Webster Park Design Concept

Two public hearings relating to the proposed Webster Park housing project will be held at tonight’s Pella City Council meeting.

A development agreement between the city and the developer for tax increment financing incentives of up to $6.1 million over 20 years is under consideration. One of the key differences in this plan from others recently approved is that the property could still generate $1.1 million in taxes the city, schools, and county don’t receive now on the currently tax-exempt school property. The second hearing relates to the first reading of an ordinance vacating the alleyway running north to south from Peace Street to Independence.

The council will also consider a resolution in support of a project that would expand Lely and its North American headquarters in Pella. The Iowa Economic Development Authority is considering a financial incentive package of just under $725,000 to Lely under the authority’s High Quality Jobs plan, which requires a community local match on the state’s five-year industrial tax abatement schedule, equating to roughly $936,000 during that time frame.

Council will also consider approving the first four years of the Master Plan for the upcoming Downtown Streetscape Project, extending a moratorium of new housing units in the Oskaloosa Street Corridor as a development plan is in the works, and adopting an immigration enforcement policy for the city, as was required of municipalities in Iowa after Governor Reynolds signed a senate bill into law in April.

The Pella City Council meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the Public Safety Complex on Liberty Street.