BELTON — The Belton City Council, which held a special meeting and a public hearing, voted unanimously Tuesday in favor of a voluntary annexation of 5.234 acres of land which is a section of the property where the new H-E-B is scheduled to be built.

The land is located northwest of the intersection of Lake Road and Main Street and is part of the 28-acre site which will be occupied by the 93,000-square-foot H-E-B. The request for annexation was submitted by V.W. Barge, who is selling the land to the H-E-B corporation.

The public hearing was the second of two required before the city can annex the land. The City Council accepted Barge’s petition for annexation of the land Jan. 13.

The next step in the annexation process includes two readings of the ordinance calling for the annexation; the first one is scheduled for Feb. 24, and the second one for March 9. City officials will then file for a Voting Rights Act preclearance with the U.S. Department of Justice to annex the land, and once their request is approved, the land will officially become a part of the city.