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Stony Run land purchase update: city near closing as donor match nearly met
Summary
Commissioners received an update on the previously approved Stony Run land purchase: private donors have pledged most of $75,000 match, the city will match, and pending title work could allow closing next Monday; one $5,000 donor payment is delayed due to institutional freezes.
City commissioners heard an update May 21 on the previously approved Stony Run land purchase from the Dirksen family and were told the transaction could proceed as soon as outstanding title work is complete.
Commissioner Bragg summarized the financing arrangement that the commission previously authorized: private donors would contribute $75,000 and the city would provide a $75,000 match, creating a $150,000 pool intended to cover acquisition and initial site-preparation costs including title work, surveying and related expenses.
Bragg said donors have delivered $70,000 so far and that one institutional donor’s $5,000 pledge is delayed because that donor is subject to an internal funding freeze. "With the 70 we have and the city doing the match, we still have more than enough to make the land acquisition," Bragg said, adding that staff expect the remaining $5,000 to follow once the freeze is lifted.
City staff and commissioners discussed whether planned site-preparation work — including a $5,000 landscape-architecture class project from South Dakota State University’s landscape architecture program — should be covered out of the same fundraising pool. Staff said that cost was envisioned as part of the site work, and that the city believes the available funds should cover it.
No formal vote was required at the May 21 meeting; commissioners were briefed and told that city legal work on title is nearing completion and that authorizing paperwork could be on the agenda for the next Monday meeting if title is cleared.
