Breaking News

Coralville acquires Pratt lands......North Liberty is surprised.

The City of Coralville voted on Tuesday May 24th 2011 to purchase land west of the Scanlon Farms and adjacent to the proposed route for expansion of Forevergreen Rd. (see map here) The city is proposing to purchase the land because "...if someone else bought it, it would be much more difficult to make the appropriate improvements later." (Kelly Hayworth, City Administrator) (read the Press-Citizen article here) During the meeting,m Mayor Fausett stated that it is intent of the City of Coralville to annex the purchased land. Council Member Tom Gill stated that the purchase of this land also was for the expansion of the City. According to Gill, the purchase is tied to the replacement of a sewer lift station located in Brown Deer golf course. If the land was not purchased, the replacement station would be the same as the current one, but with the purchase a new and larger station would be installed in anticipation of the expansion of the City to the North. These properties last sold for $180,000 (fifteen years ago), Coralville plans to spend $3.5 million on the purchase. The Council made clear that they were aware the payment was above the assessed value, but the purchase was made with an eye to future expansion. If the properties were first subdivided, the cost of obtaining a right of way would become prohibitive. Rod Sullivan from the Johnson County Board of Supervisors was also on hand to express his dismay at the City of Coralville failing to keep the county informed. Mayor Fausett noted that while the county had not been informed, the Council had been negotiating with the City of North Liberty about the whole thing. David Sheff, Mike McCue and Peg Colony spoke against the aquisition. In the end the vote was 4:0 in favor of the purchase. Clearly, from the discussion, this is being done to 1) extend the sewer and utility lines, 2) enable the extension of Forevergreen Rd (even if Oakdale Blvd remains unfinished) and 3) further expansion of Coralville to the north.

The City of North Liberty Council met on Tuesday May 24th 2011. Daryl Granner and Barbara Beaumont rose to speak about the Coralville land purchase. Since the purchase is north of the line demarcating proposed future annexations by North Liberty (north) and Coralville (south), the City Council decided to hold a special meeting to discuss and vote on a North Liberty annexation proposal. They would ask the City Development board to consider the CSD sponsored annexation proposals (See map here) Time and date of this meeting will be posted. For news coverage in the Press-Citizen (click here) .

C.S.D. has another victory in the courts (November 2009)

The Iowa Court of Appeals returned a decision in Oglesby vs. The City of Coralville. THe dicision stated that the annexation proposal by the city of Coralville for the Scanlon Farms land was improper. The proposal was withdrawn. This leaves a proposal for voluntary annexation to the CIty of North Liberty next on the agenda for the City Development Board. This proposal is supported by C.S.D. A competing proposal from the city of Coralville may be evaluated at the same time by the board.