a href=”https://www.dailyegyptian.com/contactus.html”bDE Staff Reporter/b/abrspan class=”realsmall”bDaily Egyptian/b/span

City buys additional land near Sports Center

The city completed its final land contribution to the Superblock with the purchase of five acres behind the Sports Center.

In a 5-0 vote during a special meeting Wednesday morning, the City Council approved the $295,000 purchase.

“It’s just a tremendous asset to the overall community,” City Manager Jeff Doherty said. “This basically finalizes that overall development there.”

Doherty said the purchase, 5.023 acres to be exact, actually secured 10.3 acres of land for the city to control. The land is currently a storm water detention area or a dry detention pod.

He said it could be used for anything that won’t disturb the water detention area, such as recreational activities. Doherty said heavy rains would be the only set back of other uses, but 98 percent of the time it wouldn’t be an issue.

The matter could have waited until the next meeting, Doherty said, but the special meeting to approve the purchase convened because the current council wanted to participate.

“They’ve been working on the project for a long time and wanted to be involved in concluding it,” Doherty said.

The new council takes over Tuesday following the inauguration ceremony at 7 p.m.

Janet Vaught, city clerk, said the property purchase was originally on the April 8 City Council agenda with the purchase of the Sports Center.

Doherty said after a third party became interested in purchasing the Sports Center, the land purchase was delayed to focus the Sports Center deal.

The completion of the Superblock project from the city’s point of view and the new development of the middle and high schools are a great asset to the Carbondale community, Doherty said.

“It’s something that is unmatched in this region in terms of educational recreational facilities,” Doherty said.

Reporter Sara Hooker can be reached at [email protected].