supporters have pointed to the need for indoor training spaces in the region and have said the dome would allow local families to cut down on travel during winter months. The complex is expected to have one soccer field permanently inside the building, and the dome would turn an outdoor field into a second indoor field from late November to late March.
“We understand that a few residents have some concerns, and we do respect that,” said Justin Beebe, one of the managing partners with 3D Builders KC. “But at the same time, this project serves a broader community need.
“It supports local families, supports youth athletes and organizations who currently lack access to adequate indoor training space during the winter months. We’d like to be able to have these Lee’s Summit families be able to stay home, to be able to improve the quality of their lives by being able to train in a place closer to home. That’s really the bottom line.”
Demand for indoor space
If approved by city officials, the dome would be added to plans for the roughly $50 million complex off View High Drive. The developer has touted the complex as one of the largest indoor youth sports training and tournament venues in Missouri.
Developers have already received city approval for the complex, which is expected to feature a roughly 180,000-square-foot facility with an indoor soccer field, basketball and volleyball courts, an athletic training center, a restaurant and a family entertainment center. The complex will also have about 90,000 square feet of outdoor athletics space, including the convertible soccer field and pickleball courts.
Beebe said as plans came together for the complex, developers heard from many groups who wanted to lease indoor space.
“We significantly underestimated the demand that there was for these turf spaces,” he said.
The complex already has a commitment from an area youth club for its space. The Kansas City Athletics Soccer Club signed a long-term lease for the complex’s indoor field, Beebe said. The developer also told city officials that it was pursuing another lease with Sporting Kansas City for use of the domed field if it was approved, according to a Feb. 25 letter to city staff.
After this story was initially published, Beebe told The Star that Sporting Kansas City did not accept the group’s initial terms for using the domed space and that the two sides have not continued negotiations given the uncertainty around the dome’s approval. In the letter to city staff, the developer pointed to the Athletics lease and the potential Sporting lease and said a “significant percentage of the incremental field hours made available via use of a dome are already pre-committed, contingent on approval of this request.”
The developer originally proposed an 80-foot-tall, 84,000-square-foot dome, but has scaled back its plans to a little less than 60 feet in height and around 75,000 square feet in size.
The developer is asking the city to green-light a five-year special use permit and a preliminary development plan that would allow for the dome. Included in the ask is a request for City Council to sign off on a variance to city code that would allow for the 60-foot height.
Last week, Lee’s Summit Planning Commission voted against the project, and City Council is expected to review the plans on Tuesday.
Soccer dome response
City documents show staff received petitions from residents of 22 properties in the neighborhood opposing the dome as of Monday.
“My basic feeling is, hey, comply with zoning,” said Larry Clos, who lives down the street from where the dome would sit. “That is designed to protect us, other property owners around the area, from this kind of thing, developer excess. Zoning is designed to provide predictable, orderly development. This is out of the box. It’s just not appropriate next to residential properties that are 25, 30 feet tall, and you’re next to a 60-foot tall structure.”
“It’s a phenomenal idea,” said Janey Allen, another neighbor who has helped to organize opposition to the project. “It is, OK. But it is not a good fit for a neighborhood. It doesn’t even matter if it’s this neighborhood, for any neighborhood in Lee’s Summit. This is going to impact home values.”
The project has also received a swell of support. As of Thursday, city staff said they had received 469 letters of support for the dome from residents of Lee’s Summit, the Kansas City metro and the local soccer community.
Beebe said local families are tired of traveling to places like Kansas City and Olathe for indoor soccer.
“I think it’s a great opportunity for Lee’s Summit to have something that’s really great for the soccer community,” he said. “Kansas City at large is a soccer community, but I think it’s going to be special for Lee’s Summit to have both of these there. We’re trying to fill that demand that currently exists.”
Scott Wheatley, who is also a resident of the neighborhood and is a managing partner with 3D Builders, argued that residents of most homes won’t be able to see the structure from their property.
“There are a select few up at the front of the neighborhood that will see it,” he said. “Everybody else will not be able to see it. It does not affect most of the people in the neighborhood’s lives at all.”
City Council members signed off on incentives and a community improvement district to back the complex last year. The developer indicated when it announced the project last year that it planned to break ground at the site in the fall, with facility completion coming in fall 2026. Currently, the property is still undeveloped. Beebe said plans now call for the facility to open in fall 2027.
This story was originally published March 22, 2026 at 6:00 AM.
CORRECTION: After this story was initially published, 3D Builders KC clarified that it did not move forward with negotiations on a lease with Sporting Kansas City for its domed soccer field given the uncertainty around its approval.
