As a December deadline looms for the Pella City Council to take action regarding a potential rec center facility, this week, a couple of meetings were meant to generate resources toward the effort.

At Monday’s Pella School Board meeting, Mayor Don DeWaard and City Administrator Mike Nardini made a proposal for a land donation from the Pella Community School District to the City of Pella. DeWaard says the city would work to sell that land for housing development, identified as a critical need over the next ten years in a recently completed county-wide study.

“We can take that land and either find a developer and sell, or there’s a lot of other options we could do, but that would be a nice contribution to the rec center from the school,” he says. “This isn’t anything new — the City of Pella gave the school district five acres of ground to build the new tennis facility. And that’s a fairly significant chunk of value; five acres in the middle of town is pretty valuable property.”

From there, the revenue generated by the sale would become a potential source for funding construction of the rec center, pending council approval. DeWaard considers it a way for the Pella School District to contribute to the project without a direct cash donation due to a bond issue and tight general fund finances. He says the district will likely use the space for expanded basketball needs and to create a local high school swimming team.

The Pella School Board will formally consider the request later this fall. Hear more about the latest with the potential rec center project and ongoing fundraising on today’s Let’s Talk Pella.