MAGNOLIA SPRINGS - Magnolia Springs town council voted to allow Mayor Kim Koniar and Town Counsel Brad Hicks to pursue creating a purchase agreement with the owners of a piece of property located on Gates Avenue. The vote was met with opposition from Mayor Pro-tem Ben Dykema.

The vacant property is located at the corner of Gates Avenue and Magnolia Springs Highway, across the street from the schoolyard property that is owned by the town. Prior to being brought to council, the town’s ad hoc schoolyard committee voted on moving forward to purchase the land that could then be used in conjunction with the schoolyard property. The town plans to build a new town hall and library combo in the future, and heavy discussion has occurred since the purchase of the schoolyard property if the new town complex will be built there.

“We felt if we bought this property we could do one of two things,” said Koniar. “We could build on it and leave the schoolyard green, or we could build on the schoolyard and leave this property green. Then we could have a great connection between the schoolyard, the potential new property, and the arboretum and make it a nice green trail.”

During a town meeting in June 2019, the majority of citizens stated their desire to see the schoolyard remain green. Arguments were made that a new town complex could be built on the site and still leave plenty of room for a park, gazebo or walk trail, but the overall opinion from citizens was to see the space remain green.

The current town hall meeting space is too small for the needs of the town, as well as the storage space in both town hall and the library. With the need for a new town complex coupled with the citizens’ desire to see the schoolyard remain green, Koniar feels it makes the most sense to purchase the Gates Avenue property and create a town center.

“If we build at the school property, by the time you put up a building and parking spaces and leave space for the helicopter pad, and if we left any space for some sort of park area, it’s going to fill up fast,” she said. “I just think if you look at our comprehensive plan it shows this area as a central downtown area, our town could have a beautiful downtown area from the springs to this central location.”

The cost to purchase the Gates Avenue property is $125,000, and the seller has stated they will not go any lower. Until the town has entered a purchase agreement, further negotiations cannot be made.

The cost of the new property causes Dykema to give pause to moving forward, especially when the town already owns the schoolyard property.

“We were all excited getting the school property thinking that was where we were going to build initially, and the footprint for what we’re describing as a town hall and library would be about where the old school was, which would leave acreage behind it,” he said. “I think to give up the thought of building over there is kind of rash. I think it’s rash to spend money to buy land to build when we already own land. Are we getting into the real estate business?”

Rent at the library is over $900 a month, while town hall rent is over $700 a month. The lease on both buildings expires in one year, pushing the council to make a decision. Koniar mentioned the possibility of applying for grants to help build parks and walking trails in the future, which would help negate the cost of purchasing the land.

“I just think people love parks, they love greenspace,” she said. “You go to towns and you want greenspace, we don’t want a concrete jungle, and this town is growing. I think it enhances the lives of the citizens by having parks and recreation areas, and we could really make that a show piece and a beautiful area and have one property with a building and the other as a park.”

While Dykema agrees greenspace is a plus, he also stated the $125,000 that would be spent if the property was purchased could be put towards other areas in town, such as street improvements. He said the move to purchase more property when the town already owned land was not fiscally prudent.

With the majority vote approving Koniar and Hicks to move forward, they will bring a finalized purchase agreement before council at a later date for final approval.