Ankeny School Board Votes on Land-Infrastructure Agreement with the City of Ankeny

The Ankeny school board gave the green light to an agreement with the city of Ankeny that exchanges land for infrastructure cost.

The board voted 7-0 at its Monday night meeting to enter into the agreement with the city, in which the district agrees to convey 70 acres of land located along 36th Street west of State Street to the city in exchange for approximately $2.2 million of road and utility improvements needed in the construction of the district's next elementary school.

"We've entered into this agreement to give the city a piece of land that we don’t need and in exchange we get infrastructure that we don’t have to pay for, the community doesn’t have to pay for and we can take off the cost (of Elementary 10)," said school board president Pat Cahill. "It's important for the community to know we’re saving them money."

The city previously voted in favor of the agreement at a special Oct. 8 meeting. The land conveyed to the city is currently appraised at approximately $1.54 million and is adjacent to where the new elementary school is proposed to be built.

The estimated cost of infrastructure the city will receive in return is $2.7 million with approximately $500,000 abated through special assessments and water and sewer connection fees, the release said. The city has already factored the project into its Capital Improvements Program for calendar year 2014.

Jeff Krausman, attorney for the district, said this will allow the district to make necessary infrastructure improvements for which it would not have been able to bond.

"This agreement is a result of the decision-makers in the comm making the decision to work together," Krausman said. "We’ve had a history of doing in the past but hasn’t been as productive in the last three years."

The agreement will go into affect only if voters pass a proposed $15.9 million referendum needed to construct Elementary 10. Right now, the referendum is scheduled to be placed on a special February 2013 ballot provided the district gets enough signatures to do so.