Coralville considering land buy to aid future development

CORALVILLE – The city of Coralville wants to buy 46 acres north of town to extend a sewer line and possibly Forevergreen Road to serve future residential development.

The City Council is scheduled to vote on two property purchases at its May 24 meeting. One deal is for $1.05 million for 37 acres of land from Moon Dance LLC. The other is $2.45 million for 9.43 acres from Diana Pratt, who is the registered agent for Moon Dance.

The rural properties are next to each other west of North Liberty Road and include a home assessed at $1.2 million and outbuildings.

The properties are in unincorporated Johnson County in an area that has been subject to an annexation dispute between Coralville and Johnson County.

Coralville City Administrator Kelly Hayworth said the two cities will work on a boundary but Coralville expects to be able to eventually annex the land.

He said the city was approached about buying the land. The deal makes sense for the city because without the land, further development of the area would be difficult, he said. The extension of Forevergreen Road and sewer service in the area would require going through the property, he said.

Forevergreen Road is expected to become an increasingly used east-west road as North Liberty and northern Coralville continue to develop. The two cities are studying the possible alignment of an eastern extension of the road.

Once the road and sewer alignments are figured out, the city plans to subdivide the property and sell the home and the remaining pieces of land to try to recoup the majority of the city's $3.5 million investment. Hayworth expects the area to eventually become a residential development.

Hayworth said this project would be similar to what the city did along Oakdale Boulevard west of 12

^th

Avenue about a decade ago. The city bought some existing acreages, did the planning, put the road in and then sold the individual parcels, he said.