Did you get all this from your meeting with Assistant City Manager Tim Moerman yesterday?

With continued growth in real estate and population, I would think property tax revenue would also increase to the city. With an ever increasing stream of tax revenue coming into the city , do you see any reason why property tax rates should not be reduced?

I commend Mona for putting these topics out for us to review and comment. Now.... my 2 cents worth :this is 1 of those issues that depends on what stage in life you are in, or what is your occupation. If you're a builder, seems like there is no end to the construction. Just tear out another corn field and put in some more houses. Then, move a little further out and do it all over again. On the other hand, if you are a seller , different scenario. From what I have seen is houses being sold for less than expected due to competition with new construction. It has improved a little lately, but still, I think anyone selling a house right now will not get what the tax assessor says your place is worth. The other side of the coin is ..... with all this growth we have ( happening all over the country ), we are taking out very good farm ground and converting it to housing. That means fewer acres for the 3 things we use farmland for : food/fuel/fiber. If you project this trend into the future, you can see we are headed for a real bad situation. But, to answer Mona's original query - in my opinion - yes, we have too much development going on here, but I yearn for the Ankeny that used to be, but is gone forever. Lastly, to support what Joe was saying .... with all of this new development ( and much of it is on the higher end of the market, b.t.w. ), where is all the tax revenue going that the higher population is generating ? We are due for a substantial reduction in prop. taxes, I'd say.

I will be at the City Council meeting on Monday night and would encourage you to do the same.

On the Agenda: Special Presentation: “70 Cent” Committee Update

Johnny, I think you are wrong. Everything here looks like it was written by the City Public Relation Department!

I totally agree with Kurt. It makes me sick to see our precious farmland turned into concrete. With all the building going on one would think our property taxes would be reduced. City and school need to manage their spending. Way out of control!

The answer to your question is obvious, and you knew that in posing this question. I agree with your focus in housing over-development now, and in not singling out single-family units over-building-not good to rile those builders. Now we have to focus on bigger nos., especially those of multi-family complexes. I was surprised to see another large unit being built, while taking a detour due to road construction.

But, it seems to me that this city has always had a hard time accommodating those who did not choose to buy big in moving here, housing-wise. Hard to see this city now, with new and old multi-family units unoccupied, not to mention the townhomes and condos in the same situation, but better off $$-wise, maybe?

Problem is, Ankeny never could envision this in their growth, this over-development now. Never did these early leaders want to see what we see now. So obvious. For those who moved here, then and now, and chose another housing option. Second-class. But, I agree with you this over-building should stop.

Over-building housing-wise here goes along with that commercially. Can both be corralled spec-wise? With all the empty storefronts waiting to be occupied, too? Please let us get a stoppage-point to these, too. My final straw was seeing a former small town staple, business-wise, being turned into that bigger city staple-strip mall. But, so hard to see our BOWLING ALLEY being turned into such-a strip mall, after wondering for mos. what would be located there.. If we, in our growth, cannot support a bowling alley, well, we see the true picture. Another old-time asset gone.

Oh, but who really cares here anymore about the loss of, what? A bowling alley? So laughable? We are all too jaded to feel this loss, if we have been here for awhile. Those new here, well, you will be surprised to hear we do not have a bolwing alley here, maybe? Sorry to veer off of Mona's question, but it is all tied together, housing and otherwise...

We are one of the families stuck with the consequences of the over-building of multi-family housing in Ankeny. Our Condo community is actually over 50% rentals so it now could actually qualify as an apartment complex. Condos and Townhouses are a dime a dozen for sale in Ankeny. For me it's a simple choice sell our condo, and move to Altoona where we can buy the same house for less money than we could in Ankeny, and pay less in property taxes. While I love parts of Ankeny, seeing how the city council just does whatever it wants without the consent and advice of the citizens, and the way the school board handles business I can't imagine property taxes here ever being reduced.

As far as the Bowling Alley being gone, I was rather surprised to see no one raise a stink about it closing, but we had register articles about saving Bears' after the owner fell into foreclosure. But an actual historic business closed doors and no facebook groups popped up... Ankeny it's losing it's small town feel, and turning into suburbia, and has been down this road for a few years now.