Iola will sell 10 lots to a developer for $50,000 as he pursues a plan to build 10 duplexes on what used to be Cedarbrook Golf Course.
City Council members agreed Monday to a compromise of sorts with Gabe Woodman of Merak Development on the lot sales, after they’d agreed to Woodman’s first request: to extend a new road onto what had been Cedarbrook Golf Course.
Council members broke down the requests as separate matters, first tackling the road extension, projected to cost in excess of $900,000.
“It’s pie in the sky to believe a developer is gonna come in and pay for that road infrastructure,” Councilman Nich Lohman said.
“We’re gonna have to build it regardless.”
Other members agreed, voting unanimously to greenlight the road work, which will be paid for through sales tax revenues.
City Administrator Matt Rehder said Iola has applied for a $975,000 grant from the state that would pay for the road extension, but noted it, too, was anything but assured.
“We can’t assume it’s going to be approved,” Rehder said. “But it’s a shot.”
Council members previously had committed to extending water, sewer and electric utilities to the land, estimated to cost about $386,000, putting the entire price tag at about $1.3 million.
WITH THOSE costs in mind, Council members weren’t as eager to give away the land free of charge, as had been requested.
“There should be some kind of good-faith purchase, especially if we’re going to do infrastructure,” Councilwoman Joelle Shallah said, noting the area should be more appealing to other developers as well, with roads and utilities already in place.
Woodman had requested the city donate lots in order for him to keep construction costs low.
As Woodman spelled out to the Council earlier this month, Iola’s generosity also should curry favor from the state once it decides how to dole out funding for development projects in rural communities later this year.
That grant application process is expected to be highly competitive, Woodman said, adding that a strong partnership with the city is vital to the application process.
“The more we show that partnership, it will put us above everyone else to make sure we get an allocation,” Woodman said.
But when pressed by Shallah, Goodman agreed to a “good-faith” measure in paying $50,000 for the 10 lots.
