More than a year ago, Iola council members voted 7-0 to extend water, electric and streets in the Cedarbrook Addition and followed through last spring by committing $1.7 million to the project with the goal of attracting developers.
It worked.
On Monday, council members sold the 22 lots to the mother-and-son duo Jennifer Chester and Blake Boone.
The two plan to start construction in January 2024. When all is said and done, Iola will have at least 16 single-family homes and possibly another three larger homes or three duplexes.
The new development is designated as Cedarbrook Third Addition.
TIME AND AGAIN, investments by city leaders have paid off.
No place is a better example than the further development of Cedarbrook, which began with the strip of homes lining the north side of Miller Road beginning at Cottonwood and going west.
Cedarbrook Second Addition was an answer to the devastation of the 2007 flood that wiped out dozens of homes primarily in the south end of town.
Taking the attitude that a crisis is an opportunity in the wings, in 2008, Iola Industries purchased 66 acres of the western half of the 18-hole Cedarbrook Golf Course from owner Larry Macha, which it then turned around and sold to the City of Iola in early 2009 for its development.
Tom Carlson of the Carlson Gardner Group out of Springfield, Mo., signed on to develop the property, using tax credits to build 30 rental homes geared for low- and moderate-income households.
REMEMBER, the site was nothing but rolling hills.
And nothing but a pipe dream if city leaders didn’t buy into the vision. It was a big ask.
Converting the planned 50 acres into a neighborhood required an estimated $3.6 million to extend North Cottonwood Street and provide electric, water, stormwater and sewer lines.
To make that happen, the city applied for emergency state funds created in response to the 2007 flood. Up to $4 million was available to affected communities. Iola received $1 million, forcing it to drastically curtail its plans.
Jeff Bauer, code enforcement officer at the time, estimated they could develop enough of the parcel to accommodate 67 lots on about 24 acres.
